2 SR18

It all started on 07.29.04 when an EA employee named Jamie
Kirschenbaum filed a class-action lawsuit against EA seeking
compensatory overtime pay. The lawsuit complained that EA illegally
classified its employees in order to gain an exemption from paying
them overtime. But apparently EA did not learn anything from the
lawsuit. They tried to cover up the problems instead of solving them.
And now they are faced with a PR mess as the "significant other" of a
current employee has caused quite a bit of commotion.

Known as ea_spouse, this woman disclosed the frustration one goes
through when dating a programmer at Electronic Arts, the world's
largest videogame publisher. In response to seeing her significant
other work inhumane hours every week with no overtime
compensation, ea_spouse decided to write an article rebuking EA for
their treatment of their employees. Titled "EA: The Human Story,"
ea_spouse's article, which was published on her personal blog,
sparked an incredible response as gamers, journalists (including the
New York Times, the LA Times, and the Washington Post to name a
few), and videogame employees expressed their sympathy. In fact, the
response was so enormous that her article was even nominated for
Joel Spolsky's Best Software Essays of 2004.

You can read ea_spouse's article, as well as all the IRC responses and
news articles written about it by clicking here. From here on I'll
summarize and analyze some of her points.

In the article ea_spouse reveals that EA employees must adhere to a
demanding work schedule that usually averages about 48 hours a
week during down time, 60 to 65 hours a week during "pre-crunch"
time, and up to 85 hours a week during "crunch" time. As insane as
that seems, though, ea_spouse states that rarely is it not "crunch"
time, and that none of the employee complaints are ever
acknowledged. During "crunch" time EA's employees must work seven
days a week from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm!

Not surprisingly, ea_spouse points out that in addition to her personal
relationship with her significant other suffering, that EA's employees
suffer from a great deal of stress that results in "physical, emotional,
and mental health" problems. Furthermore, ea_spouse states that "for
the honor of this treatment EA's salaried employees receive a) no
overtime; b) no compensation time! c) no additional sick or vacation
leave."

Ironically, as ea_spouse points out, despite these gruesome practices,
"Electronic Arts was listed #91 on Fortune magazine's '100 Best
Companies to Work For' in 2003.'" The fact that there is this much
ignorance of how EA treates their employees is part of the problem.
The other part is EA's attitude toward the whole thing, which,
according to comments ea_spouse claims to have heard from multiple
managers at EA, can be summed up as follows, "If they don't like it,
they can work someplace else.' Put up or shut up and leave: this is the
core of EA's Human Resources policy."

But according to ea_spouse they don't have much of a choice since
EA's Darwinistic business practices have either put competitors out of
business or absorbed dozens of other gaming companies in the past
few years alone. Moreover, ea_spouse writes, "In any other industry
the company in question would find itself sued out of business...This
company is not strapped for cash; their labor practices are
inexcusable."

With that, ea_spouse argues that according to the overtime exemption
bill that EA is citing to avoid paying their employees for their long
hours, that the exempt employees must be paid a minimum annual
salary of $90,000. Thus, she claims, "I can assure you that the majority
of EA employees are in fact not in this pay bracket; ergo, these
practices are not only unethical, they are illegal."

Lastly, ea_spouse argues that EA encourages voluntary turnover of
their workforce, always bringing in fresh faces straight out of college
to avoid giving raises, and thus, keep salaries low. In fact, she claims
the turnover rate in EA's engineering department is an astonishing
50%. At the end of her article, ea_spouse asks EA CEO Larry Probst the
following question, "When you make your profit calculations and your
cost analyses, you know that a great measure of that cost is being
paid in raw human dignity, right?"

After months of "no comments," EA finally responded to the press. As
quoted in an 11.17.04 LA Times article, EA spokeswoman Tammy
Schachter states, "Everyone who works in a game studio knows that
the hard work that comes with [finishing] games isn't unique to EA. As
the industry leader, EA generates a lot of attention on issues common
to all game developers."

Well no shit Tammy. You generate the most attention because, as the
industry leader, you must take the first step into correcting these
unfair labor practices. But you choose not to. Besides, the "everyone
else is doing it argument" has never worked as a means of
justification. Just because brutal labor practices are widespread does
not make them any less wrong.

There is no reason why programmers in the movie business, who work
to produce digital special effects and computer animation for
companies such as Walt Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Bros., get
paid overtime for every hour worked beyond 40 hours a week.
Especially since the videogame industry, estimated at bringing in an
annual $12 billion in revenue, is now the most profitable sector in the
entertainment industry---surpassing the film industry.

EA's own press releases only make the matter more despicable as
they indicate EA raked in over $3 billion in total net revenue in 2004
alone. That is $3 billion of pure profit---after all expenses were paid
(including employee salaries). You can't tell me that they cannot
sacrifice even $10 million of that profit to provide the approximate
5,000 workers they employ with higher wages and better working
conditions. They could, but they don't. Just another reason I hate EA.
And again, I'm not saying other companies don't do the same things,
but EA is the largest game publisher in the world. Thus, they must use
their incredible sway and take the first step towards a better gaming
industry.

Perhaps most ironic of all is EA's slogan, "Challenge Everything." Sure
thing, but I agree with ea_spouse, let's start by challenging your
inhumane labor practices. And then, if we have time, we'll move on to
challenging the rehashed garbage you shove down our throats every
year. Or how about you challenge yourselves to see beyond the
moneybags for once? If the class-action lawsuit against EA ends in
favor of the plaintiffs, that wouldbe a start.

Still not convinced that EA is the bane of the gaming industry? Read
Part I and Part III of my anti-EA rants.