Passing up on talented contract employees because of an arbitrary and nonsensical rule is only hurting your own business. Hybrid, remote, or in the officeflexible work is the new way we work. The studio itself is great, and has a solid foundation. Shows a level of contempt/disrespect for your labor. Benefits and stability are rocky enough for contractors as it is without the guarantee that you'll be kicked out after 18 months even if you work your tail off for the company. You want your employees to balance their work and lives so they can avoid burnout and be more productive. In the hybrid world employees spend a considerable amount of time at their keyboards and screens, or going all day if they are front-line workers. Knowledge is inevitably lost and this eats into dev time.ĭitch the ridiculous 18-6 policy for contractors. Microsoft Viva in the hybrid workplace: Supporting work/life balance. Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Your contract will end and you'll be looking for a job that isn't Microsoft.ġ8-6 also has impacts on game development, as you're cycling through employees and onboarding people more often than you would want to. Worklife balance Nice compensation Good upper management. This means that even if you build connections and have done exceptional work in that limited year and a half window, there is NO chance of renewal of your contract. Crunch culture is not severe.Īt least in North America, working for Microsoft as a contractor right now is a raw deal, you're guaranteed to be looking for employment again in 18 months max.Ĭurrently they maintain a baffling 18-6 policy: a contractor can only be employed through Microsoft for 18 months, and then must be arbitrarily let go, and cannot be employed by Microsoft for 6 months.

Pretty good work life balance, overtime happens but is mainly self-initiated. Air of mutual respect, quite progressive about race/gender in the workplace. Today, many thousands of office workers are struggling to adjust to. Game product is on the cutting edge of games industry tech in many respects: great for learning, and looks good on the resume. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have changed the nature of work-life balance. Great place to learn from experienced developers in all areas. Worked at Xbox games studio on an industry leading franchise.

Microsoft work life balance