A little bit of good news in an industry filled with what is usually not so good news, Eidos Montreal has announced that they are switching to a four-day workweek. An industry like this one has been steeped in years of workplace crunch, oftentimes leading to exhaustion or worse, so it’s exciting to see a studio actively trying to battle crunch by introducing an initiative to make life easier for the developers of this months’ Guardians of the Galaxy.
We're continuing to adapt our studio to the new realities of work. After remote working and the hybrid model, we're shifting to the 4-day work week! A better work-life balance for even more innovative games. Details 👇https://t.co/1AaVJFwCLX
— Eidos-MontrĂ©al (@EidosMontreal) October 7, 2021
Both Eidos Montreal and Eidos Sherbrooke will not be closed on Fridays, turning the regular 40-hour workweek into a 32-hour workweek.
“Concretely, we want to reduce the time at work, but increase the quality of this time invested, whether it’s on a team basis or for the studio as a whole,” says David Anfossi, Head of Studio. “A promising right balance for everything!”
In a blog post on the studio’s website, Anfossi mentions that this decision was made after seeing how the pandemic has influenced the way the team works, not by crunching five days into four days. Instead, it is being done so that productivity and well-being increase. Eidos says remote work has transformed how they collaborate, starting with more emphasis on cultural transition, implementation of a rest period, access to a personal financial advisor, access to a telemedicine platform, reimbursement of mental health care and physical activity costs.
“We want a real collaborative aspect so that the teams contribute to the transition, each one working to define the parameters and criteria for success for the organization of work and deadlines. We hope that this will eliminate unnecessary time and build on efficiency, for example by reducing internal meetings from one hour to 30 minutes.”
Eidos Montreal, the studio behind the new Guardians of the Galaxy game, is switching to a four-day work week. I believe this is the first AAA video game studio to make the shift. Given how much competition there is for talent in Montreal these days, this will have a huuuge impact https://t.co/eluvUBbXrM
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) October 7, 2021
Eidos Montreal is the first AAA studio to switch to a four-day workweek, or at least the first studio in the city to implement the change. According to Jason Schreier, this will leave a huge impact on the industry.
