Emotional stress and Disney

1. Emotion in the workplace
of
By Karen Bohez

2. Articles used…
First hand experiences from previous employees of Walt Disney World
Articles on how emotional stress can cause psychological issues
Articles that discuss the rules and regulations of Walt Disney world
and what is allowed and not allowed of employees.

3. Emotions in the workplace
At most occupations in America, showing emotion at your place of employment is seen as
unprofessional. However, at some jobs, showing emotion is simply part of that job.
Emotional labor is when workers are expected to display certain feelings in order to satisfy
the role expected of an occupation.
When engaging in emotional labor, workers use either surface acting or deep acting
Surface acting is when a person has to fake a certain emotion in order to fulfill a job
expectation.
Deep acting is when a person tries to feel a specific emotion they’re thinking about in their
mind.

4. Emotional labor
Some examples of emotional labor:
Nurses and Doctors have to deal with terminally ill patients as well as the patients families
- they have to be able to openly show concern and have bedside manner. They may
perform ‘deep acting’ because although they may not have a personal connection to the
patient, part of being human is being able to sympathize and this is bound to happen
with the patient and their family.
Flight attendants must show happiness in order to fulfill their job expectations and the
type of emotional labor they perform is surface acting - whether they are happy or not,
they’re going to have a huge smile slapped on their face because the job requires it.

5. The cost of surface acting
Having to use surface acting on a daily basis can be harmful to one’s
mental health. It is important to be able to express raw emotion when it
is being felt. Not being able to do this can lead to…
Emotional fatigue
Shame
Anxiety
Mental disorders

6. One of the biggest offenders of emotional labor….
Where employees are forced to use emotional labor all day, every day.

7. What is expected as a disney employee?
Disney employees otherwise referred to as ‘cast members’, especially
ones that are in character - must use surface acting on a daily basis to
maintain the ideology that Walt Disney World is the “Happiest Place on
Earth”.
Disney is one of the most demanding organizations to work for when
it comes to emotional labor
Some employees have trained themselves to go from using surface

8. More Cast member expectations
According to an old cast member, the number one job at Disney is to “keep the illusion of
Disney alive” that means pretending that everything in Disney is real - including the
characters. There is only one Mickey Mouse - even if there are multiple walking around the
park. “There is nothing outside of Disney”. This old cast member also said working there is
like working a day long suspension of belief.
Long hours, sometimes employees work 10-18 hour shifts to make overtime. As a full time
cast member, you’re required to work overtime on any shift. This can take a toll on your
mental health as it is a long time to be in character and have to perform everything that
is expected of you as your character. Having to perform emotional labor for that long
makes you think you could forget who you really are.

9. What employees are not allowed
‘Cast members’ at Disney are not allowed to ‘not know’ something. If someone answers
them a question they must know the answer. This can create high levels of anxiety and
wouldn't be surprising if employees were in a constant state of anxiety on and off shift.
Employees are not allowed to have tattoos, show earrings, have their hair cut a certain way,
have unkempt fingernails, point (must use two fingers or use palm), bend over to pick
something up (must use ‘sweeping’ motion), or talk about their job on any social media
platform. Having to abide by all these rules (and more) can without a doubt be very
emotionally exhausting.

10. Dealing with customers
Dealing with the public every day at any job is always a struggle. At Disney however, an old
cast mate describes talks about different park guests and how Americans are the rudest.
Having to deal and interact with people for 10-18 hours a day is emotionally exhausting -
especially if you have to remain in character as well as keep that smile on your face even
when a customer is being disrespectful to you. This can cause a lot of pent up anger and is
absolutely not good for the mental health of these employees - especially if they are working
long days and don’t have any time to outlet these emotions in a healthy way.

11. Stressors and burnout
According to the text, extended periods of stress can cause emotional exhaustion. This is
called Burnout. Burnout is caused when environmental stressors create strain on an
individual.
Stressors that lead to burnout are :
Workload - Employees are expected to work long shifts
Role Conflict - Having to play a character all day and lose touch with yourself
Role Ambiguity - Being not ‘allowed’ to not know the answer to a question/having to
strictly stay in character
Life Events - It is very hard to get time off at Disney - one employee got the ultimatum of
getting married or getting fired

12. Symptoms of burnout
Symptoms of burnout include:
Emotional exhaustion - This would be easy to do, by pretending to be super happy all day
every day for hours on end, even when you may be upset or dealing with other negative
emotions that are pent up inside.
Decreased personal accomplishment - This ties in with emotional exhaustion in the sense
that employees get so emotionally exhausted that they don’t believe they can do their
jobs anymore and that leads to a feeling of failure.
Depersonalization - Extremely relevant to cast mates, as their main job focus is interacting
with park goers. Having to pretend to be nice and happy to a customer who is actively
being rude to you is going to make you develop a poor opinion and dislike towards
people,

13. Emotional labor closely linked to burnout
According to the text, emotional labor and burnout are closely linked. Workers subject to
emotional labor are at serious psychological risk. Not expressing your true emotions turns
into emotional dissonance where there is conflict between experienced emotions and
emotions expressed to display rules.
This can turn into depersonalization which is categorized as reality or detachment of
oneself, regarding one’s mind or body to be detached; to feel like the observer of oneself.
This seems very probable, as these cast mates are spending most of their lives pretending to
be someone they’re not.

14. How to NOT cope with burnout
Dysfunctional ways of coping:
According to the text, a dysfunctional way of coping with burnout is by using alcohol.
According to a previous cast mate, partying was a big part of working at Disney. Cast mates
would engage in reckless drinking and risky sexual behavior - no doubt a conscious or
subconscious way of coping with burnout and the demands of the job. This could also lead to
hangovers in which would result in absenteeism, which at Disney, could mean the loss of
your job.

15. Other symptoms of burnout
Burnout can lead to psychological issues, as well as physiological,
attitudinal, and organizational issues.
Burnout can contribute to:
Coronary Heart Disease
High blood pressure
Lower job satisfaction
Less commitment
Turnover

16. Healthy ways to cope with burnout
Three types of coping with burnout according to Folkman, Lazarus, Gruen and Delongis.
1. ) Problem Centered Coping: Dealing directly with the cause of burnout.
- Cast members could quit their job and feel much better.
2.) Appraisal Centered Coping: Changing the way one thinks about the situation
- Cast members could reflect on the fact they’re making people happy on vacation and try
to find the job personally rewarding, rather than a way to just make money.
3.) Emotion centered Coping: Dealing with the negative affective outcomes of burnout.
- Cast members can accept that this is what they’re going to have to deal with if they
want to keep their job.

17. More ways to cope
1. Participation in decision making. Having the opportunity to help make a decision in
the workplace.
- Due to the strictness of Disney, this may be tough but it is worth a shot. Even attempting
to make a change could help to cope.
2.) Communicative Coping: Having social support, someone to talk to
- According to previous cast mates, the Disney team is like one big family. It may be easy
to find social support here, but if not, a phone call to friends and family could help a lot.

18. Questions and thoughts
How does Disney get away with treating their employees like this?
Is there any report, on record of Cast Mates coming down with severe
psychological issues?
I feel as if it is very easy to come down with mental illness from
working in an environment like Disney’s. If something serious ever
happened to an employee, would Disney keep it quiet so they can
continue business as usual?

19. Questions and thoughts con’t
What would happen if an employee tried to change something at
Disney in order to cope with burnout by using the PDM coping
mechanism?
Is Disney aware of the emotional stress they are putting on their
employees?
If they are aware, would they care to change anything or would one
little thing ruin the ‘illusion’ that all cast members are trying to
preserve for park goers?

20. Works Cited
Meltzer, Matt. "What I Learned Working 6 Years at the (Not So) Wonderful World of Disney."
Thrillist. Thrillist, 23 June 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
"26 Reasons Disney World Is NOT The Happiest Place On Earth." Odyssey. N.p., 25 July 2016.
Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Miller, Katherine. Organizational Communication . Stamford: Cengage Learning , 2015. Print.