MiguelItUp
Member
Very true, and I'd agree with that. Exactly! I couldn't agree more.
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MachineGames asking more staff to move to full-time office work
- Thread starter IbizaPocholo
- Start date
- Opinion Business Game Dev
PeteBull
Gold Member
Those "nerds" were true workhorses, their default mode was crunch on top of crunch, no social life/family or any kind of work/life balance, perfect in every way^^
Angry_Megalodon
Member
But what is the difference between a guy sat in an office onsite sending another guy a teams message to another guy in an office onsite versus them both being at home and sending teams messages?
People seem to think working in an office is this:
There's something called human interaction. You grow stronger relationships, both personal and professional, with people you meet in person. And ultimately, it makes productivity better.
At this point, it's not an opinion. Companies are mandating their teams back to the office because they are not performing remotely. That's a fact.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Maybe they need a union.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
You can do all that 3 days per week in the office.
Companies are mandating employees use AI because it improves performance - that is also a 'fact'.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Because for everyone 1 person who can handle it, 10 others fuck it up and slack off.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Same (though less than 10 yrs for us). Can't imagine going back to a cubicle now.
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OLED_Gamer
Member
The salt from some of you is wild.
Performance reviews exist for a reason. If you don't hit, you are out. Where you work is not relevant.
Magic-DEI-Hire
Gold Member
RTO mandates are a common thing to happen before layoffs, make no mistake that this is not a good sign. They might be betting on some quitting because they can't make the commute. WFH is not the issue, it is failures in management and the skills of your teams.
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PropellerEar
Member
Indiana Jones and the Great Bomba
Indiana Jones and the Great RTO
Indiana Jones and the Great Layoffs.
Indiana Jones and the Great RTO
Indiana Jones and the Great Layoffs.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Bullshit. Work from home is not sustainable except for a tiny minority. There is no amount of that says otherwise.
Magic-DEI-Hire
Gold Member
lh032
I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
i can tell you people who are anti wfh, are probably those that are forced to work in office keklol
im enjoying my wfh hybrid life.
These anti wfh people seems to forget that wfh actually saves you hours of transportation which you can use for productivity.
im enjoying my wfh hybrid life.
These anti wfh people seems to forget that wfh actually saves you hours of transportation which you can use for productivity.
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OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Them zoomers are going to hate that. The only thing they hate more than different opinions is work.
OLED_Gamer
Member
Hahaha k
Shifty1897
Member
Man if I have one more recruiter lie to me about a job being 100% remote I'll start cussing them out. The last one was 100% remote and then you get to the interview and it's 50% travel to NYC.
Bernardougf
Member
The experiment failed .... time for some dose of real world.
Gamer_By_Proxy
About to beat off
Sucks for them. I still work from home most days. It's hard for me to imagine being back in the office full time. I get groceries delivered or have contractors working on the house. Do laundry. Get other chores done or nap during lunch. I get more workouts in. I'm around if my kid gets sent home from daycare. Etc.
And I still get my work done and almost never take a sick day or PTO.
And I still get my work done and almost never take a sick day or PTO.
Evil Calvin
Afraid of Boobs
Most weren't forced to. It was a passion. I've read enough stories heard enough interviews where they loved what they did and were never forced to work tons of hours. Those companies which forced crunch is a different story but the majority of classic games in the 80's and 90's (maybe into 2000's) were made out of passion, creativity and excitement.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
WFH is great, feel sorry for them.
imo if wfh fails it's because of bad management. So far in the 5 or 6 years I've been doing it, the product I work on has been developed just fine.
yeah pretty much. Some days I even put some extra time and I don't mind because I'm comfy at home. If I had to stay a single minute more at the office I would just don't do it and fuck off right back home.
imo if wfh fails it's because of bad management. So far in the 5 or 6 years I've been doing it, the product I work on has been developed just fine.
Gamer_By_Proxy
About to beat off
Lucky for me they can't make us come back full time. They actually redesigned the space and sold a building or two. They slimmed down because of it.
confused_pumpkin1506
Banned
no no it hasnt
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Yeah no wonder they did that, a lot of companies realized that they could save a ton of money by selling the office and saving on it's maintenance and expenses.
Hell, at the begining they even were paying OUR home's expenses (electricity and water) and that still was cheaper for them. It was a bit of a chore for accounting tho so in the end they just gave us a raise.
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Lukaku's First Touch
Banned
Sorry you can't work from home baking hamburgers at McDonalds. Doesn't mean the rest of us need to be a victim for your misfortunes.
confused_pumpkin1506
Banned
my dad works from home and has done from the pandemic.
he gets more done because in his words, "other morons arent annoying him"
his language is a bit more colourful lol
DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
I personally feel, that for a collaborative project, like a video game. Where you are bringing multiple parts together at various points of development, that it would be more beneficial to be in the same offices. The animators can walk down the office to the artists etc and have joint meetings that are interactive, with people present.
If I am doing my current Job I can work from home, but If i am linking up with marketing, its ok to do a teams call for the majority and its nice to be face to face for others.
But yeah, unlike a movie a video game is hitting milestones and needs to be evaluated across Art, audio, performance, design, development. all these things. It makes logical sense to me to be face to face.....
But what do i know.
If I am doing my current Job I can work from home, but If i am linking up with marketing, its ok to do a teams call for the majority and its nice to be face to face for others.
But yeah, unlike a movie a video game is hitting milestones and needs to be evaluated across Art, audio, performance, design, development. all these things. It makes logical sense to me to be face to face.....
But what do i know.
Miles708
Member
Joke's on you, i slack at the office too!
Gamer_By_Proxy
About to beat off
Yea. My work also stopped with the extravagant holiday parties too. They used to rent out a local arena. Now it's a DJ and some catering at the office.
They do get us food for a lot of the days we need to be at the office though.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Sounds like you work at a nice place man, it's cool when they know how to take care of the workers as if they were actual people. Cheers!
Gamer_By_Proxy
About to beat off
Yea. You can tell they believe in holding onto knowledgeable people instead of a ton of turnover. You'd be amazed how many people have been working here for over 30 years.
It's about 7 years for me. It's mainly the purely coder teams that get laid off, then hiring, then laid off, etc.
MiguelItUp
Member
This is exactly how I've approached it. I'm not on the clock? No problem, let me just do these few things real quick while they're on the front of my mind. It happens pretty often, and in some cases is helpful for me the next time I'm working.
Your last line is the kicker, and I couldn't agree more. It fails because of bad management. But I've also worked in studios (that were never remote) where bad management existed in the form of poor communication, production, etc. Bad management just exists in all forms, or management that could certainly be improved for the sake of the entire studio/project.
There's a trend in this thread, if you've worked from home or are actively doing it, you know that it IS very functional and effective. If not more so. Those that haven't and don't, don't see it that way, everyone is lazy, etc. Very "old man" perspectives for sure, lol.
That's what I thought until I started doing it myself. The studio I currently work for is the first one that I've worked for that has always been and will be fully remote, which was a first for me. The structure, communication, and workflow is some of the best I've ever experienced and it's all remote. So, that says a lot.
Meetings are still set and treated no different than they would be in office, video and voice calls are on the regular, and there's an active voice chat where people working through out the day hang out in. Need to share media, review something, etc.? Share the files, stream your screen, etc. I think we're at a point now where WFH has been more feasible than it ever was before. Especially for games and tech.
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diffusionx
Gold Member
WFH was intensely studied and the productivity loss from it was real. Hence why people are being brought back into the offices. It's not because of "corporate greed" or "commercial real estate", I am sure all these companies would love to ditch their offices if they could, I once looked up the tax records of the company I worked for and they were paying tens of millions of dollars a year in taxes, to say nothing of maintenance, lights, power, running the cafeteria, running the security, etc. They'd love to ditch it if they could. But they can't. Most people just don't work well, or at all, from home. We can't forget about the rise of things like mouse clickers during the plandemic. Those of us who follow vidya know that the game industry basically shut down for 2 years.
It doesn't matter what you can do. There's been a shuffling as people have left some companies rather than go back in the office but the loss from those employees is probably outweighed by the rise in productivity elsewhere.
It doesn't matter what you can do. There's been a shuffling as people have left some companies rather than go back in the office but the loss from those employees is probably outweighed by the rise in productivity elsewhere.
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DenchDeckard
Moderated wildly
Well, I stand corrected. Thanks for your first hand experience.
It seems that if you know what you are doing, WFH absolutely works.
MiguelItUp
Member
You're very welcome!
Yeah, I mean, it's definitely not for everyone, and that's an extremely real statement. But when it works, it works REALLY well. It really is cool to be working on something where everyone around the world is actively contributing and doing great work.
I think hybrid schedules are awesome for sure, it was originally how I was eased into remote work as my previous position was just that. But it IS really nice to still continue to work in an industry you're passionate about, where you wouldn't be able to otherwise. (I don't have any gaming studios in my city and I can't move to different cities, states, or countries, lol.)
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spookyfish
Gold Member
I mean, where do you think I'm reading this from?
EDIT: And for me, it's not that "working from home doesn't work": I think it can work. But it's like anything else where a "community" of people get together to work as a whole--some will be responsible, and others will slack off. I'm the type of person who doesn't slack off -- I am very judicious on the few WFH days we have -- my personality/generation-type is office work is better. I want my home life and office life separate.
Can some do it and suffer no issues? Absolutely. Can some just not handle it all? Absolutely.
To call back to the "sorry McDonald's won't let you work from home" -- yeah, it ain't McDonald's that's asking all these people to come back to the office. There's a reason these companies are doing that.
ANYway -- MachineGames. Cool stuff.
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MayaXG
Member
This is the huge part. I've probably taken 5 sick days in while being hybrid or remote.
When I'm too sick to be around people but not to sick to be productive, I still work. If my employer mandates full RTO, I'll take a PTO. They don't get to have their cake and eat it too.
This will only increase presenteeism in the work place with sick people coming in and getting everyone else sick.
Full of shit.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
There's a decent amount in this very topic that say otherwise .
Ishma3L
Member
Also anecdotal, but when I was working in tech a lot of it was in a WHF environment. Everybody is trying to game the system and if you're not, you're a chump. Problem is everybody knows everybody else is doing it so everybody wants to keep up the facade that all they're doing is working. And if you're putting in good work, people leave you alone. There are definitely periods of time when you need to lock it in and grind, but outside of that - I'm totally cool with people working an "8hr shift" but really putting in a solid 4 hours of work.
reinking
Gold Member
The company I work for has been very successful with remote work (not video game related). We have 5 locations throughout the US (soon to be four because of our WFH success) but it expanded our talent pool significantly. Personally, I prefer to work in the building so I commute 3-4 days a week. I previously had a job that was fulltime WFH. I didn't hate the job, but I hated myself because all I did is work. I goof of way more when I work in the building than I do when I WFH. I see others that do that as well.
IMO, WFH is not a one size fits all solution. Each company needs to evaluate their productivity and make their decisions based on that. If they have a bunch of slackers, you best bring them in. If your productivity remains high, don't shake things up just to shake them up.
As for the employees, you agreed to work for a company. Regardless of the reason, if you no longer agree to their terms, you have a choice to make. I do hate hearing an employee that used to work in the building everyday bitch and moan because they had to come in for one day.
* edit to add - I do believe employees that were hired on as remote employees have every right to be pissed if they are now being told to come to a building.
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Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
The way I see it, there's nothing to discuss/argue over in matters like this.
Noone's owed a wage, its an arrangement between employer and employee. If the deal is that you work x hours a week/month in the office then that's what you signed up for.
There's no rights and wrongs to it; it simply is.
If you signed up on the basis of hybrid or full remote working, obviously the fault is with the employer -assuming of course they didn't carve-out some sort of reversion clause- so that's actionable at tribunal/court. But, if your contract states in-office working, and the employer simply adjusted based on covid protocol or made it an acceptable option for whatever reason, basically its still on you to uphold under the terms you signed.
There's nothing unreasonable about that, and more to the point its not on the employer to justify reasons for it.
The lack of obligation people show these days is crazy to me. You argue on the basis of the employment agreement you signed, not some vague "rights" that everything must serve your wants and interests! I would say its entitlement, but I think its more about a narcissistic over-valuation of self-worth and bargaining power.
Noone's owed a wage, its an arrangement between employer and employee. If the deal is that you work x hours a week/month in the office then that's what you signed up for.
There's no rights and wrongs to it; it simply is.
If you signed up on the basis of hybrid or full remote working, obviously the fault is with the employer -assuming of course they didn't carve-out some sort of reversion clause- so that's actionable at tribunal/court. But, if your contract states in-office working, and the employer simply adjusted based on covid protocol or made it an acceptable option for whatever reason, basically its still on you to uphold under the terms you signed.
There's nothing unreasonable about that, and more to the point its not on the employer to justify reasons for it.
The lack of obligation people show these days is crazy to me. You argue on the basis of the employment agreement you signed, not some vague "rights" that everything must serve your wants and interests! I would say its entitlement, but I think its more about a narcissistic over-valuation of self-worth and bargaining power.
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reinking
Gold Member
I have used the same conversation for 30+ years with both employees and vendors. It is basically, you agreed to do this for x. If you no longer agree I will everything I can to help you find your next job. No hard feelings and I understand that circumstances change. In over 30 years of people and property management, I have fired zero employees/vendors. 12+ of that was in retail so I am proud of that record.
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Puscifer
Member
I mean I hate saying it but it's true. I find a hybrid approach works better berceuse you still have to come face to face with your co workers and managers.
Plus let's be real - I've said many times the metrics were going to determine what industries can handle it and which ones can't. People had 5 years to prove it and they didn't.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Loved a baked hamburger. This is the type of shit that the average wfh employee thinks. That people are baking hamburgers in ovens.
AmuroChan
Member
I'm in software development as well and we have a hybrid model, which I think works for most people. There's no question that there are pros and cons to both. When I'm in the office, I take full advantage of being able to just walk over to my colleague and ask them to look at something for me, versus when I'm at home and I send a Slack msg to someone and they don't get back to me for hours or even sometimes days.
MiguelItUp
Member
That's when you hound them, or if it's THAT bad, ping them in a public chat so there's a paper trail. It's not a shitty thing to do, but I think in some cases it's important to show that you've done your part. If they drop the ball or slack at all, that's on them.
Sushi_Combo
Member
WFH has made me more productive with work & saved so much money by avoiding commuting every day to the downtown area. Looks like a lot of jealousy in the thread that they lack flexibility with their work arrangements.