Insider Report Tells of Atrocious Working Conditions at Konami

[Overquoted]

The reshuffling is weird, if only from a financial stand-point. Why hire a programmer/developer and then put them on as something less skill-specific? Cuz either you cut their pay at the same time (at which point, they just leave), or you're overpaying them to do a less skilled job. Stupid either way.

As for the rest...not exactly outside the realm of normal for US employers. Just about every employer I worked for had time-cards for lunches. Some of them would dock your pay for the time you went over on the lunch, some would count lateness (anywhere from 1-5 minutes) as a partial absence (and with enough absence 'points,' you'd be fired). One terrible employer I worked for would cut about 75-90% of your 2-week incentive for being 1 minute late back from lunch, and that incentive was a little over 20% of your total pay.

Plenty of employers have extreme restrictions on internet-use at work. Anything outside of work-related research can cause disciplinary action up to and including termination. Having no internet is bit silly, but so is firing someone for looking at Facebook exactly one time (this has happened). Other employers will block every website except specific ones (I had an employer that blocked Google).

As for the email, a lot of company emails are for internal use only and there's usually some kind of directory that will give you a coworker's email if you don't know it (meaning the changing of emails doesn't necessarily impact internal communication). So their stated reason for changing emails rings true-ish.

As for cameras, I've worked for call centers that had cameras on everyone. The only place that didn't have cameras were bathrooms. Most retailers have cameras everywhere, too (including one to watch every single cashier). Cameras are becoming more and more common in workplaces. They allow employers to monitor employees for theft (stealing customer info, stealing coworker's belongings) and also they have video evidence in case of workplace accidents (workman's comp is a big deal for some companies).

I get the feeling most of you guys have either been extremely lucky to work for abnormally nice employers, or just have relatively little experience in the job market. What Konami is doing isn't weird. I'd say the only thing really weird is their emphasis on making some employees feel devalued/humiliated. Here, making you feel devalued frequently just comes with the job. If a US employer wants to 'punish' you, they hit your paycheck.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

The reshuffling is weird, if only from a financial stand-point. Why hire a programmer/developer and then put them on as something less skill-specific? Cuz either you cut their pay at the same time (at which point, they just leave), or you're overpaying them to do a less skilled job. Stupid either way.

As for the rest...not exactly outside the realm of normal for US employers. Just about every employer I worked for had time-cards for lunches. Some of them would dock your pay for the time you went over on the lunch, some would count lateness (anywhere from 1-5 minutes) as a partial absence (and with enough absence 'points,' you'd be fired). One terrible employer I worked for would cut about 75-90% of your incentive for being 1 minute late back from lunch, and that incentive was a little over 20% of your total pay.

Plenty of employers have extreme restrictions on internet-use at work. Anything outside of work-related research can cause disciplinary action up to and including termination. Having no internet is bit silly, but so is firing someone for looking at Facebook exactly one time (this has happened). Other employers will block every website except specific ones (I had an employer that blocked Google).

As for the email, a lot of company emails are for internal use only and there's usually some kind of directory that will give you a coworker's email if you don't know it (meaning the changing of emails doesn't necessarily impact internal communication). So their stated reason for changing emails rings true-ish.

As for cameras, I've worked for call centers that had cameras on everyone. The only place that didn't have cameras were bathrooms. Most retailers have cameras everywhere, too (including one to watch every single cashier). Cameras are becoming more and more common in workplaces. They allow employers to monitor employees for theft (stealing customer info, stealing coworker's belonging) and also they have video evidence in case of workplace accidents (workman's comp is a big deal for some companies).

I get the feeling most of you guys have either been extremely lucky to work for abnormally nice employers, or just have relatively little experience in the job market. What Konami is doing isn't weird. I'd say the only thing really weird is their emphasis on making some employees feel devalued/humiliated. Here, making you feel devalued frequently just comes with the job. If a US employer wants to 'punish' you, they hit your paycheck.

Most of these can be solved by having an IT section that knows its arsehole from its elbow: blocking shit like Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr etc from being accessible is stupidly easy. Randomizing SMTP addresses is bloody ridiculous and would have any Exchange administrator cutting throats and flying the Jolly Roger because it's a waste of time when you can just restrict the emails from leaving the internal environment and they're all tied up against a single logon ID anyway.

The cameras thing I get, but most of the time I've seen cameras in IT style places is at major entry/exit points and near critical infrastructure such as server and patch rooms - any anyone who's got more than two brain cells to rub together ensures that such items are access controlled up the butt. Obviously this changes the more secure your environment: I don't want to imagine how many cameras and other sensors are inside a server room at somewhere like the US Defense Department or FBI.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Right now EA and Ubisoft are blushing like school girls.

I mean, holy shit! I thought Japan got rid of these WW2 antics long ago.

If anything, I'm not surprised if these kind of business practices mostly started after WW2. When Japan was rebuilding and aiming towards a huge economic boom, coupled with the introduction of the neo-liberal economic in the 1970's.

 

[Davroth]

Now I can't confirm this, but I have heard that this kind of stuff isn't /that/ out of the ordinary in the Japanese business world. In fact, what I heard is that people can't easily be fired, so rather then that they find ways for undesirable employees to quit, by worsening their working conditions.

To be honest, I lost all hope in Konami a long time ago. Basically the debacle that was the Silent Hill rereleases was already the last straw for me.

 

[Overquoted]

Most of these can be solved by having an IT section that knows its arsehole from its elbow: blocking shit like Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr etc from being accessible is stupidly easy. Randomizing SMTP addresses is bloody ridiculous and would have any Exchange administrator cutting throats and flying the Jolly Roger because it's a waste of time when you can just restrict the emails from leaving the internal environment and they're all tied up against a single logon ID anyway.

The cameras thing I get, but most of the time I've seen cameras in IT style places is at major entry/exit points and near critical infrastructure such as server and patch rooms - any anyone who's got more than two brain cells to rub together ensures that such items are access controlled up the butt. Obviously this changes the more secure your environment: I don't want to imagine how many cameras and other sensors are inside a server room at somewhere like the US Defense Department or FBI.

Yeah, that's why I said it's a bit silly. But given that their employees are tech-savvy, they may have just decided it wasn't worth fighting them every time they figured a way around the restriction (which is what's happened at every employer I've ever worked for). And the email thing doesn't make a ton of sense in either direction. Either they were incapable of restricting incoming email, or... Honestly, I don't know. At the end of the day, developers would still need to communicate with each other.

Ehh, a lot of employers are instituting a blanket-camera system. Like I said, some of it is so they can have video evidence in worker's comp cases. Some of it is just so they can catch employee 'bad behavior' - anything ranging from theft, to not being at your desk when you should be, to playing with your phone when you're on the clock. Give it another five to ten years and there won't be an employer left who doesn't have cameras everywhere.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

I don't see what's wrong with the assignments to non development work. Most non Japanese game companies frequently fire most of their teams after the game is done.

You can always just quit.

 

[Nazulu]

And any company that runs like this I would be happy to see them burned down to the ground. Fuck the key shit stains running that hell hole.

 

[josemlopes]

I wonder how long it has been like this at Konami. Since the 90s? The 00s?

I've heard that their computers lacked Internet access back in the eighties.

Jokes aside, may I ask why computers lacking Internet access is a terrible thing? Not trying to be controversial; I genuinely don't get it.

I didn't quite get the internet part either to be honest.

At a place I worked I didnt had internet either but it was because of some technical problem, everyone else had it.

It is only needed for research, outside of that it isnt needed at all.

 

[Lightknight]

Dear Konami, my face muscles barely moved at all in response to this. This is of course a better reaction than the entirely null response I'd have to learning that Ubisoft and EA suck to work for, but far worse than most other companies in the world.

You suck and your products as of late have sucked. Congrats on getting in a pissing contest with the last good game designer you had to your name. Good luck with having a future.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

What makes me sad is that irregardless of this Metal Gear Solid 5 will sell well.

 

[Gatlank]

I wonder how reliable is the translation from Kotaku but even so, from the points presented point 2, 3, and 5 at least can have some valid explanations.

Point 2 - the fact that the computers they are forced to work on dont have any connection to the internet. Welcome to the work world were computers that have sensitive information and could be critical to the company being isolated from a network that can compromise them and destroy possibly years of work.

Point 3 - they say employees but they dont specificate on what they work on or what kind of contract they signed. They could be as far as we know part timers that have their work hours controlled (aka every summer crappy job with hourly pay i took when i was younger).

Point 5 - Security. Want a more detailed explanation? Just check the security room of every business building or company and they even monitor what goes inside an elevator besides public areas.
A few cameras on corridors arent enough for conspiracy theories that workers are being controlled. It would be far easier to install a camera in every office or work booth if they wanted to do that instead of corridors were several people walk at the same time and would make tracking of several single individuals harder.
Security would need dedicated teams, top notch equipment and training to do that.

 

[coolbond]

I don't see what's wrong with the assignments to non development work. Most non Japanese game companies frequently fire most of their teams after the game is done.

You can always just quit.

im sorry but it does not work like that in japan if you are employed on a permanent basis your in for life(loyalty to the company above all else) if you leave then you will have a hard time finding a new job because of this act of disloyalty.

 

[josemlopes]

I wonder how long it has been like this at Konami. Since the 90s? The 00s?

I've heard that their computers lacked Internet access back in the eighties.

Jokes aside, may I ask why computers lacking Internet access is a terrible thing? Not trying to be controversial; I genuinely don't get it.

I didn't quite get the internet part either to be honest.

At a place I worked I didnt had internet either but it was because of some technical problem, everyone else had it.

It is only needed for research, outside of that it isnt needed at all.

Um, no. It's because wasting time on the internet is a large reason for a loss in productivity. Restricting access means someone can't get easily distracted by websites like, idk, The Escapist? It's not about making them prisoners or isolating them.

[Edit] Plus, if a number of employees are the using the internet for non-work purposes, this can slow down any system that is reliant on networking. So my buddy is watching Netflix on his computer while I'm trying to access an internal database to finish a project...thanks to him (and everyone else with non-essential internet use), that project takes much longer to finish due to load times on my end.

Also, almost no one uses the internet to contact a family member to tell them there's been an emergency. They either call direct, or call the employer who will then route them to the appropriate extension. Seriously, no one uses email/FB to declare a family emergency (not when it's serious).

I dunno about other companies, but we have internet available where I work for work reasons. A result of the way the software we use and due to how support for it work. At least thats how my particular group in the company uses it(and for research/practice during downtimes if possible). So I won't claim to know what its like working in an environment that involves computers that heavily without it and wether its a distraction or not. So I'll take your word for it. *nods*

As long as there is a way to access (a shared computer for it) there really is no need to have internet on the workstation unless its really needed for work (I did 3D animation so in the end it would be only for research)

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Wait didn't we all know this already? Like not the specific details, but I remember hearing about Konami being a nightmare to work at and treating employees like cattle years ago. I think it was Jim's first Konami episode, the one that got him black-listed.

 

[Fox12]

I wonder how long it has been like this at Konami. Since the 90s? The 00s?

I've heard that their computers lacked Internet access back in the eighties.

Jokes aside, may I ask why computers lacking Internet access is a terrible thing? Not trying to be controversial; I genuinely don't get it.

Because the implication is that they're trying to cut them off from the outside world so that they won't report about internal affairs, or, more importantly, get job offers from rival companies. Thus the circulating emails.

I mean, I work at Home Depot, and even I have a personal account and access to the Internet.

 

[BarkBarker]

Treating employers like slaves? Bad success as a game developer? I wonder what could have caused this.

 

[BeerTent]

[...]I get the feeling most of you guys have either been extremely lucky to work for abnormally nice employers, or just have relatively little experience in the job market. What Konami is doing isn't weird. I'd say the only thing really weird is their emphasis on making some employees feel devalued/humiliated. Here, making you feel devalued frequently just comes with the job. If a US employer wants to 'punish' you, they hit your paycheck.

I think it is very weird.

I've been on both sides of the coin, I've worked on web development, and internal technical support for large and small companies.

I have also worked in multiple call centers, and now work in security. Talk about day and night. (U C Wot I Did Dar?)

I'll start with Security and call center, because it's true... I was slow, I got shuffled to a shittier project. I had to claw my way back up to work on the good project again. I've also worked for logitech, and if you want to see Konami's working conditions, boom. Don't work in one of Logitech's centers. I've worked in a good center, and the bad center... Logitech's was the bad center. Only certain people got an internal email, and our access to the internet was very heavily restricted. The cameras, however? Were really only pointed at the lobby and plaza. They were there for, you know, security reasons? I've never worked in a place where internal cameras watched where I was going.

Now, Security? Yeah... I've had cameras follow me, and watch me. This was for two reasons. Dealing with a 10-11 (Roadside check) is some dangerous work, and it's there to gather evidence if there's an altercation, and 2. To make sure I don't snooze on the job. (It's hard to see inside the car though. ;3)

The shuffling of email addresses is extremely weird. That should NEVER happen. Monitoring of facebook, yes... But only in the event of an NDA being broken. Blue Ocean (Of who I still am under NDA, I think...) mentioned the first time I walked in the building to pay attention to those, the project we supported was fucking ruthless when it came to protecting their li- aah, well... "Image." That being said, We're in agreement when it comes to getting shuffled internally. Janitors? Really? I would have killed to be shuffled to a janitor instead of the project I was tossed to. I was still taking calls and answering emails.

Now to the other side of the coin.

These men are educated. They're professionals. They're not collage students looking to make a quick buck to get by. (Most of us have been there, right?) They're not handling money, and they need all the resources avaliable to do their job.

One of those resources is the internet. Because trust me, being in both fields, one of which was your expertise, and one of which is most certainly NOT your expertise, you need the internet to do your job because there are blocks of code that just don't make sense, or you get confused due to some shitty commenting. (? The fuck does this do... *tip-tap-type* Oooohhhhh!!) The cameras? That's also kind of fucked up. Again, I get them for security purposes... But these are programmers on salary. There's no reason to watch them within the halls. They've got paperwork and timecards to fill out. They've got punch cards and bug reports. The paperwork will weed out the lazy ones. That's what paperwork is for.

From a professional standpoint, the time-cards are foolish. It makes sense in the call center, but in the big-boy job? Nope. Again, these are professional men on salary. They file reports about what they're doing, and it's their job to get so many projects or tasks done in a span of time. This includes working from home. There's been cases where I've gone, "Oh fuck, I took an hour and a half lunch today!! I better stay late to work on that server." or in the case of my brother, "Eeh, I'm just not going to the office today... Better pull out the laptop and put in a few tasks for the day."

As for the email addresses? Just malicious. If that happened to me, I'd just use my personal address and look for work. Which is not an easy endeavor. As an employee? There really is nothing you can do.

What Konami is doing, is fucked up. I'm sorry that in your line of work, shit sucked, I really am... But a call center is not a professional place to work. These are people with an expensive skill. These are people with a salary. And they've got a job to do. This is fucking with their job, and harming Konami in the long run. Well, 'Cept for the anti-head-hunting tactics... Making sure your employees never leave is some Shadowrun shit that can keep people in your office for way longer than they should be.

 

[Denamic]

I wonder how long it has been like this at Konami. Since the 90s? The 00s?

I've heard that their computers lacked Internet access back in the eighties.

Jokes aside, may I ask why computers lacking Internet access is a terrible thing? Not trying to be controversial; I genuinely don't get it.

I didn't quite get the internet part either to be honest.

I think the idea is that it cuts them off from the outside world, focusing solely on their jobs at the expense of everything else. Which doesn't sound so bad for day-to-day, but if you take into account family accidents or other emergencies that might not reach an employee as a result.

(And yes, there are certainly other ways employees could learn about emergencies. However, if Konami is willing to go that far, I have no doubts they might bar other methods of outside contact.)

Plus, you know, the whole "workers treated like prisoners" thing.

Ah I get it now more or less and yeah I don't doubt they'd do worse. They probably have done worse. One can only wonder which part of the stuff they do that hasn't gone public yet heh.

Um, no. It's because wasting time on the internet is a large reason for a loss in productivity. Restricting access means someone can't get easily distracted by websites like, idk, The Escapist? It's not about making them prisoners or isolating them.

[Edit] Plus, if a number of employees are the using the internet for non-work purposes, this can slow down any system that is reliant on networking. So my buddy is watching Netflix on his computer while I'm trying to access an internal database to finish a project...thanks to him (and everyone else with non-essential internet use), that project takes much longer to finish due to load times on my end.

Also, almost no one uses the internet to contact a family member to tell them there's been an emergency. They either call direct, or call the employer who will then route them to the appropriate extension. Seriously, no one uses email/FB to declare a family emergency (not when it's serious).

It's easy to assume that doing non-work things during work hours = less work done. From a purely practical standpoint, it's obviously true. However, work performance is heavily influenced by your workplace environment. Happy workers in a pleasant environment perform better, both in quality and quantity. Removing 'distractions' may force employees into only focusing on their assigned task, but treating your workers like that will negatively affect their performance. And in extreme cases, like this, it will even bring you negative PR, which damages your business directly.

As an employer, you want to keep your employees happy above all else, even if that means some of them will sneak in some time on imgur during work hours.