Lisette Titre-Montgomery has been a developer since 2002, and has decades of experience with the way the video game industry makes life miserable for parents.
I'm not a game developer, but I definitely felt the "is it worth keeping this job" comment. I spent twelve years at GameStop, ending as a store manager. Those management years were hell, dealing with constant complaints that numbers weren't good enough, and expectations that we weren't working hard enough. They used to say working 45-50 hours in a week was a reward, but you were expected to do much more which led to me working 70+ hour weeks almost every week.
I remember we were given schedules that had to be worked during the Christmas season. The week before Christmas I took Sunday off because my parents were moving away and we wanted to have a last Christmas together. I had just started dating my now wife so it was extra important. I knew that was going to be the slowest day of the week, and I would be working the other six days, so it all made sense to me. But I was threatened if I didn't change the schedule around. This was back in 04, and I think the only reason they didn't fire me is because there was already rumblings back then of investigations into whether we were even legally managers.
I also remember, a few months later, my grandmother passed. My regional manager (the step above district manager, we were without a DM then) at the time was actually pretty decent about it and just told me to go and he would take care of everything. Someone from another store covered me, my employees all did a great job, it was thankfully very chill altogether. But a couple months later my new DM decided that we had gone over on hours that week and I needed to be punished.
I left eventually and started working at a grocery store. Years into that we had a daughter who was born with a heart defect. She had to be flown to another hospital for open heart surgery, so I went on FMLA knowing I would be living in another state for a few weeks. Things were ok for about a week, but then I started getting calls and texts wondering when I would be coming back, and suggesting things would go badly if I didn't come back soon. I also left this job shortly after.
This is turning in to a long ramble, but I guess I'm trying to say that this whole article and Titre-Montgomery's comments about the execs driving in to work in a Maserati while saying there's no money for raises really hit home. You really do need to decide when you've had enough, and only give just enough loyalty to keep the paychecks coming. I know the gaming industry is still in kind of a nightmare place for work-life balance, and retail sure is (can confirm still!), but we all have to remember that the executives don't care about the line employees. The days of companies taking care of their employees are long over.
I hear a lot of hopes that game devs unionize, and I share them. I also hope that retail and food workers do the same. It's one of the few ways we can try and eek some power back and ensure we can spend more time with our families without overworking ourselves to death.
Thank you for articles like this man. I am a motion designer in marketing and felt the exact same way Lisette has felt with the grueling hours and wanting to stay in the industry as a parent. I missed a lot of my first born's earlier years working on average 13 hour days. Only when I shifted to a late shift did I start to get to see my family more at least in the early afternoon. My industry doesn't really have room for families so much and stories of sleeping at desks or all nighters working on a trailer were bragged about.
Since COVID happened my department went remote, had another kid and since then I haven't missed a day of my kids life since and I couldn't imagine working like I did before. I missed quite a bit of my son's early days but thankfully I have been able to say goodnight everyday for the last 3 years.
I'm not a game developer, but I definitely felt the "is it worth keeping this job" comment. I spent twelve years at GameStop, ending as a store manager. Those management years were hell, dealing with constant complaints that numbers weren't good enough, and expectations that we weren't working hard enough. They used to say working 45-50 hours in a week was a reward, but you were expected to do much more which led to me working 70+ hour weeks almost every week.
I remember we were given schedules that had to be worked during the Christmas season. The week before Christmas I took Sunday off because my parents were moving away and we wanted to have a last Christmas together. I had just started dating my now wife so it was extra important. I knew that was going to be the slowest day of the week, and I would be working the other six days, so it all made sense to me. But I was threatened if I didn't change the schedule around. This was back in 04, and I think the only reason they didn't fire me is because there was already rumblings back then of investigations into whether we were even legally managers.
I also remember, a few months later, my grandmother passed. My regional manager (the step above district manager, we were without a DM then) at the time was actually pretty decent about it and just told me to go and he would take care of everything. Someone from another store covered me, my employees all did a great job, it was thankfully very chill altogether. But a couple months later my new DM decided that we had gone over on hours that week and I needed to be punished.
I left eventually and started working at a grocery store. Years into that we had a daughter who was born with a heart defect. She had to be flown to another hospital for open heart surgery, so I went on FMLA knowing I would be living in another state for a few weeks. Things were ok for about a week, but then I started getting calls and texts wondering when I would be coming back, and suggesting things would go badly if I didn't come back soon. I also left this job shortly after.
This is turning in to a long ramble, but I guess I'm trying to say that this whole article and Titre-Montgomery's comments about the execs driving in to work in a Maserati while saying there's no money for raises really hit home. You really do need to decide when you've had enough, and only give just enough loyalty to keep the paychecks coming. I know the gaming industry is still in kind of a nightmare place for work-life balance, and retail sure is (can confirm still!), but we all have to remember that the executives don't care about the line employees. The days of companies taking care of their employees are long over.
I hear a lot of hopes that game devs unionize, and I share them. I also hope that retail and food workers do the same. It's one of the few ways we can try and eek some power back and ensure we can spend more time with our families without overworking ourselves to death.
Thank you for articles like this man. I am a motion designer in marketing and felt the exact same way Lisette has felt with the grueling hours and wanting to stay in the industry as a parent. I missed a lot of my first born's earlier years working on average 13 hour days. Only when I shifted to a late shift did I start to get to see my family more at least in the early afternoon. My industry doesn't really have room for families so much and stories of sleeping at desks or all nighters working on a trailer were bragged about.
Since COVID happened my department went remote, had another kid and since then I haven't missed a day of my kids life since and I couldn't imagine working like I did before. I missed quite a bit of my son's early days but thankfully I have been able to say goodnight everyday for the last 3 years.