Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
1–10 of 38 posts
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#2> A Gameloft employee, who asked not to be named, said a clause in their contracts allowed for a "reasonable amount" of unpaid overtime.
why is that kind of language allowed at all in contracts?
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#3There are two options here:
1. Keep working, and stop crying about it. 2. Quit
Yeah it sucks, but as someone who worked these kind of hours in the military, without the ability to quit, I don't feel any sympathy.
You empower your employer to treat you like this, and there are many industries where this is near the norm.
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#4There are two options here: 1. Keep working, and stop crying about it. 2. Quit Yeah it sucks, but as someone who worked these kind of hours in the military, without the ability to quit, I don't feel any sympathy. You empower your employer to treat you like this, and there are many industries where this is near the norm.
Or 3. Call the bastards on their bad behavior so other programmers think twice before applying.
There's nothing wrong with outing a company that treats their employees like expendables. The gaming industry's had a bad reputation for horrid working conditions for some time. Maybe it's time to wake up.
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#5> A Gameloft employee, who asked not to be named, said a clause in their contracts allowed for a "reasonable amount" of unpaid overtime. why is that kind of language allowed at all in contracts?
Ambiguity in contracts is a major pain in the ass. To the employee a "reasonable amount" of unpaid overtime could well be ZERO. I'd certainly want to be paid for it. But to the employer it might be an extra 40 hours a week, which to me is ridiculous.
The only people in the company that should be working unpaid overtime are the founders, because its their company. If you're an employee, you should do your work that you're hired for and then go home.
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#6New Zealand and Australia have strong notions of 'unfair dismissmal'.
My gut feeling is that a more effective response, legally, than going to the papers would be to simply refuse and go home.
If they fire you, start a court case. You will likely win.
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#7A French-owned company? Does anyone else see the irony in this? I'll add a link to an old article if I can find it, but I remember a small software company owner in France being fined when some of his workers exceeded 45 hours a week.
Edit:
Here are two articles from when the workweek in France was shortened but I haven't found the article I'm looking for yet. My point isn't really to denigrate France's laws but it would seem that these jobs were shipped out of the country so that more work could be expected from each employee.
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_18/b3627192.htm http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/06/25/european_working_pra...
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#8As the NZ Herald fails to mention the original source, here it is: http://is.gd/it8IWV
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#9There are two options here: 1. Keep working, and stop crying about it. 2. Quit Yeah it sucks, but as someone who worked these kind of hours in the military, without the ability to quit, I don't feel any sympathy. You empower your employer to treat you like this, and there are many industries where this is near the norm.
Or 3. Call the bastards on their bad behavior so other programmers think twice before applying. There's nothing wrong with outing a company that treats their employees like expendables. The gaming industry's had a bad reputation for horrid working conditions for some time. Maybe it's time to wake up.
I don't think it's wrong to go public, but going to the department of labor seems backwards. I'm not familiar with the laws there, but I don't see how this could be regulated outside of a collectively bargained union contract?
Edit: I'd like to see a response behind these downvotes. As a business owner and employee, I'm confused.
Re: Long hours and zombie-like employees at Gameloft Auckland
#10A French-owned company? Does anyone else see the irony in this? I'll add a link to an old article if I can find it, but I remember a small software company owner in France being fined when some of his workers exceeded 45 hours a week. Edit: Here are two articles from when the workweek in France was shortened but I haven't found the article I'm looking for yet. My point isn't really to denigrate France's laws but it w…