Member Services Furloughs/Layoffs

[kmorlock]

Many Disney employees including DVC cast members have lost their jobs, been laid-off or furloughed. I hope we bear this in mind when wait times are longer, and we don’t get the answers we exactly want. I get that it’s stressful for many who stand to lose points or have long awaited vacations canceled. It’s stressful for MS employees too considering the uncertainty of their jobs and finances. So, let’s give them a little grace and patience moving forward and hopefully good things will come for all.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. What I question is if this is MS CM's because WE pay for them.

IF DVC is making the decision to still furlough them then we should not be paying the same MF's. If not then the CM's should still be employed. Kind of the same thing with stopping the refurb at SSR. SSR owners are paying for it - have been accumulating for it for years.

 

[sethschroeder]

With Kat on this these CMs are very lucky to be under DVC where its a guarantee they have their job. Even if Disney defaulted on all payments it's only a 2-3% ownership that Disney had. No one should be laid off in MS.

Dont be jerks to them though.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I wonder how many dues are in default due to job loss.
Not that it should matter....

 

[Sandisw]

Since the property management agreement we have is with Disney, could this be why they were the ones who could decide?

But, now that they are included, there should be some level of reduction for that line item.

 

[CarolMN]

Source, please.

I have not seen anything official that says MS CMs have been furloughed. DVD & Resort CMs are not employed by DVCMC.

 

[cmrdgrs]

Many Disney employees including DVC cast members have lost their jobs, been laid-off or furloughed. I hope we bear this in mind when wait times are longer, and we don’t get the answers we exactly want. I get that it’s stressful for many who stand to lose points or have long awaited vacations canceled. It’s stressful for MS employees too considering the uncertainty of their jobs and finances. So, let’s give them a little grace and patience moving forward and hopefully good things will come for all.

Do you know DVC CM that work in MS? I guess I was just curious what prompted your thread?

 

[kmorlock]

Source, please.

I have not seen anything official that says MS CMs have been furloughed. DVD & Resort CMs are not employed by DVCMC.

I have spoken to several CM’s over the past few days and have seen other posts on forums stating some DVC personnel are impacted by the furloughs.

 

[kmorlock]

Do you know DVC CM that work in MS? I guess I was just curious what prompted your thread?

I have spoken to a few people in MS who I gathered through our conversation have been through a rough time lately. A lot of members are angry at their situation and might decide to unload on MS even though none of it is within their control.

 

[crisi]

Since member fees are set annually, its a little early to know if this will affect our fees. And it may not, because a post Covid world may include these people not getting paid for this time, but more strigent housekeeping protocols needing additional staff, more equipment, or other additional expenses, our fees may go up. This is going to take time to shake out.

 

[CarolMN]

Since member fees are set annually, its a little early to know if this will affect our fees. And it may not, because a post Covid world may include these people not getting paid for this time, but more strigent housekeeping protocols needing additional staff, more equipment, or other additional expenses, our fees may go up. This is going to take time to shake out.

Agree 100% if we are talking about fees.

However, OP was commenting about MS. MS is part of DVCMC and its employees are paid by DVCMC. DVCMC is paid 12% of the operating budget to manage reservations among other things. Members expect and need their accounts to be managed during the closure. I still do not believe MS Reps have been furloughed (except perhaps for a few, very specialized positions not needed during the closure) There has been no announcement that MS reps have been furloughed and FWIW, I think many of them could work from home and have since before the closure.

I do strongly agree that MS jobs are extra stressful right now and I am quite sure that SOME Members have been less than gracious to them. I've said this before, but DVC Members as a group have a reputation as "entitled" (to put it politely). The response of some Members during the pandemic has not done anything to improve that reputation. JMHO. YMMV.

 

[Eskie]

I spoke to Member administration 5 days ago (Friday afternoon at the end of the workday). The CM was working from home at the time, but said that they were due to be furloughed the next day. Later that afternoon, I spoke to a MS CM working from home and he mentioned that there were going to be fewer people working in that department as well. Despite this fact, they were keeping the same office hours at MS and I was assured that no interruption of any account services to members should occur. They repeatedly told me that they were there to help with DVC member needs. The OP's sentiment seemed to be correct, as the CMs that I spoke with were moved by my comments thanking them for their efforts.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

My understanding is MS isn't on furlough, but Member Admin, Accounting and Sales are all impacted, and there is some rolling furlough.

 

[DisneyPups]

Given that I can never get the web reservations to work, it seems the DVC IT dept was furloughed too. (Sorry, had to lighten it a bit. )

 

[Darklord77]

Given that I can never get the web reservations to work, it seems the DVC IT dept was furloughed too.

They have been on "furlough" for years now.

 

[heynowirv]

Source, please.

I have not seen anything official that says MS CMs have been furloughed. DVD & Resort CMs are not employed by DVCMC.

I spoke to a CM on the phone about 2 weeks ago. She has 23 years of service and was being Furloughed at the end of that week.

 

[kmorlock]

The intention or point of my post was that we should be a little extra nice to the people on the other end of the phone. I’m sure they are under more stress than usual no matter what entity legally signs their check. I have spoken to several Member Services employees over the past couple of weeks who appreciated simply being thanked. A few did express the furloughs had impacted DVC. To what extent, I’m not sure. But, the long and short of my intention was to say “hey, I know things are crazy for members but, let’s not be unkind to MS who are trying to help through a difficult situation”.

QUOTE="CarolMN, post: 61802985, member: 2256"]
Agree 100% if we are talking about fees.

However, OP was commenting about MS. MS is part of DVCMC and its employees are paid by DVCMC. DVCMC is paid 12% of the operating budget to manage reservations among other things. Members expect and need their accounts to be managed during the closure. I still do not believe MS Reps have been furloughed (except perhaps for a few, very specialized positions not needed during the closure) There has been no announcement that MS reps have been furloughed and FWIW, I think many of them could work from home and have since before the closure.

I do strongly agree that MS jobs are extra stressful right now and I am quite sure that SOME Members have been less than gracious to them. I've said this before, but DVC Members as a group have a reputation as "entitled" (to put it politely). The response of some Members during the pandemic has not done anything to improve that reputation. JMHO. YMMV.
[/QUOTE]

 

[skier_pete]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. What I question is if this is MS CM's because WE pay for them.

IF DVC is making the decision to still furlough them then we should not be paying the same MF's. If not then the CM's should still be employed. Kind of the same thing with stopping the refurb at SSR. SSR owners are paying for it - have been accumulating for it for years.

I think to say this will not effect our dues is crazy. I would expect that the costs to operate the resorts right now are much less than normal, and they will have to adjust dues accordingly. My suspicision is that they will likely use the savings to adjust the number of points we receive in 2021. I.E. Dues will remain the same, but you only get 75% of your points. Just hypothesis, but who knows how this will be handled. While I wouldn't expect them to let a lot of MS people go since people are still trying to make things work.

 

[Sandisw]

I think to say this will not effect our dues is crazy. I would expect that the costs to operate the resorts right now are much less than normal, and they will have to adjust dues accordingly. My suspicision is that they will likely use the savings to adjust the number of points we receive in 2021. I.E. Dues will remain the same, but you only get 75% of your points. Just hypothesis, but who knows how this will be handled. While I wouldn't expect them to let a lot of MS people go since people are still trying to make things work.

How can they legally take away someone points? The points being lost now are based on rules of expiring points.

 

[skier_pete]

How can they legally take away someone points? The points being lost now are based on rules of expiring points.

I don't know - but they are going to have to figure out something. If they are closed for six months that's 30 million points that people own that CANNOT be used - you can argue all you want, but the points can't be used within the DVC system because the resorts are closed.

They are going to have to do something, I'm just suggesting one possible way they could do it. Remember, the "points" are just a representation of your fractional ownership. Think about it this way - if a resort burned to ground - would you still expect to get your points for that resort? Would Disney still be required to give you your points in that case? I can answer that - no they wouldn't. This is no different from the resort burning to the ground, just it's all of them at once. They are being forced to close the resorts by circumstances. What they do will have to be in the realm of legality - but we should all plan on our points being affected in some way.