6 ms·
It's clearly not an apples-to-apples comparison, but for comparison, Gabe Newell's response when an employee (Erik Wolpaw) was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis
by faitswulff 10y ago
It's clearly not an apples-to-apples comparison, but for comparison, Gabe Newell's response when an employee (Erik Wolpaw) was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis:
> Expecting his condition to require a departure from the company, he spoke with managing director Gabe Newell, who surprised him by offering an extended leave with pay. "Your job is to get better," Newell said. "That is your job description at Valve. So go home to your wife and come back when you are better."
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life
We can't all work at the most lucrative game company on earth, but that sure was classy.
- nerdponx 10y agoThen again, this is the same Gabe Newell who fired the host of an international gaming tournament, in the middle of the tournament, and then took directly to Reddit only to call him "an ass": https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/47sc46/update_from_the_shanghai_major/ https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/47sc46/update_from_t...
- logical42 10y agoTo be fair, that guy could have been an ass..
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rapsey 10y agoHe is a complete ass. That is why people like him. Being completely professional in a video game tournament is bland and boring.
- PhasmaFelis 10y agoThe host in question introduced himself to his co-hosts by telling them all about his pre-tournament porn search and jerkoff session, on live camera, and then continued in much the same vein. He was an ass, and the only thing Valve did wrong was letting him host in the first place. He's always been like that, and they should have known what would happen.
- Yver 10y agoLouis CK jokes about masturbation too; They're entertainers and raw humour is 2GD's trademark. It's like hiring Don Rickles and then complain that he wasn't nice to the attendees. The issue with that hosting gig is that the tournament logistics were a disaster and he ended up having to stretch a solid 10 into several hours of filling dead air.
- jackgolding 10y agoYou can read James' rebuttal on these points here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B061Rs4gw4zkCec35Q5v2r576e_Jd6pJfrT_5_GZ74I/preview?pref=2&pli=1 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B061Rs4gw4zkCec35Q5v2r57... James is an ass and its his casting style, I certainly don't hold this against him.
- madeofpalk 10y agoThat doesn't seem like a particularly damming criticism of someone though....
- pavlov 10y agoThere are many countries in the world where it would be illegal to fire an employee with such a condition, and his sick leave pay would be compensated by the government so it's not up to the employer's benevolence. Just saying that you don't have to work for Valve... (A common argument is that "Companies wouldn't thrive in such a socialist environment". But you can look at Supercell, King and Mojang: all are Nordic game companies with multi-billion dollar valuations and more profits than Valve.)
- Sharlin 10y agoNot to mention the fact that Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, has strict employee protection laws and strong unions.
- rubber_duck 10y agoAnd an uncompetitive job market for programmers
- thirdsun 10y agoIn terms of raw income, sure. However one might consider modern social security and employee protection standards as part of the compensation.
- Pica_soO 10y agoDoes the money really arrive at the programmer in the US? The guy at your gated community opens the hand, the states prison opens the hand, the privately paid doctor opens the hand, your university's creditor opens the hand and its all gone. What good is earning less money, when you have to live in constant fear of getting shot?
- IncRnd 10y agoWho lives in constant fear of getting shot?
- johnchristopher 10y agoYeah, well. I hate being that guy but a good social security net takes care of that for everyone, not just the wealthy working for lucrative companies :/.
- lactau 10y agoIt is easy to be classy when you have superprofit.
- joezydeco 10y agoYeah, poor Google. When will they ever earn money?
- jjtheblunt 10y agoApple engineering in Cupertino was at least as classy in my experience, when two family members became ill, eventually terminally, and I was the only one able to care for one of them. My VP gave me an incredibly long leash and it was never exploited, and will always be appreciated, and allowed me to care and work, just with random timing.