In the latest Hub Crawl, Ukie invited some the leading experts in remote or hybrid working to discuss employee opportunities and potential challenges when integrating remote processes.
First up was Ella Romanos from Fundamentally Games who provided a framework for on-boarding remote employees, from day 0 to 3 months and beyond. Ella highlighted that one of the key concerns is maintain and sharing company culture when a team is remote. While at times challenging, she argued that remote doesn’t mean there won’t be a good company culture, but more thought does need to go into processes. Sometimes this means avoiding doing like for like activities online as in person, sometime this means implementing new processes altogether. This video is a must watch for any HR or operational professional to pick up onboarding tips and reflect on your process, you can watch the video here.
Next up was Alan Dixon from Amiqus who viewed remote work through the lens of flexible working, encouraging the audience to acknowledge the different levels of remote working from fully remote (no meet ups, same country), to mostly remote (need to meet once a month/quarter etc) to globally remote (mix of meet up styles but open candidates beyond HQ location) and general flexible office working (4 day week, core hours, 1-3 days in office). Alan discussed how the option for integrating some form of remote work into a flexible system allows companies to generally attract a wider and more diverse set of employees. Additionally, companies are more likely to retain talent which is crucial when the games industry is currently experiencing a time of retention issues. Finally, Alan acknowledge that remote doesn’t work for all – for those companies who want to remain in-person he advices them to own it. Make it be a good reason why people need to be in an office and offer flexibility through no questions asked duvet days, 4 day week, relocation packages and assistance with commuting costs. Watch Alans in-depth video here.
Finally we had a fireside chat with Alice Turner and Naoise Morrin of Bossa Games. A studio which has had a fascinating journey from office based, to hybrid, to wholly remote. As Alice suggested, to say Bossa would be a remote studio now would have been strange a few years back as it was renowned as a quirky office with plenty of benefits. As with many companies, the pandemic led to the employees and stakeholders at Bossa questioning the purpose of an all in office policy when people were managing, and thriving very well from home. To hear the fascinating story and hear some top tips you can watch the full chat here.
As always, a big thank you to Barclays and AWS for their partnership on this virtual Hub Stop. Next up is Glasgow , alternatively our next virtual session is in two weeks’ time considering sustainability in games. See you there!