What Disney can teach workers

A new study from UCF Associate Professor Dr. Jonathan Matusitz focuses on the hospitality giant Disney and explains how the company can claim it is the “happiest place on Earth.”

Although park employees didn’t prove immune to exhaustion caused by faking it (referred to as surface acting), researchers identified two coping mechanisms that dramatically cushioned the blow: first, the perception of being well-suited to the job, and second, having engaged leaders who valued feedback and provided adequate resources to deal with workplace demands.

Dr. Matusitz, who co-authored the study with Disney alumna Anne Reyers, said the result is that the company’s front line attrition rate is four to five times lower than the rest of the hospitality industry.

“It’s a role model for success,” says Matusitz, whose study appears in the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health.

You can read more about the study here.