Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Resposibility

-is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders. 

The Walt Disney Company, since the first stages of the building of Disneyland, Walt was not just a creative visionary, but also a lover of the environment. Walt wanted his company to be environmentally conscious as well as socially responsible. Because of that goal, here at the Disneyland Resort there have been numerous reservations over the years that allow the company to be socially responsible.

One way that the company practices their social responsibilty is by referring to the Three R's whenever possible.

Three R's

1. Reduce
2. ReUse
3. Recycle

1. Reduce: Waste Minimization
2. ReUse: things that are no longer used within that park as well as office buildings are distributed to the community to avoid the lanfills

• the company also partners with "Clean the World"-a company that collects all of the used bath soaps from hotels and melts them down, runs them through a sanitation process and then distributes the new soaps to children around the world that can not afford bath products

     3. Recycle: Food waste collection- the food all over the park are picked up at the end of the night and put through a sanitation process and then becomes animal mulch for the animals that are on resort property.

• the vehicles on Main Street, the Trams, attraction boats, and buses are all ran on compressed Natural Gas
• the Monorail and Finding Nemo Subs are run on electromagnetic energy

Water Conservation

The Disneyland Resort has its own weather station that is used to tell the sprinklers around the resort how to water the flower beds according to weather conditions...for example, the sprinklers run a little longer on hotter days and do not run at all when there is sufficient moisture in the air.

• the shower heads in the hotels on property all conserve water
• Disneyland is leading the Walt Disney Company in water conservation, it has reduced use of water by 20% in the past 5 years.

 

 Designing the Environment

• newer buildings have solar tubes that are used to light the buildings during the day time
• Pervious Asphalt is used in the newer parking lots on resort property, the asphalt allows water to filter down down past the ground and is recylced
• Thermal Energy Storage Tank- stores water and chills it overnight to be used to run the air conditioning around the resort, but the tank allows for the water to be chilled at cooler times of the day that way less energy is used in all aspects

Working 40+ Hours per Week....while Simultaneously taking 4 academic Classes

To start off,

Im exhausted!!!......and mising my friends

Even though I'm having the time of my life here at the Disney College Program and I have had the opportunity to meet so many important people involved within the company, I still have to admit. This program does start to take its toll on you. It wasnt until a couple weeks ago during work that I really started to miss my friends back home.

I was working at my usual location when out of the blue, a couple cars rolled up to the kiosk and when i leaned in to talk to them, I realized that my friends were in both cars. By coincidence they had just arrived to the hotel to pick up another friend and didnt realize it was actually my work location. Thats when the "friendsickness" started. I dont call it "home sickness" because I dont actually miss home, I more miss my friends that ARE home.



This is essentially my life right now.



See because what the recruiters dont tell you at the recruiting events is that this will be an experience of a lifetime and you will make lifelong fiends and connections that you could only dream of BUT the trade off, you will lose some friends back home, you will grow up a lot faster and you REALLY shouldnt try to take classes at your University at the same time.

Most of nights that arent spent working are spent trying to decide if I want to miss that week's assignemt for my 4 classes or go out and make those lifelong friends and connections that I was sold on when starting the program. Lately unfortunately I've been more focused on everything BUT school. Time management is really something I should look into. What I have decided is this though, I LOVE my job, I LOVE my friends here and I LOVE the area but sometimes, work or school, or social life has to be sacrified. You can only pick two options.

I have had some pretty epic and memorable events here though. Just to take a break from the past couple weeks of formalities, i'll share some pictures of what my life has been like these past couple of months here at the college program in Anaheim,ca. Enjoy!



I got "married" at Disneyland. My friend Jude and I are on the right and
 my roommate Kaitlyn is on the left with her "husband"




This is me, Kaitlyn, and Spencer at Huntington Beach. Spencer just got
a Manager in LA and is starting to play music in the club circuit there.

Company Leadership Competencies

This week in my Blended Learning Series class, we learned about the Company Leadership Competencies that are maintained within the Disney Company and is expected of everyone that seeks to make a lifelong career at Disney.

 The top 8 competency levels that Disney instills in its cast members are

1. Thinks Strategically (develops a game plan for success)
2. Builds Relationships (Cultivates relationships to advance business goals)
3. Communicates Effectively (Inspires, influences and informs others)
4. Drives Results (Delivers timely, high quality work that adds value)
5. Inspires Creativity and Innovation (Generates breakthrough ideas to improve performance)
6. Champions Change (Advances new initiatives that align with business strategy)
7. Builds Teams (Aligns people to a shared purpose)
8. Exhibits Professional Excellence (Acts as a role model for others)

 This past week I had a "check-in" with one of the managers that was assigned to me to make sure that I was liking my position within the company. She asked about what my aspirations were for movement within the company and how would I like for her to help me get to where I want to be in the future.

I've been learning more and more that this company prides itself on creating and promoting cast members that actually want to move up within the company.

Networking....the Disney Way

As a part of the Disney College Program, you don't just get a job with 40+ hours a week of work, but you're also required to take one class per quarter. So summed up, that is two classes per the length of the program.
The class that I'm taking this quarter is called Blended Learning Series. Components of the class are

Walt drawing the original Mickey, with the modern Mickey peeking over.

• Networking and Leadership Excellence      
• Disney Heritage
• Skills & Transition
• Corporate Citizenship
• VoluntEAR Experience 
• Ambassador Interviews 

 The class is only once a week for three hours each. This past week we had a more in depth view on the importance of Networking and what the "Disney Way" of networking is.

The Disney Way 

1. Why make connections

• Career development
• meeting others 
• partnering for efficient work environment
• gathering information for future interests

 2.  Meet and Greets

• be prepared to have a 30 minute conversation
• the conversation is more informational, not a job search
• Identify your objective
• do your research BEFORE the meet and greet
• identify how your interest relates to the individual you are meeting with

What is also very important is to understand what type of formalities to use when networking. If you are at formal marketing event where everyone has the intention to make connections at that moment then be prepared for that. Have a 30 second informational speech prepared as an introduction of yourself to others.
If you are in an informal moment where the connection is being made almost unintentionally then also be aware of that moment and opportunity. Again, it is not a job search, you are just making a connection to keep in touch with in the future.

Also, make sure that your online persona is clean and doesn't have any information you wouldn't want your boss to know about. Remember that your future employers WILL Google you and they do look or specific qualities online. Like:

• Extroversion                                       
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to new experiences
• Neuroticism(are you crazy?)

The Walt Disney Company and whatever your future employment at the company is all based on the amount of hard work and good ol' fashion networking you're willing to put in. The opportunities are endless at this company. We, the cast members, place the limitations on ourselves, there is little to nothing standing as a roadblock preventing you from moving onward and upward within the company.

Training....fooooooooooreeeeeveer

So I am one of two people in the Disney college program that is a part of Guest Services at the hotels on property. That is a really big accomplishment that I am constantly reminded of by everyone else in the program that doesn't exactly "love" their job.
The other person that works Guest Services in the program with me is Jude.....hes pretty awesome. He's also my fake husband at work...ya, I have a fake husband at work.

Thats Jude.

I'm not allowed to talk a lot about my job, to preserve the magic of course. So I'll be as detailed as possible with the training and then next week when I have a better handle of working by myself then I'll have a better description of my day to day work life.

The training was so intensive, it was nearly one full month. That's how important our job is. Before I was even allowed to see a guest in my costume I had one week of training backstage. It was 7 days at 8 hours each and basically in that 7 days we had so much information grilled into us. Like the four keys that Disney Stands by.

Safety, Courtesy, Show, Efficiency

The 7 day intensive training was called "Global Lodge Training" and it came with an 80 page notebook to fill in.
-______-

There was also "Traditions," which is the first day of your official work for the Walt Disney Company. they also drill the Four Keys into you there as well s the entire history of the Walt Disney Company. they do this so that we as new Cast Members are able to understand fully why it is that we follow the the Four Keys so deeply. We as Cast Members, believe that in order for Disney to continue to be as successful as it is, we need to fully understand the significance of keeping the "show" going as "efficiently" and "safely" as possible with keeping "courtesy" in mind.

So this week is my first week of work absolutely by myself because I have officially passed all my training and tests. I'll have a better update next week once my hours go from 50+ a week down to hopefully 30-40. Because I am absolutely exhausted!!

Till next week. Here are some more pictures that I could get from Traditions. Again, they arent that detailed so that the "magic" can be protected. Till next time!

Apartment Living.....Week 2-ish

So here we are, 12 days into the Disney College Program.....and I am EXHAUSTED. I moved in on Sunday, January 13th. I woke up at 6am to be on the road by 7am in order to be somewhat in the beginning of the check-in waiting line in hopes that I wasn't the last person to get stuck with the top bunk in the three person bedroom.

Thankfully I was actually pretty close to the front of the line once I got there and can you believe it? This was my view! (That "crowd" there is actually all the other people that were ahead of me in line)
They all got there around 7am even though their check in time was not until 9am....nobody wanted that top bunk ;p

But joke is on them! I was there 30 minutes before my check in at 9am and I got the single bed in the three person bedroom! I was really excited about that if you cant tell already.

Anyways! There is so much more to talk about but for purposes of organization I'll just be talking about the apartment today. This place is amazing! It is a spacious two bedroom apartment with a living room, washer/dryer, and a full kitchen that includes a dishwasher....although the appliances don't exactly work the way they are supposed to. The dishwasher has constant calcium build up and leaves it on the dishes and the washer/dryer can really only wash three pairs of jeans at a time and takes almost an hour and a half to fully dry just those three pairs. The view. Oh gosh! My bedroom, which I share with two other girls has a a wooooonderful view of a parking garage that is constantly lit up, which makes my room look like daylight 24/7 even with the massive window shades drawn down.

But overall, I love my apartment, and I love my roommates! Considering we all have only met almost two weeks ago, I think we have gotten to know each other pretty well and I already feel comfortable with them. I might have a bit of a roommate jackpot minus a few hiccups here and there.

Here are some more pictures of the place with a little welcome into my new life for the next 8 months. Until next time!!

Preparing to Move In(or out?)...sorta

(Does anyone else notice the blatant attempt at diversity??......I applaud the intentions though)

So, with 27 days till move in(or move out, depending on how you see the glass) day. I'm getting more consistent emails about things concerning the apartment and formal Hire documentation. Including this lovely reminder that I have not figured out a roommate for the program.

Awesome reminder!(Noooooot -___-)

 I was a little disappointed when I realized that I would be going into the program without knowing who my roommate will be. I wont even know where my apartment is OR if I'll be getting stuck with the 3 person bedroom...actually I don't even care about that part, I just really don't want the top bunk on the bunk bed. Ugh.


Aaaaaaanyways. On a brighter note. I've almost completely forgotten about the class I'll be taking there. The class is called Blended Learning Series! And it doesn't start till February, which I think will be like 2 or 3 weeks into the program. Once everyone has gotten settled. The can't 100% remember but the class is either once or twice a week. I'll make sure to do a complete post dedicated to more information once I have a handle on it.

This is the syllabus for the class. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

Also, I wish the website were more well kept in terms of keep an update to date live check list for each participant. For example....here's  taste of what I'm constantly being reminded to do..

...I've already done all on the list, or at least all that I can do. But constantly seeing that "action required" in big RED really stresses me out!! I'm so paranoid that maybe I haven' done something right that I've been taking screen shots of almost everything I complete and then printing it and throwing it into a folder to take with me when I go through the check-in process. Bleh.

That's the update for today!
Cheers!