Even Disney is laid low as staff refuse to go back to the office

Taking the Mickey! Even Disney is laid low as staff refuse to go back to the office and executive warns working from home could destroy the future of the business

More than 2,300 employees signed a petition urging Disney chief executive Bob Iger to reverse a decree that all staff must work in the office four days a week
Refusal to come into the office threatening to destroy business says an executive
Disney will lay off 7,000 workers by the end of year because of plunging profits

The creative talent at Walt Disney has given the world some of the greatest ever Hollywood movies.

But there are fears that the ‘collaborative process’ that helped conceive such gems as Bambi, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Toy Story is under threat – from a generation of staff who would prefer to work from home.

A senior executive with the Walt Disney Company told The Mail on Sunday that the refusal of young people to come into the office is threatening to destroy the future of the business.

Last week more than 2,300 employees signed a petition, which was delivered to Disney chief executive Bob Iger, begging him to reverse a decree which says all staff must work in the office four days a week, starting on March 1.

The petition warned that ending the work-from-home policies implemented during Covid would ‘force resignations among some of our most hard-to-replace talent’.

The executive last night said: ‘Traditionally, some of the greatest films ever came out of a collaborative process. You put writers in a room, talent in a room, executives in a room. You thrash it out, you exchange ideas, you scream at each other – but sometimes you come up with that magical X-factor which makes a great movie.

‘Younger people today don’t want to come into work. Bob [Iger] has mandated that everyone show up in the office from Monday through Thursday starting on March 1, and there’s a rebellion going on.’

Mr Iger said: ‘Creativity is the heart and soul of who we are and what we do at Disney. In a creative business nothing can replace the ability to connect, observe and create with peers that comes from being physically together.’

But the source said he has received ‘multiple complaints’ from parents who say the work-from-home policy suits their child-care plans. He has also received complaints from employees claiming the new policy was ‘deeply harmful’ to those who describe themselves as ‘neurodivergent’ – individuals who have medical conditions including attention-deficit disorder, autism and dyslexia. He said: ‘I am going to lose a fifth of my staff because I’m being told the office isn’t a “safe” space.

‘There is so much wokery going on I’m fearful of saying anything.’ Hollywood has been floundering since Covid decimated the global box office. While there have been rare hits like Avatar 2 and Top Gun: Maverick, many projects developed during the enforced work-from-home period have tanked. A Toy Story spin-off, Lightyear, was a critical and commercial flop, and Strange World, a $100 million animation starring Jake Gyllenhaal, had one of Disney’s worst-ever opening weekends.

Even Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans has not been a box-office success.

The source said: ‘This whole work-from-home thing means even great creatives like him were allowed to pursue things you might describe as “vanity projects”.’

Disney is set to lay off 7,000 workers by the end of this year because of plunging profits. This represents about three per cent of its 220,000 employees around the world.

The source at the company said: ‘All I know is that unless you get people back together, talking together, you’re not going to create magic. Face-to-face interaction is what makes the magic happen

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