The Fortnite developer and publisher Epic Games had established a policy of alternate of 4-day workweeks during the pandemic wherein employees would get alternate Fridays off. Now, however, Epic Games has made changes to its alternate 4-day work-weeks. As reported by Bloomberg, the policy is no longer in place.
The staff has expressed disagreement towards this move, as Bloomberg reports that an internal Slack channel was filled with pleas for not disbanding the policy. Epic has argued that the policy was made for the pandemic in the first place, while employees have expressed the benefits of an extra day off for their mental peace. Furthermore, Epic also stated that some roles had to report on Friday anyway, so the policy was also unfair to some employees in a sense.
“Right now, we are seeing lots of Fridays off for deep work, and lots of people who must work Fridays anyways,” Chief Operating Officer Daniel Vogel wrote in an email according to Bloomberg. “This meant that many people were not benefiting from this policy equally.”
Epic also reportedly conducted an internal survey on the matter, and employees have unanimously agreed to prefer alternate 4-day work weeks. Whether Epic Games decides to fulfill employees’ demands remains to be seen for now, although in employees’ defense, the team has remained consistent with its updates and development.
For context, studios such as Bugsnax developer Young Horses and Guardians of the Galaxy developer Eidos Montreal have had 4 day work weeks without sacrificing productivity.
