A couple of days ago there was an accusation against Nintendo of America, where it is pointed out that the company did not respect a United States union law. Now, this has triggered in an investigation that reveals serious problems with the employees of this companythus breaking the illusion that many surely had.
According to a report by Kotaku, where they interviewed 10 employees, most of them anonymous, it has been mentioned that the employment situation is far from being the right one, especially for those who are under part-time contracts. Here it is mentioned that workers have signed mandatory 11-month contractswith two months of mandatory rest, with which they obtain full-time tasks, but without the benefits found here.
Once again, the testers and quality control team are the most affected. Some employees have indicated that their salary is $16 dollars an hour, a smaller amount compared to other companies in Seattle, where Nintendo of America is located. One of the people who gave her name is Jelena Džamonja, who has worked for five years through this series of part-time contracts by the Parker Staffing agency.
This employee began as a tester in the Nintendo offices, and eventually managed to obtain more responsibilities, such as supervising other professionals in her sector. Nevertheless, in all this time, she has never been promoted to full time. This was what he commented:
“There are a lot of talented people who find the biggest bugs that would scare players away. They find them, they report them, and then they don’t credit them. It hurts your pride that you contribute to those games and their quality, reasons why players keep coming back.
They want to control you as if you were [un trabajador] full time, but they don’t treat you like you are. You can work together with someone for 20 years and not be invited to the company lunch
If I were full time, I would stay in that job forever. I feel like I hit a glass ceiling where my opinion no longer mattered.”
Along the same lines, Džamonja talks about an occasion where she slipped on the ice, and suffered a concussion, but could not be treated by the Nintendo of America hospital, as she is not a full-time employee. These types of comments are not only shared by part-time employees, but also the full-timers are not entirely happy. This was what a worker who remained anonymous mentioned:
“The general feeling is that you will be punished for being outspoken at every level. They know they can get rid of the troublemakers because they have a queue of people who want to be hired there.”
Džamonja has mentioned that the situation in Nintendo of America is tense, and nobody is willing to talk about work problems openly. Let’s remember that it took several lawsuits, a unionization, and a bad perception by the public for Activision Blizzard to start changing its labor practices.
At the moment there is no response from Nintendo regarding this report. Hopefully this is the alert the company needs to change the way it treats its employees.. Considering the situation other companies are experiencing, this could be enough to tarnish Nintendo’s image.
On related topics, you can learn more about the labor lawsuit against Nintendo here. Similarly, this was the company’s response in this regard.
Editor’s note:
It is clear that working in one of the big video game companies is more of a problem than a dream come true. In recent years, we have heard cases of abuse, crunch and toxic behavior, and it seems that all high level companies have some of this.
Via: Kotaku