Human Resources Project - Cedar Fair

[twistedrails]

For my human resources course I was asked to pick a company that I would answer questions about given the topic of discussion for that week. The company I chose is Cedar Fair and up until this point I have been able to answer the questions from online findings, what I have heard, and my own experience and knowledge, but I've hit a wall this week.

The question is: "How often is performance reviewed in your company and what methods are used? Are the methods adequate for the workforce that is employed?"

Any insight anyone can provide on performance evaluations at a Cedar Fair, or any amusement park for that matter, would be appreciated. This is for an online class that gives us a very short amount of time to answer these questions, they're supposed to be answered by midnight on Tuesday, but are ultimately due Friday night. So whatever info you can provide before then would be great, thanks!

[Bubba Z]

I would say daily for employees operating rides.  How many guest per hour are they putting through.   There should be a goal set for the employee by the company.    That's all i have for now. I only review my staff every 6 months and base it off a performance guide when giving raises.

[twistedrails]

Thanks for the response Bubba, I was also able to get some further insight from someone who works at GAdv  Probably should have picked Six Flags as my company, oh well.

Anyways continuing on this project...this weeks question I have a fairly decent grasp on but once again any insight you want to toss my way is appreciated, especially for the second part of the question.

As with some of the others lately, this one might be a bit tough to get information, but do the best you can.

Does the company you are tracking have try to promote from within or do they hire management staff (especially senior managers) from the outside? (For this one, looking at the annual report or the company's website will allow you to see the backgrounds of the senior managers - CEO, COO, CFO, etc).

Also, if the information is available, are formal plans put into place to help develop staff? Are high potential employees identified for advancement programs?  If so, talk a bit about common types of plans.

Obviously on the level of CEO and other executive officers have been with the company for awhile, serving as general managers and such at some of the parks as can be seen by their biographies listed on the cedar fair website. http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/company/officers/

Would you say that this trend of promoting from within generally holds true for the company for other managerial/supervisor positions? Or do you think it's more a combination? Or more outside hires?

[rjholla2003]

Promotions are usually posted internally before externally, and I would think that holds true for most businesses.  At Great Adventure, most people seem to be park lifers that just keep working the ladder.