EA Games: The Human Story 1143
An anonymous reader writes "An Electronic Arts employee spouse speaks out against company crunch time practices. From the post: "EA's bright and shiny new corporate trademark is "Challenge Everything." Where this applies is not exactly clear. Churning out one licensed football game after another doesn't sound like challenging much of anything to me; it sounds like a money farm. To any EA executive that happens to read this, I have a good challenge for you: how about safe and sane labor practices for the people on whose backs you walk for your millions?"
ea_spouse (Score:5, Informative)
EA's bright and shiny new corporate trademark is "Challenge Everything." Where this applies is not exactly clear. Churning out one licensed football game after another doesn't sound like challenging much of anything to me; it sounds like a money farm. To any EA executive that happens to read this, I have a good challenge for you: how about safe and sane labor practices for the people on whose backs you walk for your millions?
I am retaining some anonymity here because I have no illusions about what the consequences would be for my family if I was explicit. However, I also feel no impetus to shy away from sharing our story, because I know that it is too common to stick out among those of the thousands of engineers, artists, and designers that EA employs.
Our adventures with Electronic Arts began less than a year ago. The small game studio that my partner worked for collapsed as a result of foul play on the part of a big publisher -- another common story. Electronic Arts offered a job, the salary was right and the benefits were good, so my SO took it. I remember that they asked him in one of the interviews: "how do you feel about working long hours?" It's just a part of the game industry -- few studios can avoid a crunch as deadlines loom, so we thought nothing of it. When asked for specifics about what "working long hours" meant, the interviewers coughed and glossed on to the next question; now we know why.
Within weeks production had accelerated into a 'mild' crunch: eight hours six days a week. Not bad. Months remained until any real crunch would start, and the team was told that this "pre-crunch" was to prevent a big crunch toward the end; at this point any other need for a crunch seemed unlikely, as the project was dead on schedule. I don't know how many of the developers bought EA's explanation for the extended hours; we were new and naive so we did. The producers even set a deadline; they gave a specific date for the end of the crunch, which was still months away from the title's shipping date, so it seemed safe. That date came and went. And went, and went. When the next news came it was not about a reprieve; it was another acceleration: twelve hours six days a week, 9am to 10pm.
Weeks passed. Again the producers had given a termination date on this crunch that again they failed. Throughout this period the project remained on schedule. The long hours started to take its toll on the team; people grew irritable and some started to get ill. People dropped out in droves for a couple of days at a time, but then the team seemed to reach equilibrium again and they plowed ahead. The managers stopped even talking about a day when the hours would go back to normal.
Now, it seems, is the "real" crunch, the one that the producers of this title so wisely prepared their team for by running them into the ground ahead of time. The current mandatory hours are 9am to 10pm -- seven days a week -- with the occasional Saturday evening off for good behavior (at 6:30pm). This averages out to an eighty-five hour work week. Complaints that these once more extended hours combined with the team's existing fatigue would result in a greater number of mistakes made and an even greater amount of wasted energy were ignored.
The stress is taking its toll. After a certain number of hours spent working the eyes start to lose focus; after a certain number of weeks with only one day off fatigue starts to accrue and accumulate exponentially. There is a reason why there are two days in a weekend -- bad things happen to one's physical, emotional, and mental health if these days are cut short. The team is rapidly beginning to introduce as many flaws as they are removing.
And the kicker: for the honor of this treatment EA salaried employees receive a) no overtime; b) no compensation time! ('comp' time is the equalization of time off for overtime -- any hours spent during a crunch accrue into days off a
you didn't glance hard enough (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What Type Of Story Is This? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What Type Of Story Is This? (Score:5, Informative)
45-50 hours, maybe. But >80 hour workweeks are usually seen only at startups where if a major deadline is missed, the company fails. And in those cases, the people put up with it because there's usually more than just a wage involved--working long hours at a startup can make you millions in the end.
Established companies pushing their staff that hard is not only morally wrong, it's bad business. Sure, EA makes a lot of money, but how much more could they make if they didn't have such high turnover?
Probst Salary (Score:3, Informative)
Been there. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Illegal (Score:1, Informative)
I did and I know from experience that this is a very difficult thing to do - you are made to feel like you are letting the team/project/world down, and you aren't going to get promotion and you aren't even going to have your job at the end of the year because your project will get canned and it'll be your fault.
At this point, legality thoughts go out of the window and survival thoughts take over, especially when you have a family who depend on you for most of the income.
(Wonder how many still-in-the-industry anonymous 'cowards' we'll get on this topic...)
Can't do that in the EU (Score:3, Informative)
I forget what the hours are.
I've had this happen on a project before, and then they tried to do it on a second project and everyone just dug their heels and said "screw you". They didn't have a choice as EU laws are much more protective of the employee (even if the salary is much lower of a US employee).
Those working conditions are WRONG (Score:3, Informative)
My little brother has gone through this process twice, all he did was speak out against dangerous and illegal working conditions for summer jobs. Both times he was fired, both times he went to the Ministry of Labour, both time the employer was fine 10k, charged with various labour crimes, and in the end, he received settlements worth more than what he would have made working the whole summer. And guess what, both times, he got ALL his money before the summer was out.
Assert your rights, you'll be surprised just how many you have.
Re:Illegal (Score:3, Informative)
I agree, though, unless there are extraneous reasons for staying (absolutely can't miss a paycheck, etc.) I'd say these guys need to make some decisions about what's really important to them.
CEO Salary (Score:5, Informative)
If I could get EA CEO Larry Probst on the phone, there are a few things I would ask him. "What's your salary?"
According to Yahoo Finance [yahoo.com] it's a paultry $1.45 million. Course, with options he exercised about $23 million.
[Note: To anybody in a corporation, I highly recomend against looking up your CEO's salary. It's one of the most depressing things you could possibly do (my CEO makes in one hour what I make all year).]
Re:ea_spouse (Score:4, Informative)
Best bet is to talk to a local teamster rep. If you can't find one, head to a local UPS. They are there.
Be careful tho. Management hates Unions and will likely dick over anyone they think has bought unions in or is thinking of it.
Might also consider filing complaints with the local OHSA board. For they too have rules covering how hard employers can drive their slaves.
Re:Game industry (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Illegal (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joestraitiff/3
Essentially, that person got fired for doing pretty much what you just mentioned.
Re:WTF?!?! (Score:5, Informative)
Typically, "Exempt" refers to "professions" such as lawyer, doctor, and engineer. It can also apply to "management." A software coder without the word "engineer" in their title might be able to be considered non-exempt. The only way to know for sure is to contact the department of labor: http://www.dol.gov/ [dol.gov].
They may be a bit slow to answer their phones, but keep trying!
Re:I don't know what to say. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Repetition (Score:4, Informative)
Huh. I do application development and data warehousing for a pharma-related company. We're a tech company in that our main asset is data and the knowledge of how to use it. I do a lot of programming, though not 100% of my time. And, with the exception of maybe 2 weeks of crunch time per year, I work 40-45 (50 max) hours a week. During crunch time, I might work 60-70 hours/week.
I communicate well with people who don't have a tech background. They can't outsource me. They wouldn't try, nor would they want to try. If you make yourself more than just a commodity programmer, you'll be surprised how reasonably people will treat you. If you're really just a commodity, people will treat you as such.
Re:ea_spouse (Score:5, Informative)
EA isnt the only shop, but it is the "rolemodel" for American businesses who consider us Software Developers as the "crack" whores of industry.
This kind of BS wont quit unless the paying American public voices its opinions to the ones accountable for this abuse: EA Games HR dept and the Board of Directors.
All of the below information is posted on http://investor.ea.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=88189&p=ir
Buy 1 share of Electronic Arts (about $47). Once you do, you now own the company.
Contact VP of Human Resources "Rusty" Rueff Tel: (650) 628-1500 go to the operator, have them pass you on to Rusty.
- tell Rusty or his admin that you are a shareholder and that you demand an explanation for these business practices, and that you find this illegal abuse unacceptable. Then go to Rusty's Uberboss... the board.
***
Communication with the Board (per Electronic Arts)
If you would like to communicate with members of EA's Board of Directors (including members of the Audit, Compensation or Nominating and Governance Committees) please follow the instructions below:
To report concerns about accounting, internal auditing, securities laws and other related matters, please read on:
General Communications with EA's Board of Directors
Stockholders wishing to communicate with EA's Board of Directors as a whole, with a committee of the Board (such as the Audit, Compensation or Nominating and Governance Committees), or with an individual director may do so by sending an email to StockholderCommunications@EA.com or by sending a letter to EA's Corporate Secretary:
EA Corporate Secretary
Electronic Arts Inc.
209 Redwood Shores Pkwy.
Redwood City, CA 94065
Attn: Stockholder Communications
Enjoy your civil right to be pissed and do something. All it takes is a phone and an email address.
As an example - I have already taken these steps. We need only 100 more, and the board will hear us.
Not just EA (Score:1, Informative)
I don't believe the game industry managers understand how much talent they are loosing out on and how inefficiently they are running their studios by their current practices. In my opinion, the game industry needs more visionary and mature leaders.
The job I accepted was not in the game industry. I now work half the hours, get twice the pay, and still really love what I do. Maybe I got lucky.
FYI, a lie (Score:3, Informative)
Not to discredit the entire article on one little thing...
But she says that programmers aren't exempt until they make $90k a year. That is a lie.
department of labor [dol.gov] says it's $455 a week... he makes more than that I'm sure. Perhaps it's only wishful thinking.
Re:Chinese Bosses? (Score:2, Informative)
No, if they where Chinese I'm sure there would have been a marked increase in ouput/productivity. This is typical American bosses at work (oh do I so wish it wasn't so), drag every ounce of work out of the employee because it's getting your money's worth (it doesn't matter about productivity - I guess EA hasn't hired any managers who read "the Mythical man month").
One other thing about Chinses bosses, they get executed if productivity doesn't go up (can somebody provide a link to that C.2000 story?).
Re:WHAAAAAA! (Score:3, Informative)
As opposed to putting a person in charge of approx 225,000,000 people? (an elected person maybe, but socialism does not exclude that option, certain extreme governments that called themselves communist did, but that is an entirely different story)
If you want to critisize socialism, at least get an idea what it is about. There are countries in northern Europe that use a form of socalism, have democratic governments, and among the highest living standards in the world, so it can definitely work (oh, and unlike the USA, they do not have approx 12% of their population livign below the poverty line either)
From my view (Score:4, Informative)
Where I worked we were told that the over time hours were "mandatory". It did not matter if you were on track with your personal chunk of coding. You were to be in the office during the mandatory hours. As you can imagine morale was pretty poor.
After they closed down a lot of my co-workers went to EA, a few went to Lucas, and a couple to another studio of the same company. The guys at Lucas have been laid off, as have the guys who went to the other studio (as the co. went bankrupt).
But you want to hear horror stories.... just talk to an ex Saffire employee about how the company (Saffire) wanted them to all work without pay. There are still several hundreds of thousands of $$$$ of back pay from that fiasco that will never be paid.
Re:Whiners. (Score:2, Informative)
You are a troll. But I will respond anyway.
If that is your only answer, I'd love to see how you are going to live in Redwood City on $7 an hour. That $7 an hour, full time, without subtracting taxes or anything, is not even enough for a median one bedroom apartment. "Sorry kid, no ramen for you this month."
Before you claim I'm full of shit, here are some numbers:
San Mateo County, California general information [ca.gov]
San Mateo County housing statistics [smhealth.org]
Important points to note:
Median income, two person household (2001): $64,100
Average rent for one bedroom apartment: $1415
Average rent for two bedroom apartment: $1764
Median sales price for single family home: $590.000
Average sales price for single family home: $792,735
Housing wage (full time to afford average two bedroom apartment): $33.60
Average wait for Section 8 voucher (subsidized low-income housing): one year.
Oh, wait, San Mateo is too expensive? How about this?
Santa Clara County [hacsc.org]Or these?
Bay Area Housing Affordability [ncccsf.org]Hey Lady (Score:3, Informative)
I'm pretty sure this is a relatively free country. If your husband doesn't like it, then he's free to go find another job. If YOU don't like it, then you're free to divorce him. So quit crying to the tabloids and do something about it.
Contact a law firm that handles such cases (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Been There Done That (Score:2, Informative)
This is a right that is granted to Salaried Exempt personnel in California to balance the power of Corporations in asking for overtime without compensation. Whether EA grants comp. time or not , you can take it back an hour at a time with or without their permission until you, not the company, are satisfied.
Re:George Broussard of 3d realms' take on this (Score:4, Informative)
Unionize... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:George Broussard of 3d realms' take on this (Score:1, Informative)
Re:It only takes 2 people to form a Union! (Score:3, Informative)
You don't get it. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:WHAAAAAA! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Let's unionize software engineers (Score:3, Informative)
Because 10 years down the road, there will be new programmers with more energy and a better understanding of the new technology and the really productive programmer won't be as productive anymore.
How to Start A Union (Score:2, Informative)
The first step is for EA employees to sign representation cards. Those cards indicate an interest in being represented by TAG in collective bargaining.
When about half of the EA employees have signed rep cards, the company is required to hold a secret ballot election in which the everyone votes. If the majority vote yes, the company is required to bargain with the union.
There's a reason the most stable and successful studios in feature and TV animation have almost all been union. When we have our rights respected, we're more creative and productive. Unfortunately, company executives usually don't respect us unless they're forced to.
Call Steve Hulett at (818) 766-7151. He's the Guild's business agent, and he can meet with you, get you rep cards, and answer your questions. We've already gotten a smattering of rep cards from EA, but the problem is that most people in the games industry don't know about the Guild, and don't know what their rights are, so they stay silent.
Re:WHAAAAAA! (Score:5, Informative)
It's kind of exciting, in a fucked up, macho, Russian roulette kind of way. It's the camraderie of the battlefield, sometimes complete with a body count. Have you ever worked 100 hours a week, and wondered why your heart is beating 120 beats per minute--when you're sitting down? Extreme exhaustion does that to you. Hell, I was in really good shape at the time. Good thing, or I'd probably be dead. The problem is that it can take as much as 4 hours after work to calm down enough to sleep, so if your job is leaving you 8 hours to sleep, you may only get 4, and eventually, that will kill you. One of my coworkers told me about a company he was at--one of the coders called in sick and never came back. They found him dead on his couch. The smell was pretty bad. His immune system was so depressed that a minor cold turned into galloping pneumonia, and he was dead before he knew how sick he was. Too many hours, too little sleep, too much stress. And none of this is really necessary. I can't count the studies that show that extended crunch time is actually less productive that normal hours.
A lot of people would kill for that job--until they saw what it was doing to them. If they didn't catch on soon enough, they might die for the job. Too many people think that working in a game company is all fun and games. Apparently you're one of them. EA exploits that misperception to rope people into a sweat shop. So do most of the other big game companies. Of course, the people demanding these hours never put them in themselves. They work 9 to 5, if that, take days off when they feel like it, and you'll never see them in on a weekend.
This industry is insane, and it's because of companies like EA, who do their best to screw anyone they come in contact with. There are damn few decent shops to work in anymore. When I leave this job, I'll probably never go back to game development (though I've said that before.) And if you think that working in the games industry is the ideal job, you probably have no fucking idea what you're talking about.
Re:This is why there are unions. (Score:3, Informative)
Joe Straitiff Recounts His Dismissal From EA (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why Can They Do This??? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:As a former EA coder, let me say.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Quit your bellyaching (Score:3, Informative)
No, you should not. That is why most societies have established laws that govern what goes in a working environment.
Basicly, it comes down to resource efficiency, burnt out employees don't work very well. Instead they cost society/the company money when they need sick leave (or welfare in severe cases).
First problem is, you get an introductional boost in productivity in the first period of long hours work, but in the long run it is diminished below levels of what normal work hours would produce.
Second problem, the more severe, is manegement failing to make this connection. They can't see the very basic fact that overworked people don't work very well. "Huh? Too much work? But first five weeks of overtime increased production a lot. It's just you bastards getting lazy.".
Some country, or a large company, I think it was in france anyway, cut work time from 8 hours a day to 6. Lo and behold, production increased, workers were happier and sick leave were less than ever.
Complain..... (Score:3, Informative)
I'd say EA is skating on VERY thin ice - particularly with the clear $42/hr law in CA. If you get it to the right folks - they could end up owing all their developers back pay, with interest, and a penalty
Re:It is for real.. (Score:2, Informative)
For a while after "the email", the CEO would joke about it to try to lessen its harshness, but make no mistake: the spirit of that email came straight from the heart. I started at cerner not long after that email, and since I've been there, they went from "40 hour work weeks, little more at crunch time", to "corporate wide policy of 48 hour minimum, much more at crunch time". Some teams even have a mandatory "12 hour days, 6 days a week" policy. All unpaid overtime.
The email may have hurt the company, and the CEO may pass it off as a joke, but the end result of that email is he got exactly what he wanted.
my opinion as a current EALA employee (Score:1, Informative)
But to put things into a more accurate perspective:
1. I have worked for other game companies and have undergone worse crunches for longer periods of time. This is not just an EA problem, it is an industry wide problem with few exceptions.
2. I don't believe EA is offshoring talent. Why would they build EALA and have plans to grow to 1000 people? EA is expanding in multiple countries, and especially Asia to expand influence into that market which is significantly different than it is in North America. Offshoring would imply jobs are getting replaced. EA in America is growing (too fast in my opinion)!!!
3. EA has consolidated nearby studios into larger super studios. I personally don't see anything wrong with this and have personally been part of such consolidation causing me to relocate.
4. I believe there is a genuine effort in process to change EA's behavior. We are performing detailed surveys and there has been active attempts to solicit the view of employees and how to improve things.
5. I believe crunch is a result of old habits in a quickly evolving industry. In the beginning, making games was the result of a small group or even 1 person that was passionate about making games. They would spend all their time on it and did so of their own free will. Since then, the industry has grown technologically and has struggled with changing from this crunch mentality. People that are passionate love what they do and spend extra time on their projects!
6. EA is not the evil churn-factory empire that consciously spits out employees -- although it happens a lot! They really believe that working longer hours results in greater productivity. This is their mistake. More on that later...
7. EA pays decently when you consider salary, bonuses, and benefits. However, it is not worth working 80+ hour weeks. That is not right.
8. I hate to say it but I'd rather crunch for a company where survivability is virtually guaranteed. It's far worse to crunch just to survive to the next project where even that is questionable, nevermind not getting any bonuses!
My story: I've been making games for a decade now. When I was younger, I enjoyed working long hours. And during these crunch periods I went through many relationships. It took me years before I identified that working these kind of hours were destroying long term relationships. Now I am in a serious relationship and want to get married, start a family. My priorities are changing. I want to be able to spend time with my family to be and spend more time with my girlfriend. She has suffered so much in the past 8 months where I spent much of that time crunching. She has barely seen me for months now. The problem is that I was much more gullible than she is. I honestly feed her any information that EA tells me in meetings. Turns out we are getting strung along with empty promises. She has a good memory and gets mad at me when there is a change. I work with many experienced people -- no longer just a bunch of kids, most of the people I work with are industry veterans like myself.
The cost of crunch
But the problem in my eyes is that higher level management believes that working longer hours results in increased productivity. But the truth is, it costs far too much!
1. The more fatigued people get, which results in bad decisions and sloppy mistakes. More mistakes dogpile into a bigger mess, resulting in more crunch "needed!" I know myself and after 10 hours of focused effort, I quickly deteriorate into inefficiency. When I'm required to work 12+ hours in a day, the next day I come in tired and haggered and inefficient. Just a couple hours in one day will ruin the very next day! Just this point alone should be enough to not consider crunching... but there's many more associated costs!
2. The family factor is completely overlo