EA To Pay Overtime Wages

Months after EA: The Human Story was released to the web, Gamasutra.com has word that EA will begin paying out overtime to some of its employees. Which is not to say they don't give it any spin. From the article: "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." Additionally, taking overtime makes you ineligible for bonuses and this largely has nothing to do with the coders and artists who have filed suit against the company.

Comments

What does that mean?

[kenthorvath]

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.

I don't understand: are they saying that because there are no laws preventing them from subjecting their employees to such unethical working conditions that they haven't felt obligated to treat their employees ethically (until now)? Or are they instead saying that it is unfortunate that such laws are, in fact, in place because now they can no longer be successful "entrepeneurs"?

Or is there a third choice?

Fascinating

[An Onerous Coward]

The way I read this, their previous strategy was "dump sixty or seventy hours of work on an employee's desk, tell them to do it, and allow them to exhibit 'entrepreneurialism, innovation, and creativity' in getting it done."

Now that they're implementing overtime, they can't just assume that the employees will work those sixty or seventy hours "if necessary"*. So they'll start structuring their employees' days in such a way that they'll almost never have to pay out overtime, but will require solid work during the 40 hours the employee is on the clock.

I don't think most of their employees will miss the days of yore, when they got to bask in their company's "entrepreneurial culture" for most of their waking hours.

Sheesh. What a load of PHB-speak.