LGF: EA doles out staffing advice

LONDON--Matthew Jeffrey, Electronic Arts' head of European recruitment, hit back at recent industry media reports that there is a lack of gaming industry talent in the UK. "When I read things like this in the press, I have to pinch myself to see if I'm working in the same industry," he told members of the London Games Summit at the BAFTA headquarters. "I strongly disagree."

Jeffrey asserted that the gaming industry simply needs to be more flexible in hiring and should be looking to a wide range of other industries when looking to find new talent. "The game industry has always focused on recruiting from within its own industry--quick and easy wins--however creative talent can come from anywhere."

"A great [artificial intelligence] coder can come from a number of different industries, from the defence industry working on weapons systems guidance, or from the space programme and NASA for example. As an industry, we have to be open to hires from other sectors, even if this means allowing them a transition time to get used to our business."

One of the other areas where British firms should be more aggressively recruiting is from other countries in Europe, Jeffrey claimed. "I was recently over in France, and I was trying to attract some of the graduates into EA," he said. "There were no other British companies [doing the same]. But the likes of [film studio] DreamWorks were over there to attract talent from Europe over to work in the US."

The key to retaining high-level, experienced staff in the gaming industry is to keep them happy, Jeffrey believes. As recruitment head for EA Europe, he asks himself a series of questions to ensure that his staff members are happy--and therefore can't be poached by other companies.

The executive summarized his approach like so: "I ask: Do they feel challenged? Are they well remunerated? Do they have a good work/life balance? Are they working on world-class games? Do they have a good opportunity for promotion? Are they receiving training and development to enhance their skills? Are their ideas listened to? Do they enjoy their work? And if there is a 'no' against one of those boxes, then as a company we have to look at that and try and tick that box for them. "If you tick all the boxes as an employer, you have nothing to fear."

Jeffrey expressed his fears that wages spiraling out of control has potential to cripple the industry and added that employers should not be tempted to overpay staff in a bid to keep them onboard. "The prospect of wage spiral is potentially grave for our industry. Already high-quality candidates can wise up to the fact that they can command three or four job offers and some will leverage that position to their advantage to get the best salary and benefits," he said.

However, the executive also hit out at companies that underpay graduates, claiming, "Graduates are critical to the future of the gaming industry...[but] graduates are not cheap labour to be given menial and low-level tasks."

While Jeffrey's presentation was well-received, EA has had its fair share of staffing problems in the past. This included a case brought to the public's attention by a highly publicised blog written by the wife of an unnamed EA coder. The affair culminated in a class-action lawsuit being filed in 2004 that was settled with a $15.6 million payoff in late 2005.