Epic Games Ends Alternate-Friday Vacation Policy, Angering Staff (bloomberg.com) 87
Epic Games is ending a pandemic-inspired policy of granting every other Friday off, sparking an uproar among staff. From a report: An internal Slack channel was filled with pleas from employees for the game publisher to reconsider. Several people said the extra vacation days had helped their mental health, allowed them to be better parents and even improved their productivity while working on updates for Fortnite, which is one of world's most popular games. Epic said the policy was always meant to be temporary and that the company's goal was to allow employees and contractors to take paid time off on their own schedules. The company also closes for two-week breaks in the summer and winter.
"Right now, we are seeing lots of Fridays off for deep work, and lots of people who must work Fridays anyways," Chief Operating Officer Daniel Vogel wrote in an email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg. "This meant that many people were not benefiting from this policy equally." But in a survey of 581 employees reviewed by Bloomberg, 93% said they had found the alternating Fridays off to be "extremely beneficial" and 61% said they felt worried, guilty or stressed when taking separate vacation days. Almost 90% of employees said they wanted to keep Fridays off as a standard.
"Right now, we are seeing lots of Fridays off for deep work, and lots of people who must work Fridays anyways," Chief Operating Officer Daniel Vogel wrote in an email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg. "This meant that many people were not benefiting from this policy equally." But in a survey of 581 employees reviewed by Bloomberg, 93% said they had found the alternating Fridays off to be "extremely beneficial" and 61% said they felt worried, guilty or stressed when taking separate vacation days. Almost 90% of employees said they wanted to keep Fridays off as a standard.
Incompetent managers need to be shaken lose (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Yep, throughout human history we've trended towards less working hours in a week, when we were an agrarian society it was a 7 day a week job, the productivity boost from industrialisation dropped this to 6, and eventually 5 days. It shouldn't be too surprising that in the computer age we can probably shed a further day off a week and have no negligible impact.
In fact, the massive increase in disproportionality between executive pay and everyone else in the last decade or two is probably a symptom of the fac
Re: (Score:1)
Sounds like the typical butthurt high school football star who left their best years in high school ... bet you then spent your 20s being "self-employed" and educated at the "school of hard knocks" ... or whatever it is that you trolls tend to portrait yourselves as but always angry and snide. Go have another Bud Light and bitch about those illegals stealing your jobs.
Re: Incompetent managers need to be shaken lose (Score:2)
You forgot to use the same account troll.
Re: (Score:2)
Note that the OP is is not the real "rsilvergun", this is just some lame, trolling asshole with an extra "L" in his name.
we need to remove healthcare from jobs (mostly USA (Score:2)
we need to remove healthcare from jobs (mostly USA)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Incompetent managers need to be shaken lose (Score:5, Insightful)
I think CIOs like this should be tarred, feathered and driven out of town backwards on a donkey for good measure.
This is why companies are rarely nice to employees. Employees soon take the niceness for granted and then resent the return to normality.
If Epic had never given anyone any time off, the employees would be happier, and there would be no demands for tarring and feathering.
Managers everywhere should learn from this example.
Re: (Score:3)
This is why companies are rarely nice to employees. Employees soon take the niceness for granted and then resent the return to normality.
Same thing happens with raises, or any other jump in material well being. We're happy for a while, then adjust and our happiness returns to the previous level. It's where you get the saying "money can't buy you happiness." It pretty much doesn't.
This is why it's important to keep things in perspective and maintain an attitude of gratitude. No, things are not actually worse than all of recorded history, much as overwrought hysterics might want you to think.
Good news is this will blow over. It works in both d
Re: (Score:2)
"If money can't buy happiness, then I guess I'll have to rent it." -- Weird Al Yankovic.
Re: (Score:2)
This is why companies are rarely nice to employees. Employees soon take the niceness for granted and then resent the return to normality.
Same thing happens with raises, or any other jump in material well being. We're happy for a while, then adjust and our happiness returns to the previous level. It's where you get the saying "money can't buy you happiness." It pretty much doesn't.
This is why it's important to keep things in perspective and maintain an attitude of gratitude. No, things are not actually worse than all of recorded history, much as overwrought hysterics might want you to think.
Good news is this will blow over. It works in both directions
High salaries don't make people happy for more than a short time after the raise. Low salaries make them unhappy. This, and other similar things, are often called hygiene factors [wikipedia.org].
Companies are never "nice" (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
JFC, they wouldn't be happier, they'd be miserable and they wouldn't understand it was because they were burnt out.
Management hears that people are happier and healthier and the only thing that some of these assholes think is, "shit, am I paying for this"?
Healthier, less burnt out workers don't leave as much. They produce better work. Why the hell shouldn't employees treat decent working conditions for granted?
Some workers got a little extra time off and realized that they didn't have to be away from their
Re: Incompetent managers need to be shaken lose (Score:2)
Or managers should have learned to *manage* expectations. By clearly stating that the extra day off was only for the pandemic and nobody should get used to it being a permanent thing.
Funny how managers are rarely asked to just do their job nor punished when they don't.
Punishment (Score:5, Interesting)
If the company grants goodies, then arbitrarily takes them away, most view that as punishment.
Stupid move in this job market.
Re: (Score:2)
Not everyone benefits ... so ... (Score:2)
Epic has to make up the money (Score:2)
All that money they're losing by their stunt to work around and then sue Apple when Epic breached their contract... Not just lost sales, but also all the legal fees and lawyer bills...
(Whether you agree with Epic or not, this is definitely a costly exercise.)
Every other Friday... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Every other Friday... (Score:4, Interesting)
At one of my jobs I negotiated a 4 day workweek in exchange for a 20% pay cut. Best negotiating I've ever done, it was a great idea.
Re:Every other Friday... (Score:4, Interesting)
At my last job before retiring, I would burn up my remaining vacation at the end of the calendar year by taking Fridays off each week. It made it hard to return to 2 day weekends at the start of the new year.
Re: (Score:2)
At one of my jobs I negotiated a 4 day workweek in exchange for a 20% pay cut. Best negotiating I've ever done, it was a great idea.
Assuming they weren't 10-hour workdays, at least...
Re: (Score:2)
That's a really great idea. I did a similar thing in a pervious job, but it was every-other-Friday off for a 10% pay cut. Best career decision of my life.
Re: (Score:2)
The best part is that the 10% comes off the top tax bracket, so it's actually more like a 6% cut in take-home pay.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I have no problem with that kind of negotiating. Basically, I know what I'm worth, and expect that kind of salary otherwise I won't work with you.
Re: (Score:2)
Epic Games supposedly already has "unlimited vacation". This is not exactly true then.
Re:Every other Friday... (Score:4, Informative)
26 days - So basically about what German workers are already guaranteed by law, then.
Re: (Score:2)
... Hmm, let me do the math on this one. 52 weeks in a year, therefore every other Friday is 26 days a year. Over five weeks. I'm retired now, but I would have loved an extra 5 weeks of vacation each year.
This is the games industry. Having 5 weeks extra off doesn't even begin to cover the permanent crunch time staff find themselves in. Every day is some emergency or some artificial deadline that they are behind on. Given the choice between that and a normal job with only standard vacation I'd chose the latter.
Game devs often put in 80+ hour weeks salaried (Score:2)
Hail your corporatist overlords! (Score:1)
You can make up for it by giving up your other 52 "vacation days" a year, otherwise known as the weekend.
Management views with alarm... (Score:2)
Management views with alarm that people actually thought they were allowed to take alternate Fridays off, and seeks to clarify that they weren't actually serious. Please note that the bi-weekly prostration before management policy remains fully in effect and desk floggings will resume shortly.
If you dont like it quit (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop begging. This is the only way to stop a policy you deem harmful
Re: If you dont like it quit (Score:2)
Or organize, that's the best option.
psycho (Score:1)
Well, Epic is run by a psychopath, what did you expect?
Punish the workers for management failures (Score:2)
What, are you going to hold *management* responsible for their own work?
Re: (Score:2)
What, are you going to hold *management* responsible for their own work?
It is easier to find better workers than to find better managers.
Re: (Score:2)
I'd shoot them if it wasn't so terribly illegal.
Seriously, those pests ain't worth a single second of jail time. That's the main reason they're still alive.
Being a nice company is not working (Score:3, Insightful)
I am sure this post will piss of a lot of folks who have come to believe they are actually special.
Supply and Demand is all that maters. (Score:2)
TIme to make the business a real work place and not some place for the special people. I am sure this post will piss of a lot of folks who have come to believe they are actually special.
This is supply and demand only. If the employees are rare and difficult to replace AND valued elsewhere, they are special. If they're not, then replace them. This is a simple supply and demand problem. If there are a surplus of qualified candidates who want the job without alternating Fridays, Epic holds the power & I'd suggest the employees bend to their will. Otherwise, they are special and Epic needs to figure out how to keep them happy to keep them from jumping ship.
However, executives and
Re: (Score:3)
"Not working" based on what metric?
Productivity is up, deadlines are being met.
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
If deadlines are being met, that means that you aren't getting full value out of your workers. The occasional missed deadline is objective evidence that you are pushing you team to its limit, and hence getting maximum value from the money you pay them.
Of course, the business must be able to tolerate missed deadlines and not fail as a business. So you need to pick deadlines that are much shorter than anything that would be a realistic need. AND you have to keep this a secret from the employees, so they be
Re: (Score:2)
The more easily-replaced employees are, the better this approach works
There are many thousands open software developer jobs in Raleigh (where Epic is located). These employees are not easily replaced, and have lots of other employment options.
Epic would seem to know this, since they've posted some of those openings.
Re: Being a nice company is not working (Score:5, Insightful)
If deadlines are being met, that means that you aren't getting full value out of your workers. The occasional missed deadline is objective evidence that you are pushing you team to its limit, and hence getting maximum value from the money you pay them.
This is how bad managers think.
Good managers love deadlines being met all the time, it builds up morale and confidence in the team, it builds up a culture of getting things done, instead of a culture of "trying" to get things done (but often failing), deadlines being met sets the team mindset to "meet deadlines" instead of the mindset of unending churn and inevitability of passing deadlines. Deadlines being met give credence to the team from the view of business.
Missed deadlines cost and impact the business, not always in ways visible or directly affect the team or the manager. Bad managers slowly learn to miss deadlines that do not impact them personally, regardless of impact other parts of the business, and that creates rift and break trust within the company. It begets office politics and slowly drive out competent people who hates to play office politics while retaining incompetent people good at office politics.
Go ahead to "get the full value of your workers" if you want to turn your company into a living hell and drive it into the ground.
Re: (Score:2)
I am special. I'm someone with a very special skill set in very high demand. And you can get me, and actually quite cheaply, if, and only if, you cater to my needs.
I guess corporations agree with this, because I get what I want.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Sure. But that doesn't mean that we should exploit them 'til they croak.
If they weren't special, Epic wouldn't do this... (Score:2)
Some are special. But a fact is that *most* are not.
True, but they're clearly special because epic gave them this perk. Epic is not a charity. They didn't do this to be kind. They did this because they want their employees to be happy and stay. It was an investment. If Epic no longer wants to invest in alternating Fridays off, they revoke the perk and can suffer the consequences and hopefully rival studios will snatch up some good talent. Nothing to see here, folks, just the free market at work.
Re: Being a nice company is not working (Score:4, Insightful)
TIme to make the business a real work place and not some place for the special people.
I am sure this post will piss of a lot of folks who have come to believe they are actually special.
Define "real workplace". Is permanent crunchtime and high burnout rate the gaming industry is known for "real"?
Is the well researched idea that 9 day fortnights actually produce the same productivity while improving employee mental health "fake"?
Shit man, I guess I don't have a real job. I've worked for an employer that gives me every second Friday off for the past 15 years now. How will I cope now realising that I believe I'm special? (Note 4 years ago my company tried to roll back the idea due to some new bean-counter taking a high ranking job, there was an uproar, and the company backtracked.)
For the record: You are special. Someone actively pays you money for being special. Embrace that, see if you can't get some better conditions while you're at it. Maybe "special" just means you're really good and worth keeping. At worst you may find out your a dispensable normie, which is also a good thing to know.
Re: (Score:2)
Being nice is only a requirement if other companies are nicer. Business is all about what you can get away with.
Suggesting that work is supposed to be awful certainly will piss off a lot of folks, because that's just total crap.
Re:Nobody wants to work (Score:4, Insightful)
Emulating crabs in a bucket is not the best strategy to copy.
You could look at their results (higher productivity, still meeting deadlines) and ask your own employer why it's not available. But nah, gotta pull those upity jerks down.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
I'm quite happy doing my job
Yet you decided, "I need to post about how these other people have it too good!"
Re: (Score:1)
And your corporate overlords salute your subservience. But look at the term the parent poster used and try explaining how it doesn't describe you to a T:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The Friday issue... (Score:2)
... and also the Monday one.
So many employers are kind of averse to the idea of "slowdowns" on Fridays and Mondays - and indeed to other activities, such as "developer days", where devs can choose to spend the time innovating on whatever they want.
It's human nature at work.
I think what Epic games had, was the best option of all - and to take it away, seems absurd.
Every alternate Friday is a fantastic idea - it effectively amounts to a 4.5 day week. Of course, that depends how much overtime grind happens, bu
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
So many employers are kind of averse to the idea of "slowdowns" on Fridays and Mondays
I barely care what my employer thinks or wants. The day that happens I'll move on or retire.
It's not like they weren't warned...when they called my references and asked about me, they were told that "you would be very lucky if you could get him to work for you".
But they didn't listen and they hired me anyway...
Executives... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
...see it as a part of their identity to work themselves into an early grave & neglect their families
And I fully support them doing that to themselves. But not me, no no no.
My job is to do as little as possible whilst earning the most I can. That's my job, period. And so far, so good.
I put in maybe 15 or 20 actual work hours a week, occasionally a little more, but often less. I'm usually done working by noon depending on how I feel. And usually I feel like I'm done by noon.
My upper management can run themselves ragged for all I care, that ain't my thang. Have at it, boys, go nuts. I'll watch from an easy
Re: (Score:2)
My upper management can run themselves ragged for all I care, that ain't my thang. Have at it, boys, go nuts. I'll watch from an easy chair and lift my beer to you in admiration of your work ethic. lol
Work fascinates me; I can sit and watch it for hours!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You must be a rare exception. Executives are also obsessed with wielding the power they've worked & sacrificed so much to acquire. What's the point of having power if you don't wield it?
I'm not an executive; I didn't mean to give that impression. I'm a tiny little cog in a vast corporate structure, nobody reports to me. I'm one of those people who are literally at the very bottom of the org chart, lol.
But you're not wrong, exercising their tiny bit of power is what gets them up in the morning.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I hope I didn't offend you. Enjoy your exceptional corporate existence while you can!
Not at all, I've been mistaken for much worse.
To be honest, I am enjoying it. I like what I do, I don't have to do too much of it, and I'm doing it from home.
The pay and benefits are good, and the company itself is great- they're doing good things and I'm glad to be working to help make their ideas and projects come to fruition.
So pay you to take vacation? Nope .... (Score:2, Flamebait)
I get that if you work for a place that gives you really sweet perks, you want to try to hang onto them. But this is ridiculous. Like someone else said, that's 5 weeks of paid vacation if you get every other Friday off work. Nobody's in business to pay people not to do anything for them.
Re: (Score:1)
Odd. I have 5 weeks paid vacation. Plus conferences, plus seminars, plus trainings, plus holidays, plus...
All a matter of negotiation. Of course, it's easier to negotiate from a position of power.
Re: (Score:2)
Uh, presumably the people in question in this story got the 5 extra weeks of paid Fridays off work in ADDITION to whatever vacation time they had or negotiated for originally as part of their employment contract. That's the issue here.
This was a temporary action on the company's part and now they want to end it, and that seems like it's completely their option as nobody had the Fridays off as part of their employment contract in the first place.
Summer Fridays (Score:1)
This year, the company I work for came up with the idea of Summer Fridays. Basically, we were given the option to finish work at lunchtime on Friday throughout July and August. Great, means you get to start your weekends a bit early, right? Except our client base were still working Friday afternoons, so those of us in client-facing roles didn't get the full benefit; we could have a half-day elsewhere in the week, but it didn't feel as special. Nearly all internal departments buggered off completely on those
To be completely honest... (Score:3)
To be completely honest, I don't do a damn thing on most Fridays.
Oh, I fart around, maybe attend a meeting, then I fuck off for the rest of the day. The only thing I make sure to do on Friday is submit my time sheet.
Also, most of my team is on the East coast and I'm on the West coast, so by noon PST I'm blissfully free of any co-workers who might want anything from me. And even if they did, it can wait until Monday.
So I don't get every other Friday off, for all intents and purposes I get every Friday off.
Sore Loser (Score:2)
Epic management are just pissed off that they lost nearly every count of their greedy little lawsuit against Apple, and in fact had to reimburse Apple for all the stolen sub fees they had originally agreed in writing to pay.
So the little shits are essentially kicking their dogs, by cruelly punishing the only beings they can: Their presumably hard-working employees, after agreeing to give them this well-deserved benefit.
But since when has Epic management's word been worth anything? Ask Apple!
Re: (Score:3)
So now, for some reason, EPIC mgmt are a bunch of assholes. No, that doesn't make any sense.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, they are assholes, and it only seems weird because you've been indoctrinated with capitalism. Fortnight alone has made the company billions of dollars, all built off the work of these developers. So, YEAH, they can afford to give them every Friday off, not just every other.
And that's putting aside the issue of productivity. You can make an employee come in for 80 hours a week, but that doesn't mean you're going
Group 3 (Score:1)
Industry labour crunch (Score:2)
There's a real shortage of qualified game devs in the industry right now. You either pay a shit-tonne to poach someone or you lure them with better working conditions. It's happening all over.
Want these people to stick around to continue to make your company insanely rich? Give them the fucking Friday off, god. Fortnite is such a juggernaut right now, and you think maybe it's not worth keeping those people around? They can write their ticket anywhere, to be honest, and it's partly because they worked on tha
If forced to work a day off, pay DOUBLE TIME. (Score:2)
Period.
OT is usually time and a half.
So simply paying them OT hours devalues their days off.
Step the the worked Fridays up to double time.
Lets the company know they shouldn't fuck with people's time off unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.