Theme Park Staffing Issues

[Enter Valhalla]

Theme parks in the UK have, from my memory, struggled with being short-staffed for almost as long as I can remember, but since Covid, this problem seems to have really exacerbated and doesn’t seem to be showing much sign of improving.

Pre-Covid, we’d often see managers covering positions on the rides, or non-essential positions such as batchers or entrance hosts being cut, particularly during break times, or single rider queues being closed due to lack of staffing.

It’s only since 2021 however, that I’ve seen this problem really escalate, with things like rides closing altogether for lack of staff, rides opening late due to lack of engineers to do the morning checks, certain non-compulsory positions basically never being covered (when was the last time we saw entrance hosts on the coasters at Thorpe and Chessington for example?), yet we only have to turn on the news and hear that youth unemployment is the highest it’s been for ages.

This seems to be a problem across all of the UK theme parks, not just Merlin.

So why do people think this is?

Personally I don’t buy the “young people don’t want to work anymore” argument. Far form it. Anecdotally, from what I’ve seen, under 25s seem very happy to work, but the issue seems to be more that theme parks no longer seem to be appealing places to work anymore.

 

[rob666]

Money!

Minimum wage and national insurance issues especially, staff are now more expensive than they used to be.

Bring back YOP or YTS.
That would improve the staff issues with the stroke of a ministers pen, overnight.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Money!

Minimum wage and national insurance issues especially, staff are now more expensive than they used to be.

Bring back YOP or YTS.
That would improve the staff issues with the stroke of a ministers pen, overnight.

I don’t agree. What you’re referring to is why employers may wish to take on fewer staff.

Increased minimum wage and NI contributions would be an argument for why an employer may want to, for example, hire 5 staff as opposed to the 8 staff members that they would have hired when staffing costs were lower.

The issue in theme parks is that they don’t have enough staff to fill the positions. In other words, the vacancies are there, but people aren’t applying for them, hence why non-compulsory positions are being dropped at times when they’re needed and rides are, at times, having to close altogether on low staffing days, as well as managers often having to cover front-line staff positions. This is certainly not a case of the parks wanting to hire fewer staff, it’s a case of the people not wanting to fill those staffing positions.

 

[Benzin]

It's not a viable long term job. Maybe summer holidays for 16+ or a season. Plus seasonal zero hours contract means you're doing naff all with no income for potentially 4/5 months of year. Maybe not so much with Christmas/Half Term openings but those missing weeks add up quickly these days.

I'd wager as well the type of work (guest facing) doesn't necessarily attract itself well these days. Who wants to deal with whiney MAP holders all day?

One thing that is often noticeable abroad is the number of "actual adults" working at the park. Perhaps having a bit more stability in the more seasonal based roles and some heavy promotion of some actual decent training/progression would help.

 

[jon81uk]

The issue in theme parks is that they don’t have enough staff to fill the positions. In other words, the vacancies are there, but people aren’t applying for them, hence why non-compulsory positions are being dropped at times when they’re needed and rides are, at times, having to close altogether on low staffing days, as well as managers often having to cover front-line staff positions. This is certainly not a case of the parks wanting to hire fewer staff, it’s a case of the people not wanting to fill those staffing positions.

Why work for Alton Towers in the middle of nowhere, outdoors in the cold when Lidl & Aldi pay better? Money is still the issue, the parks don't want to pay enough to entice people to work there.

 

[BarryZola]

Why work for Alton Towers in the middle of nowhere, outdoors in the cold when Lidl & Aldi pay better? Money is still the issue, the parks don't want to pay enough to entice people to work there.

Yeah, and you get to work all year round at Aldi & Lidl so you know you've got a base rate of cash coming in 12 months a year. Unless you're in some admin roles, gardening, ride engineers or management and stuff like that, the job security in theme parks is rubbish and I expect pay is pretty much as low as they can get away with as well.

 

[rob666]

...The issue in theme parks is that they don’t have enough staff to fill the positions. In other words, the vacancies are there, but people aren’t applying for them...

How do you know the vacancies are there?
Recruitment and retention to third rate work (not permanent, low wage, low esteem) has always been difficult.
Why has the problem seemingly worsened?
Because proportionately, staff now cost more.
So the management don't try too hard to recruit, and use the "Just can't get the staff" line.

Searching for profit by cutting costs to the absolute bone in a difficult economy is nothing new.

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

Essentially, the fundamental socio-economic pillars that supported the seasonal leisure industry for the last thirty years have crumbled away.

We're witnessing a perfect storm of five distinct factors, none of which are within the control of a 17 year old looking for a summer job.

1. The Prohibitive Cost of Transport
Theme parks, by their nature (and planning permission constraints), are usually located in the middle of nowhere. Alton Towers is in a forest in Staffordshire. Paultons Park is on the edge of the New Forest. Lightwater Valley is in a field in Yorkshire.

You need to drive to work there, however, driving has become an unattainable luxury for the demographic these parks rely on. The average cost of car insurance for a 17 year old driver is now hovering around £2,500 - £3,000 a year. Driving lessons are £35 - £40 an hour. Used car prices remain inflated.

If you're on minimum wage (£7.55 for under 18s, £10.00 for 18 - 20), you are working the first 300+ hours of your contract just to pay for the privilege of getting to work.

Simultaneously, rural public transport has been decimated. Bus routes that used to funnel locals into these sites have been cut or reduced to frequencies that don't match shift patterns. If you can't drive, and the bus doesn't run, the job effectively doesn't exist.

2. The Education & Skills Act 2008
We often forget that the pool of school leavers entering the workforce at 16 has legally vanished. Since 2015, young people must stay in some form of education or training until they are 18.

The cohort that used to fill these full time seasonal roles are now in college or apprenticeships. They can only work weekends or holidays, drastically reducing the available labour hours. The 18+ demographic, who can work full time, are now looking for "career" jobs or university placements, not seasonal zero hours contracts pushing buttons.

3. The Gig Economy & Remote Work
Why stand in the rain at Thorpe Park being shouted at by guests because Hyperia has stalled again, when you can work in a climate controlled Amazon warehouse, pick your own shifts via an app and earn significantly more? Or better yet, find a remote customer service role you can do from your bedroom?

The "prestige" of working at a theme park doesn't pay the rent, and the alternative options for unskilled labour are now far more comfortable and flexible than they were in 2005.

4. Housing
If you can't recruit locals (because they can't get there), you need to recruit from further afield, but where do they live? The rental market in the UK is broken. A seasonal worker on minimum wage can't afford to rent a flat near Chessington or Windsor. Unless the park provides subsidised accommodation (which most don't, or have sold off), the job is geographically unviable.

5. Brexit
And finally, the self inflicted wound. The UK leisure and hospitality sector, for decades, relied on a steady stream of EU nationals willing to come over for a season, live in shared accommodation, work hard and travel home. They filled the gaps that the local labour market couldn't.

We severed that overnight. We told them they weren't welcome and created a visa system which makes it impossible for them to return for low skilled work. We removed a massive chunk of the flexible workforce and are now acting surprised that there is nobody left to operate the flat rides.

It's structural failure. Until the parks start offering transport, accommodation, or wages that actually cover the cost of living, the shortages will endure.

 

[Enter Valhalla]

Totally agree with everything you’ve said here @GooseOnTheLoose

One thing that you touched upon very briefly was the “prestige” of working at a theme park.

I used to work in the theme park industry here in the UK up until the late 2010s and one thing that really struck me was that some of the managers would talk about how lucky our staff should feel to be working at a theme park rather than at a supermarket or 9-5 job.

I strongly believe that they got this wrong. This may well have been the case 10-15 years ago, but times have changed and I genuinely agree that the vast majority of 16-25 year olds would rather have the security and convenience of working in somewhere like a supermarket (which our theme park managers always brushed off as being “boring” work)

The park management have perhaps in the past relied too much on “it’s a fun job”, to justify the long hours, low pay, lack of job security and minimal development opportunities. But as the years have gone on, and attitudes have changed, that novelty has very much worn off.

 

[Matt N]

I do agree that there is/was a degree of “prestige” in working in a theme park; it’s quite an atypical job that I think a lot of people would find exciting and cool on the face of it. For years, I think the parks have banked on that as a reason to offer quite limited benefits packages.

On a similar thread, one thing I think the industry has traditionally banked on is enthusiasm. Lots of people have worked in theme parks because they are enthusiasts and want to and have the drive to. 10-20 years ago, when times were, relatively speaking, “better”, I think it was easier to justify doing a job out of raw enthusiasm. But when bills are going up and money doesn’t go as far as it used to, there’s only so far enthusiasm alone can stretch to justify doing a job; everyone needs to pay to live, and people are increasingly feeling as though they want something in return for their labour aside from following a passion. With this in mind, I can see why a working environment such as a theme park, which requires you to be outdoors in all weathers, offers very limited job security, offers very limited progression, can be quite physical depending on the role with many roles requiring you to be up and on your feet all day, and can be outside of urban areas and difficult to get to without a car in some cases, is not a compelling proposition for many people in the way it used to be given the low pay.

This thread seems to centre around minimum wage front-of-house employees, but I’d argue that a potentially worse issue lies in recruiting and retaining skilled roles such as ride engineers. Ride availability problems have increased at parks in recent years, and engineering shortages have been well catalogued at parks like Alton Towers.

But if you think about it, why would a skilled engineer work at Alton Towers for any reason other than a specific desire to work in a theme park? JCB, an enormous engineering employer, is nearby, and even excluding the possibility of it paying better (I won’t profess to know about the comparative wages of JCB vs Alton Towers), it’s less remote, it’s guaranteed year-round work and it’s indoors, so that’s already 3 wins over Alton.

The parks need to make themselves more desirable, because I don’t think enthusiasm quite cuts it anymore.

 

[rob666]

So we all agree that the parks should increase their gate prices and pass charges to realistic levels and pay their staff a decent wage.

If only.

Bring back YTS.

 

[John_P]

If I was younger, or inclined to work at a theme park the only reason I'd do so now would be to gain experience to jump at a job at Universal when they prepare to open.

 

[Smiley]

So we all agree that the parks should increase their gate prices and pass charges to realistic levels and pay their staff a decent wage.

YES! They've suckered themselves into a corner offering a mediocre experience for a low cost. Universal will be a game-changer for the whole of the UK market IMHO; just like people (like me) willing to pay crazy money to travel to Florida, perhaps some people will re-evaluate the MAP offering and instead choose to visit only once per year but for that experience to be special.

Maybe Universal will be a location people want to work at, and bring back some of that lost magic.....

 

[GooseOnTheLoose]

YES! They've suckered themselves into a corner offering a mediocre experience for a low cost. Universal will be a game-changer for the whole of the UK market IMHO; just like people (like me) willing to pay crazy money to travel to Florida, perhaps some people will re-evaluate the MAP offering and instead choose to visit only once per year but for that experience to be special.

Maybe Universal will be a location people want to work at, and bring back some of that lost magic.....

It must be nice to have "crazy money" to burn on trans-Atlantic flights, but you're conflating your own fortunate financial position with the economic reality of the average UK household.

The idea that families currently struggling to justify a £150 Annual Pass (which provides entertainment for a whole year) are suddenly going to "re-evaluate" and drop £1,500+ for a single weekend at Universal Great Britain is fanciful. The Merlin Annual Pass, for many, isn't just a luxury; it is a childcare solution. It is a sunk cost that provides a "free" day out when the kids are climbing the walls. Trading that utility for a single, high cost "special experience" isn't a viable economic swap for most of the population.

There's also a fundamental flaw in the logic that increasing gate prices automatically leads to decent staff wages.

It doesn't. Raising prices increases revenue. Unless there is a scarcity of labour that forces the employer to raise wages to attract staff (which there is, but they are resisting it), or legislation that mandates it (Minimum Wage), that extra revenue flows directly to the bottom line. It goes to dividends, debt servicing and executive bonuses. It doesn't trickle down to the ride host on the gate.

We've seen energy prices soar, food prices soar and corporate profits soar. We haven't seen wages keep pace. Why would theme parks be any different?

Universal will undoubtedly be a desirable place to work because it will be new, shiny, and on a CV. But they are a division of Comcast, a ruthless American conglomerate. They will pay the market rate necessary to staff the park, and not a penny more. If they can fill the roles at £12.50 an hour, they will. They aren't coming to Bedford to run a charity for local employment; they're coming to extract profit.

 

[Dave]

If I was younger, or inclined to work at a theme park the only reason I'd do so now would be to gain experience to jump at a job at Universal when they prepare to open.

Universals not going to be paying much different and experience at base level won’t really count for much.

You might benefit from some time in a management position in Merlin if you want a management position in universal (know people who have got management jobs at universal in the states after working in management in Merlin). But other than that it won’t help much and pay won’t be any different.