It’s unfortunate that some studios are mandating new hires be in-office only, because it just locks out so much talent and makes job searching that much more difficult and demoralizing.
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Fucking gross incomprehensible backwards ass behavior. Not sure why this cancerous employment system makes people act so irritationally and unproductively.
BGS used to be known as the place that layoffs never happened, so moving to one of the most expensive areas in the country (moco, md) was less of a gamble. that changed with the MS buyout.
My previous place of work hired from home specifically “to get the best talent across the country” and then mandated everyone back into specific offices and made everyone redundant who couldn’t reach those offices.
They wanted me to drive a 110 mile round trip every day and couldn’t see any issue.
Companies don't care about work-life balance. They expect us to bend over backward at their beck & call.
My company asked if anyone wanted to do a shift 1hr later. Everyone said no, because traffic gets so much worse the later we stay. Instead, they mandated 1hr lunch for everyone
The venn diagram of execs who would lay people off in a heartbeat if it made them money and those who own financial interests in commercial real estate is a circle
Yeah, it’s wild to me that focusing on skill building and task completion is less important to shitloads of upper manager than having direct social control and feeling like your the reason people are getting stuff done.
Trump’s rollback of DEI policies has emboldened companies to discriminate, prioritizing wealth and privilege over talent and equality. Now, in-office mandates further lock out marginalized groups, making it harder for everyone but the wealthy elite to thrive. This isn’t progress—it’s regression.
I work so much better from home. When I can spend a little time recharging by doing house chores midday, when I can set my own schedule, when I can wander into my living room and watch the birds between scriptwriting sessions... It just makes more sense for me to be here.
Studios don't take into account how much better I work when I can go bury my face into my cats' fluffy bodies for a few minutes a day to sustain myself.
I love my office and the people in it and genuinely get a creative rush from being there and collaborating with their lovely faces in person. But I also have hideous boneitis and bring able to take a bath on my lunch break turns would-be sick days into okay days
So much talent potentially not even making it back into studios if they have chronic health stuff that would be manageable with the slower physical pace and rest options of working from home
It's not only that I work better from home. It is that everybody does, considering how talkative I am :p
I left my previous company because they were forcing people to return to the office... in another country. So now I've created my small indie studio, hoping for the best!
I've been working from home since I started my own company in 2016 (I’m no longer doing that, but still working from home), and I now own like 8 pairs of Very Comfortable Joggers, some of which even have the Cell Phone Holster and I live in them now.
Made worse by companies not allowing working from home, then getting angry when staff refuse to answer messages and calls from the instant they are outside of work hours!
Companies that expect to have non on call staff be available out of hours should be forced to also allow remote working.
Yeah... Its been pretty brutal this time round. I won't entertain any job if it does allow remote. I legit think it's totally evil to expect people to have to constantly re-establish communities every few years. My community is what is keeping me safe right now.
People are partly so lonely these days because they are constantly being forced to move, whether for rent or work or many other reasons. No wonder we can’t form lasting and trustworthy bonds. :( the ones we usually can are established through work and then a layoff will take that from us too.
I started writing for games in 2020, my whole CV is remote. It was brilliant to be able to work from the UK and suited my disability.
Jobs that want me to move somewhere without universal healthcare are out- never mind the possibility of being laid off straightaway after relocating.
What's ironic about this is that it was because of Trump and his poor handling of covid that started everyone to working remotely in the first place. It started the trend and it worked very well and people loved it so it must go.
The company that owns my studio tried to do RTO and I'm pretty sure leadership finally went, "Look, allowing full WFH and hiring from other states is the only way we can keep people and remain competitive as an employer." People who could get paid a LOT more stay here just for that.
Considering how companies act like payroll expenses are an unreasonable cost of making games, you'd think more of them would see it as a bargaining chip. Really exemplary of the "not only is there no bread, but the circuses are a little much" thinking in every tower of authority.
You'd think people who have both data and ways to analyze data would go with the fact that remote work actually makes for a better workforce. But it is that stupid 'control' bug this upper management has.
It's just not worth it to move, there's no housing security and no job security, I was evicted 3 times in 5 years and rents have tripled over that time, it was feasible to bounce about in the early 2010s but post pandemic absolutely not.
Plus impossible to find a room to rent if you're over 35
covid was such an interesting shift, where suddenly there were all these jobs that i had never considered before (because i am not moving to california) that i could apply to
anyway turns out it was good i was rejected from all of them because those jobs all had a RTO mandate nearly immediately
i am never going to look back fondly at 2020 but it was kind of amazing all these opportunities that were suddenly available, from companies and mentors and peers, that got snatched back as soon as people could pretend everything was normal again.
Well look at it this way, the companies that allow remote work should draw in the best candidates and thrive and the ones that don’t will eventually die off. I’m not a remote worker at all and I prefer it that way, but there are some that do better without the office distractions and such.
Agreed. Unless the job actually needs humans to be there physically (i.e. stores, mechanics, engineers), there is NO valid reason to require people being IN the office. None. N-O-N-E. All it does is: Add commute, increase anxiety, increase fatigue (both mental and physical).
The silver lining is that the smart studios know hybrid and remote work give them a big advantage in recruiting and hiring. It gives them more access to talented people.
The complexities of payroll and bookkeeping are probably the biggest barriers preventing more from offering this.
Personally I like flexibility and would go to the office most of the time, but I live in Europe and many of the few open positions in roles I'm both interested in and have the qualifications for are USA-only and in-office!
Conceptually I fully agree, and for those privileged enough to be able to do I encourage it, but a LOT of people don’t have the luxury. And that’s precisely what they’re counting on.
I know. I have a lesbian friend who works for META in their creative department (ads). I worry about her since they rescinded their DEI policies but she commutes from Coachella to LA twice weekly and shares an apt in LA just to work when it's unnecessary.
I'm nd and moving to wfh (even though it was because of COVID) was such a blessing at first! I'm much more productive than I ever was in-person. However, we went hybrid a year ago, and now seniors leaders expect us to do 2x-3x the work we used to
It's also likely not very effective, as most of the long term hires at the studio likely have remote privileges and are never coming in leaving most studios a ghost town 4 days out of the week.
I’m so glad that my husband and I both work from home now, it’s changed our lives so much for the better. Not just to stay safe from covid, but having the freedom to feel like normal humans who can take breaks when we feel like it, walk the dog, have lunch together, better focus, etc!
His company is overseas so will stay remote, and I’ll continue to freelance, so it’s great we can stay this way. I feel awful for anyone else forced back into an office who doesn’t want to be.
I hate that companies don't get that working from home is better for everyone! It's better for the worker's mental health and for the bosses It's cheaper and the workers are actually more productive! The bosses are just too selfish and controlling to care.
There’s something about “please pick up and move your life for us; we promise not to lay you off in a few months” that’s particularly terrifying this round.
Plus the fact that some of the “dev hubs” dispersed over the remote years—it adds up to a pretty untenable industry model for senior devs
given that the average lifespan of a non-lead game dev job seems to be 3 to 12 months nowadays, that anywhere still requires relocation verges on insane at this point
Remote was such a game-changer for families with young children, people providing elder care, anyone with a disability of any kind… to say nothing of the impacts of being able to live in lower cost of living centers instead of SoCal.
It’s a huge loss for everyone, for no observable gain.
My spouse has a much closer connection to our kids thanks to remote work. He takes a long lunch to take my middle to therapy once a week. He keeps an eye on the younger ones while I take the oldest to social group. He is able to arrange his schedule around appointments for the kids.
And we have set down roots in Southern California (where I am from) and are struggling with cost of living but are terrified of leaving for lower cost of living for fear that we will just have to move again for RTO which we will not be able to afford and would be massively disruptive to our kids.
The observable gain is rental monies to the real estate industry or the corporation who owns the property. Frankly, one would think that selling the buildings would be a better solution.
Sale is only a one time thing.
Rent-seeking behavior is the act of using economic and political power to gain wealth without creating new value. It's a type of economic activity that can be detrimental to society and the economy. And it's all we do in the US now.
The observable gain is for investment firms and real estate corporations who own a tremendous amount of office space that would otherwise be losing value.
Can't let that happen. Back on the hamster wheel peasant.
I wonder how many companies have crunched the numbers on having a fully remote workforce with no facilities overhead. Seems like where some industries should be headed even while there’s so much pushback from the people in charge.
the only reason I can parse that every EMPLOYER hates remote work is that they are just obsessed with micromanaging the fact that you are not allowed to be comfortable or relaxed if they are paying you.
Exactly! It's so crazy to think about the complete lack of empathy or even making some small allowances. You could have the greatest associate in the world but, because she doesn't have reliable transportation, now she no longer has a job.
Absolutely. I moved for my last job switch (and don’t regret it) but after this, I’m done. I’ve moved 5 times in 9 years. I want to be able to pick a place and put down roots.
Others in the thread said this, but the shakeup of gamedev hubs makes it so hard to even predict where to settle.
Additionally - when I moved from LA to Chicago for a lower cost of living, my salary was cut. I was making tens of thousands less than people I managed.
Companies are not only demanding RTO; the ones offering remote are punishing people for trying to make smart $ decisions
The company I last worked for (Activision Blizzard) did the most nefarious shit. They were afraid of people leaving so the didn't cut pay but they straight up told everyone they would not be getting raises until their pay adjusted to their new cost of living.
Spot on. Even stranger I asked in an emergency team meeting if the opposite would be true. Would they aggressively give raises in the hypothetical that one moved to a higher cost of living area? Met with long stares and "I don't know" They never had to find out, because irvine and RTO.
Yep. We had an extra fun thing at that company: they compared salaries across the studio to see if there was a gender pay gap. And there was! A huge one! My dept was among the worst 1/2
This is the exact problem we're in. We had a entire team of talented people that corporate decided to let go all because of the in office mandates. Now we're not even a skeleton crew in a big empty building they're refusing to staff for some brilliant reason.
When my film company gains traction, idgaf if you’re white, black, Asian, Latino, or a fucking extraterrestrial, as long as you’re a decent human being (or extraterrestrial and NOT MAGA), you’re in.
Hopefully companies that make this mistake will fail in the long run. If we’re lucky they’ll start to die out like the dinosaurs they are. All we need is enough investment in companies with saner policies.
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They wanted me to drive a 110 mile round trip every day and couldn’t see any issue.
My company asked if anyone wanted to do a shift 1hr later. Everyone said no, because traffic gets so much worse the later we stay. Instead, they mandated 1hr lunch for everyone
And the perpetual yoga pants.
I left my previous company because they were forcing people to return to the office... in another country. So now I've created my small indie studio, hoping for the best!
My youngest kiddo says I "look like a gym bro" 😅
Also just... not wasting time with commuting, means people get to sleep more, recover more. And then get more done.
When I was hiring up my team, it was an absolute godsend to have a hiring pool beyond the office's limited borders.
Companies that expect to have non on call staff be available out of hours should be forced to also allow remote working.
Companies that won't employ me more than a year don't get to tell me to move.
Jobs that want me to move somewhere without universal healthcare are out- never mind the possibility of being laid off straightaway after relocating.
Plus impossible to find a room to rent if you're over 35
anyway turns out it was good i was rejected from all of them because those jobs all had a RTO mandate nearly immediately
such wasted potential for a better world.
I'm sure they'll blame something else, but we've all seen the 60hours work culture with the 10 hour productivity scores 🤷♂️
They wanna be dumbasses I say let them. I'll find something else or do it on my own.
If a seasoned pro can work as fast as 5 people, but charges rates equal to 8? They think it's better to find 5 cheap people to hire instead.
The good devs are out of luck. It's sad
The complexities of payroll and bookkeeping are probably the biggest barriers preventing more from offering this.
Plus the fact that some of the “dev hubs” dispersed over the remote years—it adds up to a pretty untenable industry model for senior devs
It’s a huge loss for everyone, for no observable gain.
Rent-seeking behavior is the act of using economic and political power to gain wealth without creating new value. It's a type of economic activity that can be detrimental to society and the economy. And it's all we do in the US now.
Can't let that happen. Back on the hamster wheel peasant.
And they just had layoffs.
Others in the thread said this, but the shakeup of gamedev hubs makes it so hard to even predict where to settle.
Companies are not only demanding RTO; the ones offering remote are punishing people for trying to make smart $ decisions
This is presumably the opposite. No raise till inflation pulls your location-adjusted pay bracket up to your salary.
Never stop innovating, ABK.
And: le ew 🥲
so your work is valued less if you're not in an expensive area, basically