Quality of Life Resources

The following resources and references are provided to help educate the industry on the issues, challenges and opportunities related to quality of life and working conditions. Please email qol@igda.org with case details, suggested articles, books, sites, etc, to add to the list.

Resources are provided in the following categories:

IGDA Documents
Improving Quality of Life in the Workplace
Why Good Quality of Life is Good Business
QoL Press Coverage
Articles and Essays
Personal Quality of Life Resources
Legal Cases
Governmental Resources
Union Pros/Cons, Labor Relations

IGDA Documents

Improving Quality of Life in the Workplace

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, 2nd edition, by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, Dorset House Publishing Company, ISBN: 0932633439. Several IGDA members have recommended this book about ways to manage people as people and to allow them to work productively. It explains how quality of life impacts the quality of the team and its products, discussing office plans, schedules, dress codes, and many other topics.
Software Project Survival Guide, by Steve McConnell, Microsoft Press, ISBN: 1572316217. Written by the keynote speaker at the IGDA's 2005 Quality of Life Summit, this book is a concise, non-technical discussion of software development best practices, appropriate for managers, producers, designers, QA staff and programmers alike. It documents the counterproductivity of extended crunch time and provides several techniques to manage projects effectively and complete them on time, under budget.
Book: How to Become an Employer of Choice, by Roger E. Herman and Joyce L. Gioia, Oak Hill Publishing Company, ISBN: 1886939357. Written by a team of consultants, this book explains how to attract and keep good people.
Manager of Choice: 5 Competencies for Cultivating Top Talent, by Nancy S. Ahlrichs, National Book Network, ISBN: 0891061800. Explains how to scout talent; build skills, relationships and trust; build the organization; manage teleworkers; etc.
Business.com: Mental Health in the Workplace
Top 6 Work-Life Balance Books
Other books by Steve McConnell
"Critical Reading" list of the IGDA Production SIG
Workforce Management Magazine: A trade magazine that identifies trends in HR and gives companies the tools to be successful. Look specifically for the following: Child-Care Models, by Patrick J. Kiger – Explains various ways in which employers can help employees secure the child-care they need.
Society for Human Resource Management: The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 190,000 individual members, the Society's mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. As an influential voice, the Society's mission is also to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Founded in 1948, SHRM currently has more than 500 affiliated chapters within the United States and members in more than 100 countries.
Research: Crafting Lives that Work: A Six-Year Retrospective on Reduced-Load Work in the Careers and Lives of Professionals and Managers (pdf)

Why Good Quality of Life is Good Business

Sustained Reduced Sleep Can Have Serious Consequences, by Linda Cook, National Institutes of Health. A medical study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania shows that sleeping only 4 to 6 hours a night for 14 consecutive nights has an impact on cognitive performance comparable to that of going without sleep for up to three days in a row – and that the impaired people don't even notice it .
M.D.: It's Your Prerogative to Make Sure Employees Take Time Off, by Gretchen Weber, Workforce magazine (free registration required).
Happy Workers, Better Workers, by Jennifer Warner, WebMD / CBS News Health, Nov. 24th, 2004. A medical study shows that proper treatment of depressed full-time employees may improve productivity by the equivalent of $2,601 a year per person.

QoL Press Coverage

The following articles, published in the weeks that followed the original ea_spouse post, discuss working conditions in the game industry, class-action lawsuits over uncompensated overtime, and what protection the laws of different jurisdictions can provide to developers faced with demands for extreme overtime.

Santa's Sweatshop, Salon
Serf's Up in the Video Game Industry, Washington Post
For developers, it's not all fun and games, CNET News

The ea_spouse blog has a for more extensive list of media coverage (and growing).

Articles and Essays

Personal Quality of Life Resources

Fast Company: Work-Life Balance: A collection of articles on how you can help improve your own quality of life.
Inc. Magazine: Finding Balance: Here, Inc.com offers its best articles on finding and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. From tips on simplifying and finding time to exercise, to advice on juggling work and family responsibilities, you'll find invaluable information for building a more rewarding entrepreneurial lifestyle.
Monster: Work-Life Balance: A collection of articles on stress and time management, career development, office politics, workplace benefits, and flex-time.
Overcoming Burnout: If you're veering toward burnout or already feeling exhausted beyond repair, inc.com can help you get reinvigorated. These selected articles and resources will shed light on the common yet treatable problem of burnout.

Legal Cases

Governmental Resources

United States - Department of Labor
European Commission – Employment and Social Affairs
Japan – Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare
Canada - Human Resources and Skills Development
Republic of Korea – Ministry of Labor
Baldridge National Quality Program: The Baldrige Award is given by the President of the United States to businesses that apply and are judged to be outstanding in seven areas: leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, information and analysis, human resource focus, process management, and business results. They now are accepted widely, not only in the United States but also around the world, as the standard for performance excellence. The criteria are designed to help organizations enhance their competitiveness by focusing on two goals: delivering ever improving value to customers and improving overall organizational performance.