Electronic Arts Pays Overtime
polycounter lvl 18
[ QUOTE ]
Officials from Electronic Arts are have internally announced a change in the companys overtime policy, which will see some workers begin to be paid for work done outside their normally contracted hours.
According to an internal email sent company-wide by Rusty Rueff, EA's director of human resources, and reported by the San Jose Mercury News: "The employment environment at EA was built to allow you flexibility as professionals, with the expectation that time on the job could be managed without watching the clock. Unfortunately, labor laws have not kept pace with this spirit of entrepreneurialism, innovation and creativity."
He continued: "Hourly compensation marks a profound change in the entrepreneurial culture of EA and Silicon Valley. It will come with trade-offs. The newly overtime-eligible employees will have very structured work days and structured work hours."
The price for overtime payments for those specifically targeted EA employees, however, is that those workers will no longer be eligible for options or bonuses.
This change, the extent of which is still somewhat unclear, has been impeled by a recent number of high profile lawsuits and a shift in mood within the industry, as an increasing number of employees rebel against the status quo. Electronic Arts has been at the forefront of such court actions, as well as being the recipient of complaints from so-called 'EA widows' spouses who fight limited access to their partners due to extreme amounts of schedule-keeping overtime.
However, since Electronic Arts' game coders and artists, a significant percentage of the 5,800 worldwide employees, are still affected by pending lawsuits, their status will not be changed until the legal action is resolved.
Electronic Arts has always maintained that it works well within the accepted norm of the games industry, with a bonus range from 5 to 30 percent of salaries. Responding to the groundswell of popular support to the overtime complaints, though, it appears that the company has been forced to review its compensation structure for some employees, with many larger publishers also now likely to consider changes.
-David Jenkins, Simon Carless
[/ QUOTE ]
Gamasutra Article
"The newly overtime-eligible employees will have very structured work days and structured work hours." He says that like it's a bad thing.
Officials from Electronic Arts are have internally announced a change in the companys overtime policy, which will see some workers begin to be paid for work done outside their normally contracted hours.
According to an internal email sent company-wide by Rusty Rueff, EA's director of human resources, and reported by the San Jose Mercury News: "The employment environment at EA was built to allow you flexibility as professionals, with the expectation that time on the job could be managed without watching the clock. Unfortunately, labor laws have not kept pace with this spirit of entrepreneurialism, innovation and creativity."
He continued: "Hourly compensation marks a profound change in the entrepreneurial culture of EA and Silicon Valley. It will come with trade-offs. The newly overtime-eligible employees will have very structured work days and structured work hours."
The price for overtime payments for those specifically targeted EA employees, however, is that those workers will no longer be eligible for options or bonuses.
This change, the extent of which is still somewhat unclear, has been impeled by a recent number of high profile lawsuits and a shift in mood within the industry, as an increasing number of employees rebel against the status quo. Electronic Arts has been at the forefront of such court actions, as well as being the recipient of complaints from so-called 'EA widows' spouses who fight limited access to their partners due to extreme amounts of schedule-keeping overtime.
However, since Electronic Arts' game coders and artists, a significant percentage of the 5,800 worldwide employees, are still affected by pending lawsuits, their status will not be changed until the legal action is resolved.
Electronic Arts has always maintained that it works well within the accepted norm of the games industry, with a bonus range from 5 to 30 percent of salaries. Responding to the groundswell of popular support to the overtime complaints, though, it appears that the company has been forced to review its compensation structure for some employees, with many larger publishers also now likely to consider changes.
-David Jenkins, Simon Carless
[/ QUOTE ]
Gamasutra Article
"The newly overtime-eligible employees will have very structured work days and structured work hours." He says that like it's a bad thing.
Replies
"However, since Electronic Arts' game coders and artists, a significant percentage of the 5,800 worldwide employees, are still affected by pending lawsuits, their status will not be changed until the legal action is resolved."
If all this is a good thing, I see this generating animosity and pressure to drop the case from the collegues of the employees who are making this case.
But then, I'm just a kid. What do I know?
1) This isn't definitely happening. It's under consideration
2) Artists and engineers wont fall under this system. That doesn't leave too many people.
3) It's still unclear as to wether or not those people will have to go under this system or might have the option of staying with the old system.
4) *edit* to address skankerzero: Yes, in going with this system, employess forfeit stock and bonuses.
4) *edit* to address skankerzero: Yes, in going with this system, employess forfeit stock and bonuses.
[/ QUOTE ]
That seems to strike me as all sorts of lame. It seems like no matter which way you choose to go on the deal you'll lose something.
[ QUOTE ]
4) *edit* to address skankerzero: Yes, in going with this system, employess forfeit stock and bonuses.
[/ QUOTE ]
That seems to strike me as all sorts of lame. It seems like no matter which way you choose to go on the deal you'll lose something.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know about that. While Darren said that artists won't get comped overtime (I don't understand why they wouldn't), if I had to choose between regular over-time salary coming in every two weeks versus some hoped-for lump sum at year's end that is highly subjective and dependent on how well the product sells, I choose the former. Someone can argue that I don't deserve a hefty bonus, but they can't really dispute the hours on my time sheet.
My roommate is getting screwed over in what seems a similar situation involving comission. She almost never makes comission, she worked her butt off in December and made a measly $40 on commission for the month. However some of her other benefits are offset by the fact that she 'makes' comission. I could just be interpreting it wrong since I'm not directly involved(or even employed at the moment) but it still looks like a bad situation to me.
new media has it right. LOADS A MONEY
sorry, but somebody had to say it.
It's a question of shifting the risk. By paying in Bonuses, employers are asking you to take the risk for them. Fair enough if they make your taking that risk worthwhile. Unless you're given a fixed percentage on which to base your choice though, it's a pretty difficult gamble to assess.
EA must be so far ahead in labor trends that they've crossed the time barrier and passed back to before the union labor reforms of the early 1900s.
/jzero
"The newly overtime-eligible employees will have very structured work days and structured work hours."
Right. Crunch time, the overtime folk are told to go home - "We don't need you in". The people who are not on overtime have to work the overtime/crunch for those folk sent home.
So overtime poeple get no cash, no benefits, and those not on overtime get the pleasure of working harder.
Hypothetically.
In canada all computer related job functions fall under the 'essential services' bracket. Like police officers and EMT personelle, we're bundled with those guys. Because of that we cannot strike, and we cannot sue for overtime. This is how it was explained to me by someone from the labour ministry here in BC. I never fact checked that tho.
It doesn't mean we cant have overtime, but it does mean we have no legal recourse.
-R
And Hawken: this isn't about money. We get paid well in bay area game development. That's not the issue at all. For the plaintiffs, its about 'forced' O/T.