Disney employees are fighting back against CEO Bob Iger’s recently announced mandate to return to the office four days a week.
More than 2,300 workers recently signed a petition urging Iger to reconsider the order cutting their remote work days first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mandate, the staff said, will result in “forced layoffs of some of our most difficult-to-replace talent and vulnerable communities” while “drastically reducing productivity, output and efficiency.”
The petition comes just weeks after Disney announced 7,000 layoffs to cut costs across entertainment and ESPN.
Disney employees are fighting back against the mandate that requires them to return to the office four days a week, recently announced by Disney CEO Bob Iger (pictured above).
More than 2,300 workers recently signed a petition urging Iger to reconsider the order cutting their remote work days first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic
According to The Washington Post, the petition was sent to upper management last week.
The company is set to bring employees back to the office four days a week from March 1, reported in early February.
Disney currently employs more than 200,000 people and signatories to the petition include ABC, 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios, Hulu, Pixar and FX.
“These policies will slow or even reverse our post-COVID recovery and growth, creating critical resource shortages and causing an irreplaceable institutional knowledge leak,” staffers wrote in the petition, seen by the Washington Post.
Staff believe the mandate will have “unintended consequences” that will hurt the company in the long run.
Officially, the group is asking Iger and Disney to maintain current work-from-home policies and invest in new technology and training to make it easier to work together.
“Sitting in an office four days a week on Zoom calls while your colleagues, partners, stakeholders, vendors and customers are doing the same thing in another part of the world does not meet the core need,” the petition reads
“There is value in being together, but we also need to look ahead and embrace new paradigms that bring value,” it said.
They are also calling for more networking and town hall events.
The company is set to bring employees back to the office four days a week starting March 1
The group urges Iger and Disney to maintain current work-from-home policies and invest in new technology and training to facilitate collaboration
Disney employs more than 200,000 people, which means about 1 percent signed the petition
The petition is signed by ABC, 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios, Hulu, Pixar and FX
In his letter to employees last month, Iger said he’s bringing employees back into the office to encourage creativity and connection
Hundreds of testimonies were submitted along with the petition. According to the Washington Post, 400 comments came from parents who said going back to the office would upset their usual work-life balance.
Parents aside, some workers described themselves as “neurodivergent” — people with attention deficit deficit, autism and dyslexia — and said office hours would take a toll on them.
Several employees who spoke to the outlet said they hope Disney at least listens to their concerns.
“The flexibility at Disney really felt like a fresh start,” employees said. “Now it feels like we’re moving backwards,” they said.
In his letter to employees last month, Iger said he’s bringing employees back into the office to encourage creativity and connection.
“As I have met with teams across the company over the past few months, I have been reminded of the tremendous value of being with the people you work with,” Iger reportedly wrote.
Disney’s four-day mandate is relatively strict compared to other large companies, most of which require employees to be in the office two or three days a week.
Both Google parent Alphabet and Apple introduced three-day office work requirements last year.
However, some Disney employees may have hesitated to sign the position after the company announced thousands of layoffs in early February.
The restructuring and layoffs will primarily affect the entertainment and ESPN divisions, as the cuts will affect around 3.5 percent of the company’s workforce
Frontline workers at Disneyland and Disney World are reportedly not in danger
Disney aired an ad during the Super Bowl to celebrate its 100th anniversary. The ad would have cost the company millions and came just days after 7,000 layoffs were announced
Iger announced the layoffs as part of a “significant transformation” to reduce costs.
The CEO, who took over the position from Bob Chapek in November, plans to restructure the company into three divisions: Disney Entertainment, ESPN and Experiences and Products.
The restructuring and layoffs will primarily affect the entertainment and ESPN divisions, as the cuts will affect around 3.5 percent of the company’s workforce. Frontline workers at the parks are reportedly not in danger.
However, the company faced major setbacks after the company announced that it made $1.28 billion in the three months ended December 31.
After Disney aired an ad during the Super Bowl to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the company faced public criticism.
“Something about this celebratory Disney ad is bugging me…maybe it’s the recent announcement that they’re laying off 7,000 employees and spending at least $7 million on the ad,” said Kristina Monllos, senior marketing editor at online trade magazine Digiday.
Commercials during the Super Bowl can cost as much as $7 million per slot for just 30 seconds.