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> In many of these cases, laid-off employees had no idea what was coming. One developer at a major studio told me in February that he and his colleagues had bee

> In many of these cases, laid-off employees had no idea what was coming. One developer at a major studio told me in February that he and his colleagues had been crunching — putting in long hours, including nights and weekends — for a video game release, only to be suddenly told that security was waiting to escort them off the premises. Man, that really sucks, if you think about it. I'm sure many people here on HN have worked very hard on something in their life. I know I have, and in a couple of cases I ended up being acutely unhappy with the outcomes. But, DAMN, at least none of my moments of extreme toil were punctuated like this.

jfk13 8y ago
In a civilised society, it would be illegal for an employer to behave like that. (Yes, I know, I'm imposing my view of what it would mean to be "civilised", and not everyone will agree.)
- hannasanarion 8y ago
  There are plenty of countries where all employers are required to give certain notice, and you can't suddenly fire someone. It is outrageous that your ability to eat and pay rent can be taken away with zero notice in America.
  - thecatspaw 8y ago
    That just means they have to pay you for some time after they fired you. You can still be fired in an instant and be escorted out the door, especially if you have/had access to critical systems
    - Insanity 8y ago
      They could, and after that time you fall back on 'unemployment wage' by the government. Which is less than what you'd normally earn, but by the time that happens you probably have another job already.
    - shawabawa3 8y ago
      Actually, at least in the UK, you can't be fired without cause. Normally you'll have to be told that you're underperforming, be put on a "performance improvement plan", and have to be given time to improve yourself, or demonstrate that you are performing well. You can be made redundant for no reason, but you have to be warned the moment management are considering redundancies that your job is at risk, and you are able to make a case for how redundancies could be avoided, or how your position could be changed to fit into the new structure. If you are made redundant, you have to be paid extra (although it's a tiny amount and only after 2 years)
      - fbonetti 8y ago
        > ...you can't be fired without cause. Normally you'll have to be told that you're underperforming, be put on a "performance improvement plan", and have to be given time to improve yourself, or demonstrate that you are performing well. This is de facto the case in the United States as well. Employers will put employees on a PIP before letting them go to prevent them from claiming that they were wrongfully terminated (due to discrimination, retaliation, etc.).
  - saiya-jin 8y ago
    In banking industry its fairly common to have an HR talk about you being let go/fired, and just collecting your stuff at desk and walking home. Not logging into computer anymore. This obviously comes with additional mandatory salary being paid (where I am currently its 3 monthly salaries), but employer won't risk having disgruntled employee doing some last minute hacks/deletions of important data/repos etc.
    - hannasanarion 8y ago
      And in that industry, workers are lucky that this is the contractual norm. In my industry, enterprise software, it is common for contracts to have "at-will" clauses that let the company cut your employment short at any time for any reason with immediate cessation of pay and benefits. Word has it, this is the norm in video games as well.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    > It is outrageous that your ability to eat and pay rent can be taken away with zero notice in America. Also your healthcare in most cases.
    - paulcole 8y ago
      Not true. It's stupid expensive but you can use COBRA. > Eligibility for COBRA. In general, employees who were previously actively enrolled in health insurance coverage for at least one day, but lost it due to a change from full-time to part-time employment or termination(both voluntary and involuntary), are eligible for COBRA https://help.zenefits.com/COBRA/Understanding_COBRA/01_Employee_Eligibility_for_COBRA/ https://help.zenefits.com/COBRA/Understanding_COBRA/01_Emplo...
  - tathougies 8y ago
    Your ability to eat and pay rent should not be dependent on your income as a game developer. You know there are some professions where the pay is so low that yes, people really need to live paycheck to paycheck. Game developers do not, sorry.
    - jayar95 8y ago
      That's kind of a blanket statement don't you think?
    - AWildC182 8y ago
      For what it's worth, you shouldn't have to end statements with 'sorry'. I this kind of context it typically implies that you're making the statement with the intent to belittle someone.
  - cortesoft 8y ago
    Well, unemployment is supposed to be the protection against this. It is basically mandatory insurance that an employer is required to pay premiums for so that if they fire an employee that employee still gets money to live. It is not a perfect system in practice, but I don't think it is conceptually incorrect.
- dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  No name calling is necessary - you can replace "civilised society" with "Europe" and the sentence will hold true for the most part.

jfk13 8y ago

In a civilised society, it would be illegal for an employer to behave like that. (Yes, I know, I'm imposing my view of what it would mean to be "civilised", and not everyone will agree.)

hannasanarion 8y ago
There are plenty of countries where all employers are required to give certain notice, and you can't suddenly fire someone. It is outrageous that your ability to eat and pay rent can be taken away with zero notice in America.
- thecatspaw 8y ago
  That just means they have to pay you for some time after they fired you. You can still be fired in an instant and be escorted out the door, especially if you have/had access to critical systems
  - Insanity 8y ago
    They could, and after that time you fall back on 'unemployment wage' by the government. Which is less than what you'd normally earn, but by the time that happens you probably have another job already.
  - shawabawa3 8y ago
    Actually, at least in the UK, you can't be fired without cause. Normally you'll have to be told that you're underperforming, be put on a "performance improvement plan", and have to be given time to improve yourself, or demonstrate that you are performing well. You can be made redundant for no reason, but you have to be warned the moment management are considering redundancies that your job is at risk, and you are able to make a case for how redundancies could be avoided, or how your position could be changed to fit into the new structure. If you are made redundant, you have to be paid extra (although it's a tiny amount and only after 2 years)
    - fbonetti 8y ago
      > ...you can't be fired without cause. Normally you'll have to be told that you're underperforming, be put on a "performance improvement plan", and have to be given time to improve yourself, or demonstrate that you are performing well. This is de facto the case in the United States as well. Employers will put employees on a PIP before letting them go to prevent them from claiming that they were wrongfully terminated (due to discrimination, retaliation, etc.).
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  In banking industry its fairly common to have an HR talk about you being let go/fired, and just collecting your stuff at desk and walking home. Not logging into computer anymore. This obviously comes with additional mandatory salary being paid (where I am currently its 3 monthly salaries), but employer won't risk having disgruntled employee doing some last minute hacks/deletions of important data/repos etc.
  - hannasanarion 8y ago
    And in that industry, workers are lucky that this is the contractual norm. In my industry, enterprise software, it is common for contracts to have "at-will" clauses that let the company cut your employment short at any time for any reason with immediate cessation of pay and benefits. Word has it, this is the norm in video games as well.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  > It is outrageous that your ability to eat and pay rent can be taken away with zero notice in America. Also your healthcare in most cases.
  - paulcole 8y ago
    Not true. It's stupid expensive but you can use COBRA. > Eligibility for COBRA. In general, employees who were previously actively enrolled in health insurance coverage for at least one day, but lost it due to a change from full-time to part-time employment or termination(both voluntary and involuntary), are eligible for COBRA https://help.zenefits.com/COBRA/Understanding_COBRA/01_Employee_Eligibility_for_COBRA/ https://help.zenefits.com/COBRA/Understanding_COBRA/01_Emplo...
- tathougies 8y ago
  Your ability to eat and pay rent should not be dependent on your income as a game developer. You know there are some professions where the pay is so low that yes, people really need to live paycheck to paycheck. Game developers do not, sorry.
  - jayar95 8y ago
    That's kind of a blanket statement don't you think?
  - AWildC182 8y ago
    For what it's worth, you shouldn't have to end statements with 'sorry'. I this kind of context it typically implies that you're making the statement with the intent to belittle someone.
- cortesoft 8y ago
  Well, unemployment is supposed to be the protection against this. It is basically mandatory insurance that an employer is required to pay premiums for so that if they fire an employee that employee still gets money to live. It is not a perfect system in practice, but I don't think it is conceptually incorrect.
dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
No name calling is necessary - you can replace "civilised society" with "Europe" and the sentence will hold true for the most part.