my games industry employer at one point rolled out screensavers to all staff that displayed a clock
except the clock would change colour once the screensaver was running for 5 minutes, so that managers could tell at a glance who was overrunning their legally mandated breaks
@fce same at the two employers I've been with since leaving the games industry
@fce the primary driver for the screensaver thing was the support department which was basically run like a call centre and we all know what working conditions in that kind of environment are like
but they rolled it out to all staff nonetheless
@theoutrider ikr I've worked in a call center before... everyone is treated like a child and when people burn out nobody is responsible, has happened to a couple of older colleagues
@fce yeah, I was working in the support department as one of the few regular employees not in management for a year and a half until I was about to burn out, and got saved by a better post elsewhere in the company opening up
@fce and then ended up burning out anyway because games industry crunch lolll
@theoutrider that's kinda shitty imo.
@maloki I was saying the main driver behind that was the support department, which was being run like a call centre - and working conditions in that kind of environment are pretty much always hideous - but they rolled it out to all staff anyway and... eugh
@theoutrider We had a giant monitor in our company where we had to enter our status (and since if it was on "active" we had to take in calls, you had to put in break to go away) - and you can bet on people getting on your ass as soon as you put in "busy", inquiring every single break you did.
@Shotagonist the support department there made like 15% of people's salary dependent on performance except the top performer each month got averaged out over a year so the "expected minimum" just kept creeping up and up and up
@theoutrider Wages were stupidly arbitrary in our department and the bosses (ineffectually) tried to place a gag order on all the employees so people don't discover the (probably illegal, I gtfo'd as soon as I could) disparity in wages. They gave people outside/against the union significantly higher wages.
@theoutrider Note that this is an assumption of me and I can't prove any of this so I have to really watch out with calling them out cuz they keep that stuff in line via lawsuits etc. <.<
@theoutrider The "funny" part of that kind of stupid things is that, commonly, the employer don't fulfill all the conditions they are supposed to and they are strict with the employees.
Also, they hate when an employee is that strict with them, which is a complete nonsense. They want strict rules in the employees but they still want to be unfair and do whatever they want.
I have had problems with that in the past. It's disgusting.
@ekaitz_zarraga games industry in particular of course has a big problem with "we can't legally EXPECT you to work 12 hours a day for the next three months, but all the cool kids are doing it so if you don't you'll get shunned and will hear about ~teamwork~ at your next performance review"
@ekaitz_zarraga the literal week I left the company one of the other teams got an email from a C-level manager saying "in order to get this ready for beta we're going to have to work 9am-9pm weekdays and one weekend day out of every four, also I'm going on holiday for the rest of the month from tomorrow" and hoo boy am I glad I got out when I did
@ekaitz_zarraga friends who stayed tell me that working pattern in that team went on for *three years*
@theoutrider Yeah!
I know what you are talking about (i live in spain... ).
People should stand up and say they'll never work more than the **LAW** says.
That's the problem I had. My bosses tried to be strict with me (or ask me for things I don't have to do) and when I remembered them my irregular contract and they went mad.
OFC: I left that job and now I'm running my own company because I'll never find a job that respects workers. I decided to CREATE it.
@ekaitz_zarraga at my current job I've literally had my manager walk up to my desk at 18:15 going "as my manager it's my duty to tell you to go home now"
@ekaitz_zarraga *your manager, obviously
@theoutrider YES. That's how it's supposed to be.
What I dont understand is what they get making people work 12 hours apart from destroying their life.
I mean, if I stay at work for 12 hours I only work like 6 (or less) and I get distracted the other 6.
@theoutrider And the next day I work even less because I'm tired.
@ekaitz_zarraga tbh I assume you can get okay results with crunch if your staff is mostly 20-25 year old people, but if it happens regularly or long-term it'll still kill morale and productivity
@theoutrider @ekaitz_zarraga good job man !
@theoutrider At my company everyone in practice takes breaks as long as they want and nobody complains unless there is some real productivity issue