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Disney employees are rejecting CEO Bob Iger’s recently announced mandate that requires them to return to the office four days a week.
More than 2,300 workers recently signed a petition asking Iger to reconsider the order cutting his remote work days first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mandate, employees claim, will lead to “forced resignations among some of our hardest-to-replace talent and vulnerable communities” while also “sharply reducing productivity, production and efficiency.”
The petition comes just weeks after Disney announced 7,000 layoffs to cut costs at its entertainment and ESPN divisions.
Disney employees are rejecting 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 calling on Iger to reconsider the order cutting his remote work days first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According the washington postthe request was sent to senior management last week.
The company is scheduled to bring workers back to the office four days a week starting March 1, DailyMail.com reported in early February.
Disney currently employs over 200,000 and signatories to the petition extension ABC, 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios, Hulu, Pixar and FX.
“This policy will slow, or even reverse, our post-COVID recovery and growth by creating critical resource shortages and causing an irreplaceable loss of institutional knowledge,” the employees wrote in the petition obtained by the Washington Post.
Employees say they believe the mandate will have “unintended consequences” that will hurt the company in the long run.
Officially, the group requests that Iger and Disney maintain current work-from-home policies and invest in new technology and training to facilitate collaboration.
“Sitting through Zoom calls in an office four days a week while your coworkers, partners, stakeholders, vendors, and customers do the same thing in a different part of the world does not meet the core need,” the petition reads.
“It is valuable to be together, but we must also look forward and adopt new paradigms that add value,” he continues.
They are also calling for more networking events and town halls.
The company is scheduled to have workers return to the office four days a week starting March 1.
The group calls for 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, which means about one percent signed the petition.
Petition signatories include ABC, 20th Century Studios, Marvel Studios, Hulu, Pixar and FX
In his letter to employees last month, Iger said he would bring employees back to the office to inspire creativity and connection.
Hundreds of testimonials were submitted along with the petition. According to the Washington Post, 400 comments came from parents who said a return to the office would disrupt the work-life balance they’ve grown accustomed to.
In addition to parents, some workers describe themselves as ‘neurodivergent’ (individuals with attention deficit disorder, autism and dyslexia) and said the office time will take its toll.
Several employees who spoke to the outlet said they hope Disney will at least listen to their concerns.
“The flexibility at Disney really felt like a fresh start,” the employees said. “Now it feels like we’re going backwards,” they said.
In his letter to employees last month, Iger said he would bring employees back to the office to inspire creativity and connection.
“As I’ve been meeting with teams from across the company for the past few months, I’ve been reminded of the tremendous value of being together with the people you work with,” Iger reportedly wrote.
Disney’s four-day mandate is relatively strict compared to other major companies, most of which require workers to be in the office two to three days a week.
Google parent Alphabet and Apple instituted three-day work-in-office requirements last year.
However, some Disney employees may have hesitated to sign on after the company announced thousands of layoffs in early February.
The restructuring and layoffs will predominantly eliminate those in the entertainment and ESPN divisions, as the cuts will affect roughly 3.5 percent of the company’s workforce.
Frontline employees at Disneyland and Disney World are reportedly not in danger.
Disney aired an ad during the Super Bowl, celebrating its 100th anniversary. The announcement 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 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 predominantly eliminate those in the entertainment and ESPN divisions, as the cuts will affect roughly 3.5 percent of the company’s workforce. Frontline employees at the parks are reportedly not in danger.
However, the company has faced a major backlash after it announced it earned $1.28 billion in the three months ending December 31.
After Disney aired an ad during the Super Bowl celebrating its 100-year anniversary, the company received criticism from the public.
“Something about that celebratory Disney ad bothers 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, the magazine’s senior marketing editor. Digiday online shopping.
Commercials during the Super Bowl can cost upwards of $7 million for just a 30-second slot.