EA is reportedly ending full remote work, mandating return to office 3 days per week

That was me during the pandemic, even with covid I was still required to attend the company 3x a week, now, I work remotely only on Saturdays when I'm doing overtime.
 
Imagine having to go into work. No wonder these companies are fucked.

Graft your asses off for the company you work for people. Toss it off at your peril.
 
Zacfoldor said:
If you were lucky enough to be able to work from home, more power too you, but stop trying to gaslight us into thinking that working from home is the same as working in the office. It is not. People that work from home and people that commute into work are not the same.

When someone works in an office they are required to keep a certain standard and do all kinds of extra stuff everyday, in addition to the assigned work they already do. The famous saying is "I got a perk at my job, when I finish my work early I get to do somebody else's work." While technically anything can be done remotely, the remote worker is more limited as to what s/he can contribute to the business all else being equal. You may say that it is the businesses responsibility to manage you and that if you aren't doing as much remotely then that is your managers fault for not following up with you. However, I would say that why is it the businesses responsibility to micromanage you remotely(which is difficulty) when they could just require you to come into the office where you can be micromanaged by your fellow employees and end up being forced to do many extra things that chilling at home and doing the assigned task would not. The business gets more out of you when you are on site.

I wish we all could work from home and make it happen bud, and I'm glad that you might be able to, but the lobbying and the claims that someone works just as hard at home as they do working retail on black friday is a bridge too far. Hope WFH works out for everyone but don't say those who suffer a commute have the same difficulties as you. The commute and the sacrifice of time is more than half the job from the worker's perspective, and many workers cannot ever work from home, including doctors and nurses. WFH people are good and I love them but they should THANK people who go out into the world to earn a living instead of trying to pretend they have it just as bad.
Click to expand...

I've done both so I can give my perspective on both, but I think it highly depends on the type of job you do.

In my line of work which was customer service, it's not really a huge difference. The calls come in either way, you still have to help people.

If I'm sitting in the office and twidling my thumbs between calls or am on my phone, or if I do that from home while watching something else in the BG it doesn't really make much of a difference.

Im not trying to gaslight anyone
 
Last edited:
Gamer79 said:
It's at their leisure to do so. I am not agreeing with their policies but you chose to work there. Nobody is making you work there. Again they are paying you for 8 hours or even Salary in some cases. They have the right to know what you are doing with their time. They are paying you for your time and that becomes Their time. You can end it at any time with just quiting.
Click to expand...

I agree with that but if you started working there when they had WFH policies that were friendly, and people took jobs with the approach of being able to work from a distance, and then they change it later that's lame to me if they've set up their life so it allows for that job.

Anyway I personally prefer working from the office, I hated WFH because I didnt like not being able to interact with my collegues but if it's something they've agreed on and then roll it back later thats lame
 
Jinxed said:
I'm gonna work my ass off to be sure I'll still be able to just wake up 20 minutes before work, grab a coffee and sit down to start working for many years to come. It's fucking priceless
Click to expand...
I think if more people did that then there probably wouldn't be so much contention over remote work.
 
The problems that companies like EA have will not be solved by people being in-office. Those issues still existed 5+ years ago when butts were in seats 5 days a week. They will be solved to a significant extent by corporate trusting their creatives to deliver good games (Yes, I know, Veilguard, etc. etc.). This is yet another move in opposition to that.
 
MMaRsu said:
I agree with that but if you started working there when they had WFH policies that were friendly, and people took jobs with the approach of being able to work from a distance, and then they change it later that's lame to me if they've set up their life so it allows for that job.

Anyway I personally prefer working from the office, I hated WFH because I didnt like not being able to interact with my collegues but if it's something they've agreed on and then roll it back later thats lame
Click to expand...
I agree with that point. If you and the employer had an agreement, and they changed that then they are at fault. It's no different if you work for an office and they decided to relocate the office 1,000 miles away. My only point is there are 2 sides to this coin. Yes I agree that it sucks that employees are being asked to come back to a more traditional role. The other side to that coin is that a bunch of lazy irresponsible losers have ruined it for the responsible. It's the case where some rotten apples spoiled the whole bunch.
 
ReBurn said:
I think if more people did that then there probably wouldn't be so much contention over remote work.
Click to expand...
Yeah or a good way to quantify individual production. I'm lucky that's possible where I'm at and actually really rewarding when it's time for a raise
 
Gamer79 said:
The other side to that coin is that a bunch of lazy irresponsible losers have ruined it for the responsible. It's the case where some rotten apples spoiled the whole bunch.
Click to expand...
This doesn't make any sense though, if the company/managers are doing their jobs, they can very easily see who's performance is down the shitter from this change; it's retarded to mandate the same from people who finish what you pay them for.
There's room for nuance instead of this all-or-nothing nonsense approach.
 
Gamer79 said:
I am not fan of these big companies. They are greedy bastards who will lay you off without a second thought. All I am saying is if working from home was producing such great results, there would not be a need to go back to the office.
Click to expand...
Yeah these companies never make stupid decisions about what they think will be best.
Just look at Concord, everyone was saying that it was going to bomb and they needed to make changes but the smart guys at the top said they knew what was best and lo and behold - Concord was a massive success and we were all humbled by their business acumen.
Also I would never have took you as a person who supported all the DEI initiatives pushed by businesses but what do you know you were right, if it doesn't work they wouldn't do it right?
 
rkofan87 said:
if remote is better why did jobs not do it be for covid??
Click to expand...
It's not that it's better for everyone, it's better for some. A lot of people don't feel comfortable working from home and prefer to be on location. While others feel the opposite. Quite a few jobs did, it was just always specific industries, positions, and roles. Like I mentioned though, it's great for people that can't leave their city/state/country but are still able to do work and do something they're passionate about.

Covid just blew it up so companies that never would've thought of doing such a thing figured out ways to make it happen to keep workflow moving. That either worked in their favor, or it didn't. But it all depends on a number of variables.
 
Last edited:
Eurogamer did an article crying about it, I got banned simply for posting a comment saying that after 5 years it was about time to get the troglodytes out of their bedrooms again. Guess I struck a nerve.

Eurogamer, the bastion of free speech....when it suits them. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
 
DonkeyPunchJr said:
I get about as much work done at home as I do when in the office, but I think FULL remote work is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I used to have a full remote job. Way before it was popular. I would not call it ridiculous because they got more work out of me when I was remote than they ever would have gotten out of me if I had worked at the office. Just the commute time alone gave them an extra two hours I was available during the day. Not to mention, If I went in, I left at no later than 5:00 PM. When at home, I would often stay on the clock to wrap some things up. No rush to get home.

My current company has been very successful with remote employees. Not only have they maintained productivity, but they have increased it. Personally, I get so much more work done when I am at home. When I am at the office, I get distracted/interrupted/socialize. When I am at home, I sit at my desk all day. I have the option to work remotely as much as I like but I go in four days a week. My WFH day is a catch-up day from all of the goofing off I do at the office. :LOL:
 
People still pretending work from home is a good thing so they can never move until their servants arrive with a delivery. Only reason the panic over covid didn't end in 2 weeks. Wait until they realize their remote work can be done anywhere, preferably in southeast Asia or by robots.
 
Odd that Scheier doesn't mention Playstation. Fully remote since 2020 for most of it's operations. Little sign of that changing.
 
Last edited:
If there is one sector where presence work is 90% pointless it's in IT.
We've had max 2 presence days since 2019 and productivity has gone up, not down.
The time saved on commutes alone....

That being said...I hate it. I love working in the office being surrounded by people. Sitting at home staring at my screen and having teams-meetings for hours on end is just not how I like to work.
 
Being a school teacher, I can't remote from work and have any meaningful student achievement. This is why working from home if very foreign to me. I am far less productive at home than when I'm at work.
 
poppabk said:
Yeah these companies never make stupid decisions about what they think will be best.
Just look at Concord, everyone was saying that it was going to bomb and they needed to make changes but the smart guys at the top said they knew what was best and lo and behold - Concord was a massive success and we were all humbled by their business acumen.
Also I would never have took you as a person who supported all the DEI initiatives pushed by businesses but what do you know you were right, if it doesn't work they wouldn't do it right?
Click to expand...
I am not DEI and 100% against it. You are talking out of your ass and making points out of thin air.
 
Last edited:
Gamer79 said:
They still had remote work? Covid was years ago. People being lazy fucked that whole thing up.
Click to expand...
Found an old post of mine that sums this up.

The worse part about the WFH thing in 2020-2022 was that people wouldn't shut the fuck up about how lazy they were and what they're getting away with. Look, I'm sure you can get the same amount of work done while taking a 2 hour break to bake bread or go work out, BUT SHUT UP ABOUT IT! When I was working from home we had people openly admitting to playing call of duty and switch during work hours over Teams and all I could think about was how this was going to ruin it for the rest of us and it surely did.
 
ReBurn said:
I think if more people did that then there probably wouldn't be so much contention over remote work.
Click to expand...
The main contention is that middle management are struggling to justify their massive salaries if their workers don't need them. So i doubt the workers are lazier at home, the managements are just sweating at getting fired themselves.
 
I've been remote since even before COVID, and it's sort of a necessity for me because I work in cutting edge tech but live in a very rural place. Without remote opportunities, we'd have to sell the property we've deeply invested in here and move to a city.

The ability to uncouple the tech world & its profits from urban magnets, that were previously sucking the talent out of every small town or rural district, is probably the greatest part of remote work. I hope we can find a way to keep it going but kill off the freeloaders who don't use it properly.
 
Last edited:
I've been 3 office, 2 home from work for a while now and while I would love sit at home nonstop, this is ideal if you want productive work and also keep folks happy, so EA aint the bad guy. The majority of corporations have adopted this.
 
Heavens to Betsy this is awful!

Can we get an update on if there's a fully stocked break room and ergonomically designed office chairs?

Literally shaking right now!
 
Gamer79 said:
Just use your common sense man. If It was working and people were just as productive, they would not need them to come back to the office. Do your own research, just google it for fuck's sake. I can't teach you common sense.
Click to expand...
People in my office tend to leave anytime after lunch. Where as working from home they put in a full workday or more because they don't have to worry about commuting.
 
Xtib81 said:
Makes sense. I'd even say that 3 days at the office is very reasonable.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's a good hybrid system. Most folks don't need to be in the office 5 days a week, and 3 days (if consistent for the team) encourages better interactivity and collaboration.
 
rkofan87 said:
if remote is better why did jobs not do it be for covid??
Click to expand...
because old men wanted to keep an eye on their employees. still the same now even though there is a ton of evidence that it doesn't matter for some jobs.

I work as software developer myself. I have deadlines. as long as i hit those deadlines everyone should be happy, but the old men still snarl even when I am killing it and making them tons of money. got to have that feeling of total control!
 
Gamer79 said:
I am not DEI and 100% against it. You are talking out of your ass and making points out of thin air.
Click to expand...
But obviously hiring on merit etc wasnt working, otherwise they wouldn't have integrated DEI into their core businesses. Right? Just like remote working wasn't working so they started having people come back to the office.
Or, and this is a stretch I know, just because a business does something doesn't make it the correct move.
 
Sooner said:
If I ran a business and paid employees to work for, I'd make damn sure they were in the office.
Click to expand...
Depends on the scale of your business. If you're a fully globalised tech company, there's a good chance you'll have offices in Tokyo, California and London. Without remote and WFH and a trust in staff to spread their time out effectively you can't be across all the stuff you need to be. Maybe you start at seven on the morning to take meetings with folks eight hours ahead, take two or three hours for lunch and are taking calls at eight in the evening with colleagues eight hours behind.

A full time office environment runs 9-5 and you can't synchronize globally for shit. Companies moving back towards office hours are very likely scaling back global focus (because the benefits are nothing like companies had hoped). The ones that haven't are still clinging to the global dream.

In any case, large businesses aren't hiring you for your time, they're hiring for your skills and what you can deliver. They don't want to see a clock card that shows how many hours you worked - they just want to see the results you've driven. Having people in a seat doesn't make them any money - smart initiatives, good ideas, careful planning and solid coordination, that's what matters. Most of these big companies couldn't give a fuck how long you take for lunch.
 
Last edited:
I never worked from home until 2020. Then I was forced to work from home full time. This lasted until perhaps late 2021 when you had the liberty of choice. I started with 2 days a week in office, and then after my break I planned to go 3 and so on. But I said fuck it, as soon as I return from my trip I go 4 days. So for about 3 years I work 4 days a week in the office, and half a day from home.

I hated it, especially when we needed to do it full time. I prefer the rhythm of getting up, preparing breakfast, shower and take my bike or car outside. Speaking to people and explain or show things irl. It beats having to send screenshots back and forth, calling, texting. I coordinate things, I sort of took an anti remote working stance. Everytime I came up with something new, I would stress that this is best learnt on location, or I would only explain irl since I don't want to waste time. The situation you get is, you do some tests with some people from your group, and then you have to do it digitally again just for those few who are too lazy to get out of their home. Or you have to set up some lame ass camera meeting just for those. I'm not saying everyone was too lazy, but in my team this was the case. They specifically stated they didn't want to go out in the morning, they were cool with staying home and some even bought dogs and used that for a reason. They also tended to return the more difficult cases for others at the office to pick up and only picked the easy ones. I began to see these trends.

The problem is abuse. Some people work very hard from home, but others clearly abuse. Their status goes afk, and don't answer within the hour. They're obviously not behind their desk. In office ofcourse you have your downtime too, you take a coffee break or a walk. But I'm never afk for more than 15 mins. Some people from home are like afk for 2+ hours. This isn't normal and they don't dare to do it on location.
 
Still enjoying the benefits of full remote work here. It saves a lot of personal time not having to spend 2 hours of your day on commute.
 
If only that was EA's problem.

I work from home half the month and i am way more productive when i am at home.
Also, yesterday night i had an idea about an automated test on the remote pc, so i just started my laptop, prepared the test in 10 minutes and let it run for hours.
I wouldn't drive to the office to do that, not in a million years.
 
Stupid fucking companies that dont know whats better for them ... going to prepare a whole powerpoint presentation on how Im staying home is actually more productive, this millionaires doesn't know shit on how to make money, Ill show them monday!
 
i work as a graphic designer for a gaming company, fully at home , 4 days a week.

If i want to go to the office i have to take an airplane because they are located in the UK and i live in Holland.
Im saving them a lot of money by working from home.
 
i think hybrid way is the best.

The main problem is not me working at office, its the transportation time and the cost of transportation.

It really saves alot when you just work at home.

Some task REALLY doesnt required you to stay in office.
 
Last edited:
CloudShiner said:
Eurogamer did an article crying about it, I got banned simply for posting a comment saying that after 5 years it was about time to get the troglodytes out of their bedrooms again. Guess I struck a nerve.

Eurogamer, the bastion of free speech....when it suits them. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
Click to expand...
Since when are they the bastion of free speech? What gave u that inpression
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Clair Obscur does something really cool in the ending (FULL SPOILERS)
Spoilers 
15
19
Lionel Richie replied
Rumor: Half life 3 reportedly fully playable (Tyler McVicker)
Rumor  2
55
961
GrayChild replied
Stellar Blade 2 reportedly in the works
News  2 3
148
2K
mckmas8808 replied
7 Days to Die - Is anyone playing this game?
0
58
KrakenIPA replied
Is the Xbox PC thing going to work out?
2 3
126
641
PlayStaytion replied
Top Bottom