Disney World Offers 4-Day Workweek

In an ongoing effort to cut costs, Walt Disney World is offering salaried employees at the Florida resort the option of working a four-day week.

A Walt Disney Co. spokeswoman said the offer was made to 7,400 salaried employees during the last two weeks. The offers are being made as an alternative to layoffs, which might not occur even if the company does not get the desired number of applicants.

Employees who take the offer will be able to keep insurance and retirement benefits. The company wouldn’t say how many employees it hoped would take the offers.

Many of Walt Disney World’s 40,000 hourly workers have had their hours reduced since the Sept. 11 attacks. The offer was confined to Disney World, officials said.

Earlier this year, Disney cut 4,000 jobs worldwide, including more than 1,000 at Disney World and Disneyland. In other cutbacks, Disney World reduced the hours of some attractions and restaurants and furloughed an unspecified number of contract workers.

Disney World, which operates four theme parks, saw a dramatic falloff in business after Sept. 11 because of its dependence on out-of-state visitors who travel by air.