Electronic Arts has announced that employees will permanently terminate their remote working policy and implement a full return to the office.
In an email sent to employees viewed by Passthecontroller today, CEO Andrew Wilson said face-to-face work “produces kinetic energy that promotes creativity, innovation and connection, often leading to unexpected breakthroughs that lead to players’ incredible experiences. He then broadly outlined that “hybrid work” is defined as “at least three days a week in a local office” and that “offsite local roles” will gradually be phased out.
In a follow-up email from Laura Miele, president of EA Entertainment, Passthecontroller saw it again, she revealed more details, explaining that she would “move from a decentralized approach to a globally consistent, enterprise-wide working model.”
- These changes will not take effect immediately. Employees must continue to work at the directions of your business unit, regardless of where you live.
- Migration of the work model involves a minimum of 12 weeks of notification period before changes are implemented. Timing varies depending on location and is communicated locally with ample notifications.
- Hybrid work means working from a local office for at least 3 days per 3 days. This is consistent with what is outlined in Andrew’s EA Action.
- We are introducing a new 30 miles/48 km with a radius of 30 miles/48 km at the EA location.
- What this means:
- Employees living within 30 miles/48 km of the EA location will move to the hybrid working model.
- Employees living outside a 30-mile/48km radius will be considered remote unless their role is designated on site or hybrid.
- Also, offsite local working models will be sundown. Depending on your location, this transition can take between 3-24 months.
- Work model exceptions and future remote recruitment require direct/my approval from the CEO.
Several sources within the EA have anonymously stated that employees are upset and confused, with some employees now sharing the hours of commute they are expected to be doing or express concerns about the child-rearing or individual medical conditions that have benefited from remote work. Others classified as remote and out of 30 miles have expressed concern about what will happen to their role if they don’t want to get close to or move to the office for a long time. Two sources explained that for each failure sent by Miele, existing remote workers will “exempt” from “exempt” within the next three to 24 months.
Remote work has been popular in the video game industry for a long time, but it has become extremely popular during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, more and more companies have hired more and more remote workers, and existing nearby workers have reported travel to cheaper cities away from their offices, under the impression that remote work is permanent.
However, other major video game companies have recently brought workers back to their offices. The result was frustration, which sometimes forced workers to choose between expensive or challenging relocations and work. Companies such as Rockstar Games, Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard have faced criticism both inside and outside the board as a result of these policies. However, the return to office powers of attorney appears to be driving Apace, with many companies, such as EA, choosing to request an office model again.
EA recently fired around 300 individuals across the company, following previous layoffs at Bioware this year and the end of around 670 roles last year.
Passthecontroller contacted EA for comment.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at Passthecontroller. You can find her posts at Bluesky @Duckvalentine.bsky.social. Do you have any tips for the story? Send to [email protected].
