These last 6 weeks are our final sprint on a project we've all spent much of our lives on. Something we care for deeply. The majority of the team understands that push, especially in light of the fact that we've just sent the game to cert and every day brings us visibly closer to shipping a game we want to be proud of. This is one of the hardest decisions I've had to make, but everyone is well compensated for every extra hour they put in. And, like in recent years, 10% of the annual profit our company generates in 2020 will be split directly among the team.
PHJF wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 10:15:Beamer wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 09:59:wtf_man wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 09:49:Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law. I've been in the industry many years, don't know of anyone around here that gets paid OT. But frankly I appreciate being able to work whenever I want and not keeping my time or punchclocking whatever. My particular company can get really busy if there is a hard deadline coming up but crunch is mostly not a thing for us thankfully. But you submit your own estimates for work, so if you're way over what you thought it would be you better have a good explanation or be willing to work some late nights to catch yourself up. Not required, but I'm sure it reflects on your performance if you never get anything done when you say you will.
Right.
As far as I know that exemption not restricted to just software engineers, but any salaried employee vs. hourly in the US. No Overtime pay for Salaried Employees.
That may have changed but I have had a Salary type job in will over 25 years.
Above $36,000. Below that, and they would be eligible.
How do I know that? In order to avoid furloughs when our revenue plummeted in March, my company rolled out short-term pay reductions. I took a 12% hit. The average was 5%. People making $40k weren't impacted, to avoid any chance of putting them below this, but I don't think we have many people making below $45k.
Apparently the Obama administration tried to make it $47,500, or $913 per week, but a court shot that down.
So instead of being furloughed and making an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits you got to keep working while making even less money. I'd be interested in seeing the total monetary loss you suffered as a result.
MrBone wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 07:24:Scheherazade wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 19:46:
I worked on a project where I crunched for well over half a year. The last 2 months were 16 hour days, which was especially annoying since the company didn't allow you to log more then 12 hours per day [ because of some legal limit to daily hours IIRC ].
What did I get in the end? A reprimand for looking bad on security review for working odd hours... by the same person assigning me the daily tasks... who would leave at 5 and give me a full days work to do by next morning (we all started at 9 daily).
Lesson learned : don't do overtime.
If they demand it, demand compensation.
Another thing I noticed was that when management leaves at 5, they don't see people working anymore, and they act like as if everyone is done working at the same time.
By not doing overtime simply by request (which is quickly out of mind) they are forced to be aware of it by authorizing the compensation.
I don't mean onesey twosey rare and incidental overtime, I mean the 'this is how things are' overtime.
-scheherazade
When you woke up from this nightmare, did you have a hankering for some cookies??
wtf_man wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 19:30:
I was replying to GothicWizard's comment about most game studios... not specifically what CD PROJECT RED is doing.
PHJF wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 10:15:Not quite sure how you get the idea that the $600 unemployment would have been a benefit for Beamer.
So instead of being furloughed and making an extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits you got to keep working while making even less money. I'd be interested in seeing the total monetary loss you suffered as a result.
Beamer wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 09:59:wtf_man wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 09:49:Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law. I've been in the industry many years, don't know of anyone around here that gets paid OT. But frankly I appreciate being able to work whenever I want and not keeping my time or punchclocking whatever. My particular company can get really busy if there is a hard deadline coming up but crunch is mostly not a thing for us thankfully. But you submit your own estimates for work, so if you're way over what you thought it would be you better have a good explanation or be willing to work some late nights to catch yourself up. Not required, but I'm sure it reflects on your performance if you never get anything done when you say you will.
Right.
As far as I know that exemption not restricted to just software engineers, but any salaried employee vs. hourly in the US. No Overtime pay for Salaried Employees.
That may have changed but I have had a Salary type job in will over 25 years.
Above $36,000. Below that, and they would be eligible.
How do I know that? In order to avoid furloughs when our revenue plummeted in March, my company rolled out short-term pay reductions. I took a 12% hit. The average was 5%. People making $40k weren't impacted, to avoid any chance of putting them below this, but I don't think we have many people making below $45k.
Apparently the Obama administration tried to make it $47,500, or $913 per week, but a court shot that down.
wtf_man wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 09:49:Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law. I've been in the industry many years, don't know of anyone around here that gets paid OT. But frankly I appreciate being able to work whenever I want and not keeping my time or punchclocking whatever. My particular company can get really busy if there is a hard deadline coming up but crunch is mostly not a thing for us thankfully. But you submit your own estimates for work, so if you're way over what you thought it would be you better have a good explanation or be willing to work some late nights to catch yourself up. Not required, but I'm sure it reflects on your performance if you never get anything done when you say you will.
Right.
As far as I know that exemption not restricted to just software engineers, but any salaried employee vs. hourly in the US. No Overtime pay for Salaried Employees.
That may have changed but I have had a Salary type job in will over 25 years.
Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law. I've been in the industry many years, don't know of anyone around here that gets paid OT. But frankly I appreciate being able to work whenever I want and not keeping my time or punchclocking whatever. My particular company can get really busy if there is a hard deadline coming up but crunch is mostly not a thing for us thankfully. But you submit your own estimates for work, so if you're way over what you thought it would be you better have a good explanation or be willing to work some late nights to catch yourself up. Not required, but I'm sure it reflects on your performance if you never get anything done when you say you will.
VaranDragon wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 02:26:
That is seriously fucked up.
Also, did everyone miss that 10% profit margin bonus? In the EU these kinds of things are usually stipulated by contract, or addendum to a contract. So that's not an empty promise.
Scheherazade wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 19:46:
I worked on a project where I crunched for well over half a year. The last 2 months were 16 hour days, which was especially annoying since the company didn't allow you to log more then 12 hours per day [ because of some legal limit to daily hours IIRC ].
What did I get in the end? A reprimand for looking bad on security review for working odd hours... by the same person assigning me the daily tasks... who would leave at 5 and give me a full days work to do by next morning (we all started at 9 daily).
Lesson learned : don't do overtime.
If they demand it, demand compensation.
Another thing I noticed was that when management leaves at 5, they don't see people working anymore, and they act like as if everyone is done working at the same time.
By not doing overtime simply by request (which is quickly out of mind) they are forced to be aware of it by authorizing the compensation.
I don't mean onesey twosey rare and incidental overtime, I mean the 'this is how things are' overtime.
-scheherazade
IgWannA wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 05:19:
It's only fucked up if they force you to work the overtime..
VaranDragon wrote on Oct 1, 2020, 02:26:Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law.
That is seriously fucked up.
Also, did everyone miss that 10% profit margin bonus? In the EU these kinds of things are usually stipulated by contract, or addendum to a contract. So that's not an empty promise.
Sepharo wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 20:25:
In the U.S. software engineers are exempt from overtime regulations. The company can pay it but it's not law.
Cutter wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 23:27:
I wonder what constitutes "the team" for that profit sharing exactly? QA? Support staff - cleaners, receptionists, et al.?
wtf_man wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 19:30:oopsie
I was replying to GothicWizard's comment about most game studios... not specifically what CD PROJECT RED is doing.
IgWannA wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 19:59:wtf_man wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 18:27:
Most game developers are on Salary... not Hourly... which is why there is not OT pay available. However, they are usually promised some "bonus"... but we've seen how that goes, like with Gearbox.
Honestly, taking any IT Professional job for Salary instead of Hourly is kind of a dumb move ...unless the salary is way above the industry average. There's almost always "Off Hours" work to be done at some point... might as well get paid for it. Now, where I work, we mainly flex "off hours" work to avoid OT as much as possible... but if it's over 40 hours for the week, we go into OT.
I'm on a salary but I get paid overtime if I book it, so I don't see your point. A salaried position does not preclude you from claiming OT.
wtf_man wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 18:27:
Most game developers are on Salary... not Hourly... which is why there is not OT pay available. However, they are usually promised some "bonus"... but we've seen how that goes, like with Gearbox.
Honestly, taking any IT Professional job for Salary instead of Hourly is kind of a dumb move ...unless the salary is way above the industry average. There's almost always "Off Hours" work to be done at some point... might as well get paid for it. Now, where I work, we mainly flex "off hours" work to avoid OT as much as possible... but if it's over 40 hours for the week, we go into OT.
wtf_man wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 18:27:It specifically says they will be paid overtime.GothicWizard wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 17:07:
Please, I've seen some studios, games end up in crunch that last 4+ months of development with no OT. Clearly the industry is much better then it was 5+ yrs ago. As long as they are getting paid for the OT this is a non-issue and story.
Most game developers are on Salary... not Hourly... which is why there is not OT pay available. However, they are usually promised some "bonus"... but we've seen how that goes, like with Gearbox.
Honestly, taking any IT Professional job for Salary instead of Hourly is kind of a dumb move ...unless the salary is way above the industry average. There's almost always "Off Hours" work to be done at some point... might as well get paid for it. Now, where I work, we mainly flex "off hours" work to avoid OT as much as possible... but if it's over 40 hours for the week, we go into OT.
Badowski wrote, elaborating that this meant “your typical amount of work and one day of the weekend.” The extra work would be paid, as required by Polish labor laws. Many other video game studios don’t pay for overtime.
GothicWizard wrote on Sep 30, 2020, 17:07:
Please, I've seen some studios, games end up in crunch that last 4+ months of development with no OT. Clearly the industry is much better then it was 5+ yrs ago. As long as they are getting paid for the OT this is a non-issue and story.