Disney tech employees are pushing management for answers after several major rounds of layoffs this year and reports that more cuts are coming.
Several staffers told Business Insider they’re struggling with morale and are putting in extra effort to look busy — and some of their colleagues sounded off in a company meeting Thursday.
“Do we know when the cost cutting is targeted to happen?” a Disney software engineer asked in a town hall on Thursday afternoon.
The question was submitted in writing during the Q&A portion of the meeting. Business Insider viewed screenshots of some of the questions.
The uncertainty came days after Bloomberg reported that Disney is planning to lay off thousands of employees, citing sources familiar with the matter. It said some managers were asked to aim for 20% in annual cost savings. Disney declined to comment to Bloomberg. Disney didn’t respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
“Would it [be] better for employee morale to first hear from mgmt about future employee benefit changes and layoffs, instead of hearing about these from the media?” a veteran tech employee asked.
A third tech staffer asked: “How do you anticipate these cost cuts will impact MPA?” (MPA refers to Disney’s “Media Platform Alliance,” which includes the streaming distribution, infrastructure, and metadata teams.)
A fourth employee asked leadership if they had “any insight into what motivated the early retirement package offers” that the Mouse House offered certain higher-ups, which were first reported by Deadline in late August. Dana Walden, Disney’s creative chief, said at a Bloomberg event on October 1 that the company had offered “an extremely generous” early retirement program.
During the town hall, Disney streaming leaders didn’t give specific answers to questions about whether cuts were coming or when they could happen, two streaming employees who attended the meeting said.
A fifth employee asked what Disney’s “plans are for these new c.ai folks,” referring to the 66 staffers the company is paying $60 million to hire from Character.AI, an AI chatbot startup that filed for bankruptcy in mid-October. Disney’s new tech chief, Karandeep Anand, had been Character.AI’s CEO before joining in early October.
“What will they be working on?” this tech staffer asked, in reference to the Character.AI members moving to Disney.
After the meeting, several Disney staffers expressed their frustration on Blind, an anonymous forum that verifies work email addresses before allowing users to view a specific company’s page.
“Their answers in the Q&A make my blood boil,” one Blind user said.
Another Blind user said that the town hall was “forced positivity” and that leadership was “completely ignoring all the actual changes and issues destroying morale.”
‘Very demotivating’
Layoffs — and reports of possible layoffs — are affecting morale inside Disney, four employees said this week ahead of Thursday’s town hall.
Reports of coming cuts are “very demotivating,” a high-level engineer said, adding that it weighed down on their mood — even after a positive annual review.
“I’ve been through enough of these to know that doesn’t mean safety,” this person said.
Another software engineer said Disney staffers are on edge, antsy to prove that they’re pulling their weight.
“Everyone’s looking more ‘busy,'” this person said, noting that some high-ranking tech employees are “attending meetings they’d otherwise skip.”
Disney had three rounds of cuts in CEO Josh D’Amaro’s first seven months and filed a WARN notice in California in late October, signaling that it’s planning to let go of 159 park employees.
