What About Retention?!
The July issue of Develop has no less than 35 job ads peppered within its 100 pages. And, the opening article is titled "Can't get the staff?", which is a look at the talent crisis currently affecting the UK game development community. The article goes on to describe how desperate studios are to acquire new/more talent and the challenges in finding the right people for the right jobs, suggesting studios need to look to academia more or take a broader view to other entertaintment/tech sectors.
Of course, there's no mention about solving the industry's retention issue (aka the QoL debate). The article mentions "perma-crunch" as one of the issues tieing up all the staff. Uh, well, what about the effect perma-crunch has on losing the people you ALREADY have?! Rule of thumb is that it's always less expensive/easier to hold onto something you have (ie, retention), than to acquire something new. In part, this was one of the arguments I was making in my "Friction Costs" Escapist article a few months back.
Conference after conference, I witness manager and recruiter types running around in a frenzy trying to score new talent. In fact, the August issue of Develop discusses how irate some studio heads are getting at the underhanded tactics being used to recruit staff.
But, never once is there mention of a strategy to ensure they don't lose the staff already have place via better QoL. Everyone's so focused on getting people in the door, no one is watching all the experienced people leaving out the back door. Sad.
That said, in a totally unrelated/unlinked article covering the Women in Game conference (which I had the joy to attend), Deb Tillet (president of Breakaway Games) is quoted:
"Employees are your assets. They make it possible for you to make money, they are your engine and your soul. If they are not happy and well cared for you are in trouble."
Breakaway's retention rate is near-perfect and recruiting has not been a major challenge for them...
Posted on August 12, 2006 12:40 AM
Comments
Wow, this is a great article with some common sense business advice. You make some great points which I whole heartedly agree with:
-"what about the effect perma-crunch has on losing the people you ALREADY have?! Rule of thumb is that it's always less expensive/easier to hold onto something you have (ie, retention), than to acquire something new."
This is something that the US Military needs to look into much harder. They're offering enlisted $30,000 to re-enlist for another four years, but money isn't anything -- What the military really needs is a radical cultural shift towards the UK model.
-"Everyone's so focused on getting people in the door, no one is watching all the experienced people leaving out the back door. Sad."
I couldn't have said it better, though we're in different "industries".
-Employees are your assets. They make it possible for you to make money, they are your engine and your soul. If they are not happy and well cared for you are in trouble.
Thats some good business advice. I would go so far as to say that its better to forgive employees for their mistakes instead of firing them because of the costs of firing them and replacing them. :)
Posted by: Eric Nevala at September 18, 2006 10:12 AM