Pay Rate for 06

So do you think CP actually stepped up this year and did something for the employees like raising the pay. Or maybe did they do something for us this year like beefed up house like maybe less people per room. ( not likely there) If anyone has any info really if they are going to pay us better that would be great. I know alot of people, esp the better employees are going to need more money in order to come back.

Pay for the 2006 season is the same as last season. No change there.

I'm not sure, but I do know that Disney raised their pay from 6.25 to 6.40 for 2006, I always hoped CP would follow suit.

The newsletter e-mail said no change.

that would be cool if they gave us an pay increase next year but it aint gone happen.

It will happen 2 ways. First they would be completely unable to keep adequate staffing at such a low rate. This is unlikely since there are plenty of people that still work there despite that fact. It is subjective if they have or have not reached that point yet. At this point management has obviously not chosen to raise it. Secondly, there may be a government mandated minimum wage increase either by the state of Ohio or the federal government. This is unlikely too.

Cedar Point actually pay their employees who work 70+ hours a week. Naw, I dont see it happening. They will keep paying their seasonal employees 6.25 and hold that bonus over their heads.

Can you imagine if they changed the law that classifys us as "migrant workers" and forced them to pay us overtime if we worked over 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day. I swear my paychecks would be like $700+ a week! It won't ever happen though unless someone takes a case to the state legislature.

Hey you can make more money just for getting a leadership position. But they just don't give those away to a newbie!

Wow...a whole 15 cents extra an hour. Sign me up!!

ForgottenEE said, "This is unlikely since there are plenty of people that still work there despite that fact. It is subjective if they have or have not reached that point yet."

Are there people filling the positions? In most cases, yes. But are they of the quality you should expect? In many cases, no.

If you are going to be paying 4 or 5 star rates for hotel rooms you should expect...DEMAND...4 or 5 star service, cleanliness, etc. The same can be said for service in the parks. Would anyone be willing to say there has been 4 or 5 star service at the parks in recent years?

I will admit to some examples of that high quality service but it isn't the norm. This an issue not confined to Cedar Point. It is happening at the Busch parks, Disney parks, and...painfully obviously at the Six Flags parks.

This is an industry issue. I'd like to see Cedar Fair step up and take a proactive, visionary stance on wages for seasonals but I don't see that happening while Mr. Kinzel is around and I doubt it will happen post Kinzel.

When you think about things. you can really tell how much the management these days doesnt care about the employees. Look back in the '80s and early 90's. People took pride in their work. They had great housing, they got paid great, they also had alot of events and things to do when off work. Plus they had an employee beach. People LOVED working at CP. They would pull off GREAT numbers, never bitch or complain (I Assume). lol. People loved coming to a park with great employees.
Lets take a look at NOW!
Employees dont get paid much, have crap housing, no events that people want to go to. No more employee beach. Bad Riders/hour on rides. No Good employees will go back there anymore, and now the park attendace is down, people are less happy when they go there. People would rather go to other places where they are treated better!
I think that in order for Cedar Point to be the cream of the crop in Parks again when it comes to Customer Satisfaction. They need to make the employees more HAPPY. If anyone can show me proof that this is not the reason for the employees and guests having problems someone please prove me wrong! *** Edited 12/7/2005 5:18:28 PM UTC by Shifter*** *** Edited 12/7/2005 5:19:35 PM UTC by Shifter***

Cedar Point employees have always complained about the pay. This is not something that has changed over the last 15-20 years. Obviously, there's more to this job or any other job than $x.xx/hour.

Well the pay is only part of the reason most people decide to work at an amusement park (and usually a very small part). Like for me, I am a self proclaimed nut when it comes to parks like this. I just want the bragging rights to say, "Yes I worked in an amusement park." So the pay is only part of it, and personally I didn't mind the paychecks so much as the generall indifference to employees that most (not all) of the upper management shows.

Most of the upper management just does not seem to care about the employees as much as they used to. I will be the first to admit that this was my first year working there (and I didn't even last through July) but from listening to people, both here and at the park, most of the management has quit listening to the employees. Upgrading housing, transportation, and the food would be a big plus to employees, and I am pretty sure that they hear some of these complaints, but I doubt if they here enough of it. If you have a problem, complain to someone, that is what the open door policy is all about, maybe if enough people complain something will be done about it.

As for fun things to do, well of course there is free access to the park on your time off (even though early and late in the season you don't get too much time off). Also ESD does offer allot of things for people to do, they just don't get the number of people to make these things viable financially, so they end up canceling most of them.

If there is something you would like to do, get a bunch of people together who would like to do it also, and approach ESD about it. They are always looking for things that the employees want to do, all you have to do is tell them and if enough people want to do it, and if it makes sense financially, then they will do it.

One thing I noticed this year (I don't know if they did this in previous years or not) they had the Employee/Management meetings, where the employee representatives could talk directly to the management about problems. For just the time that I was there I saw some improvements (paving in the Commons lot, a new bus stop on point, ect) but the thing that I am trying to get across here is that if no one tells management that there is a problem they won't fix it. I don't think too much of the management actually reads the boards like this, and even if they do how do they know these complaints are coming from employees and not just people who have rarely if ever actually visited the employee areas.

I am sure some people are complaining just to complain, but if your not willing to step up and fight for the better conditions than what is the reason for complaining.

*steps off soap box for now*
Sorry for the rambling. :) *** Edited 12/7/2005 6:02:38 PM UTC by Matthew Drake***

All people do is complain. Go into the real world and find a place to live for $125 a month that includes your rent, electric, air, cable, bus pass (yes a bus isn't free in most cities). Granted you have to live with roommates but they come and go. Hell, I had my own room most of my two years at CP. I live in the chicago area and I can tell you that stuff here adds up to about $1200 a month. Even divided by 4 roommates, that's still $300 a month.

Plus try and find 70-80 hours of work per week at home. Most companies won't give more than 40 hours just because of OT(just ask any Castaway Bay employee!). So you have to have two jobs. Plus you have to get the schedules to work within each other plus get to each location on time. That's a ton of traveling.

I think what most employees forget is why they came. Most to make some money for school or to meet lots of new people.

But the shock of working up to 70-80 hours in all types of weather plus being under stress takes it's effects. Then these same employees try to add hours of drinking and other activities. It will catch up to you and next thing you know, you're fired!

One thing I do know is that lot's of fired or quiting employees try to work CP again. Most say they learned from their mistakes. Something you don't realize until your in the real world.
*** Edited 12/7/2005 6:26:34 PM UTC by 901liveson***
*** Edited 12/7/2005 6:27:44 PM UTC by 901liveson***

RidePhoto101 said:
Can you imagine if they changed the law that classifys us as "migrant workers" and forced them to pay us overtime if we worked over 40 hours per week or 8 hours per day. I swear my paychecks would be like $700+ a week! It won't ever happen though unless someone takes a case to the state legislature.

It's funny you say that RidePhoto because from what an HR Director told me, CP is not exempt from paying overtime to their seasonal employees. I'll have to do the research to find out the whys and the hows but from what I was told CP is obligated to pay overtime. Someone correct me if I am wrong please.

CP does not have to pay overtime to its seasonal employees because they are only seasonal. My dad looked into it one time...it has something to do with how the park is only open 6 months. My dad said something about how if the park were open 7 months or more than overtime would have to be payed. I dont know about the specifics of it though. Im not quite sure about those. But i do know that we do not get payed overtime because we are only seasonal workers.
*** Edited 12/7/2005 7:02:43 PM UTC by SARCASTICsatan***

cp pay system is already set for how they puy us every year and i would love to see cedars renovated for better conditions but will it happen i dunno. but if the money is an issue do like alot of other people did. go into sandusky and get another job

A few corrections/comments:

It isn't that Cedar Point managers don't care. Most of them care very deeply and most of them would say that yes, the pay is suspect, housing is still in dire need of upgrades and more could be done for the seasonal employees. The issue comes down to Cedar Fair powers that be, namely Mr. Kinzel. He ultimately decides where/how monies are spent. (Yes, there is a Board but they are pretty well in his pocket.)

The delay between the tear down of the old employee Rec center and the building of the new one is directly attributable to Mr. Kinzel.

I sat in on a "task force" back in the 90's that was responsible for making recommendations to executive management regarding recruiting/hiring shortages. We came up with many ideas which were largely ignored. The task force wrote a memo to Mr. Kinzel asking him to reconsider the suggestions and the author of that letter was given a pretty good lashing that got around to everyone else pretty quickly.

So yes, complaints about pay have been around for years...but they are legitimate complaints. There has been no real change to the bonus structure since the mid-90's and they pay has, at best, kept up with the service industry. But, if you claim to be "THE BEST..." and you charge prices/room rates that are in the top tier then your guests should expect more from the employees.

A lot of studies have been done that suggest pay is a minimal factor in an employees overall satisfaction with a job. But those studies involve full time employees that have benefits above and beyond their wage. Insurance, vacation, 401Ks, etc. A seasonal employee has none of that.

So, what keeps the seasonal employee happy?

Pay check. (We have established that the hourly wages are no better than your local mall.) With the bonus kids can earn more but that bonus system is not unique anymore. Lots of service jobs are doing it now.

Housing. While new dorms have been added, the fact of the matter is that a large group of employees are still "living" in Cedars and Gold and that is, frankly, pathetic.

Treatment by Management If you, yourself, are not a seasonal manager then you probably have limited contact with full time management. Most full time managers that I know do an admirable job. But, a typical employee's view of management usually comes from the seasonal supervisors who are not much older or experienced than they are and who don't make a lot much more money for the added responsibility. Add to that that everyone is working 6 days a week, 60 hours and more and everyone is tired.

Extra Activities You get to go in the park for free. Nice for the first few weeks but that gets tiresome for the average, non-enthusiast employee. There is the beach and Soak City plus the Employee Relations activities. Not bad vs. working at the Gap back home...I'll grant you that.

Edit: (I didn't want to get timed out.)

The employees do have seasonal status which in the State of Ohio exempts Cedar Point from paying overtime so long as the employee doesn't average 40 hours per week for X number of weeks in the year. That is why many of the part time (yet basically year 'round) employees are "laid off" for a few months during the winter time.

I said it before, this isn't strictly a Cedar Point issue. It is an industry issue. But, Cedar Point could be blazing the way in the industry because they have resources many parks do not. First and foremost is the land/facilities they have for housing. The off-point accommodations are improving (though even the Bayside Apartments are aged). But, they could easily build more for the employees, getting everyone off point and providing for some nicer amenities. Disney has terrific housing for employees. You pay more but you get what you pay for. Beautiful pools, internet access, tennis courts, volleyball, condo-style accommodations, etc.

Finally, if the industry (or the Cedar Fair's of the industry) want to place quality service as one of their top priorties then they need to treat their employees in as high regard as their next captial purchase.

If anyone gave a better example of that than Six Flags in Ohio then I haven't seen it. They built great rides but the people stayed away in droves. Why? Because the service was lousy, the cleanliness was terrible, and you got a sense that the employees didn't care. Poor service (and admittedly some bad management) brought a company to it's knees. And after the comments that have been made in the past year or so...Cedar Fair should be weary.
*** Edited 12/7/2005 7:48:19 PM UTC by Chief Wahoo***

OK I agree with you that the management that I normally see is all seasonal, and not full time. And that the management that is full time care about how the employees are treated, and for the most part while I was there, the full time management treated me very well, better than some jobs I have had. But the main reason I was posting was the fact that I keep hearing people, both here and while I was at the park, complain about their treatment. Well if all you do is complain and not *talk* to the management about your problems, then nothing is going to happen to improve the situation.

I also agree that the seasonal employees don't get the same kind of perks that the full time employees do. Yes for the enthusiasts you have the park, but for the non-enthusiasts you have the events that the Employee Services Department (ESD I thought I would spell it out for the people reading, who might not know what I mean by that) put on (read my earlier post for why ESD does not always do the things that the employees would like) also you have plenty of things to do in Sandusky, as well as other nearby cities. (Yes there is a shuttle bus that runs into Sandusky, and yes it is free, another perk)

Most of the employees that are living in Cedars and Gold either don't know any better or don't have much choice, not enough room anywhere else, or don't know that they can change rooms. I have seen a few posts on here where people were saying they left after only checking 1 room did not even bother to look around.

I personally liked living in the Commons apartments, my roommates were mostly honest and were not very rowdy, and we got along pretty well. The rooms were a little crowded at times, but I still had fun living with other people (I come from a large family so the crowds were not a problem for me). I did find that there were only 2-3 people out of 16 that were actively cleaning, so it did get messy once in awhile.

The only part I did not like about commons was the outrageous security around the housing. OK I can understand that they want to keep everyone safe, but you can take it too far. Keeping everyone in what I have heard described as a prison is not what I consider conductive to happy employees.

Of course if you hate housing so much, you are more than welcome to get a place off point. There are a few apartments that rent out to Cedar Point employees that are not that expensive. You always have the choice to not live on point if you don't like it.

I feel that they could spend the money on the employees and upgrade the housing, put some amenities in (a decent basketball court, air conditioning in all rooms, high speed Internet, having more than one entrance for the busy times, ect.) I would gladly pay more on rent for better accommodations, or better amenities.

Considering how much complaining I have heard, I am almost surprised at how well the employees treat the guests. I think it is more just that the employees who end up staying more than a few days really want to be there, either because they enjoy it, or as I said before they just want the bragging rights.

As long as they get the employees in, and they are treating the guests well, management will just figure that everything is working out, and won't worry about spending large amounts of investment dollars on improving things that are still working.