I know these things are not that exciting and you would much rather be reading about ‘Metal Gear Solid 5’ or ‘Cooking Mama: Halo Edition’ but occasionally certain ‘dry’ stories require attention. This is one of those news stories, so there’s no nob jokes from now on, sorry..
Let’s start with the corporate angle, GAME and Gamestation are ‘re-organising’ their staff hours, something they said was a possibility.
“Over the last month we have been reviewing the shift patterns and rotas in our stores to ensure we have the right number of people in place to serve customers throughout the day,” a GAME spokesperson has told MCV.
“We’re still going through the review process with our teams in each store, and this week have shared details of the new proposed hours for each store. For the overwhelming majority of employees, there has been no or very minimal change to the amount of hours in their contract.”
All seems fair enough, GAME have the consumer in mind and restructuring happens all the time – that is until you read what GAME employees have to say in the comments section on MCV. Poster ‘CantSayMyName’ has written:
“No one is supporting me during this period, everyone is saying sorry nothing we can do it is what it is take it or leave it.”
Another, using the nom de plume ‘GAME Management’ has commented:
“Better placed to serve customers throughout the day, I don’t think so. My store faces a huge hours cut that will see us barely able to man the store let alone do all the other tasks that the company would like us to do, deliveries, commercial update etc. I am just glad that none of my staff will be out of a job despite these cuts and hope that losses are minimal throughout the company. Good luck all.”
Another GAME staff member has a theory on why the hours are being reduced. It’s fairly obvious that if you have had your working hours cut drastically there is no way you can earn enough to live on. The poster hypothesises that staff will have to leave the company and thus GAME manages to cut its staff easily without any mention of the headline grabbing word “redundancy”.
“If, as it seems will happen,3-4 staff members leave Game & Gamestation store following these enforced reductions in hours, the reduction in numbers could be this:
Game stores = 444
plus
Gamestation stores = 254
Total = 698
(according to Game group site)
Approx. Total loss of staff following contact changes = 698 x 3 = 2094 (full & p/t staff)
Again, this would be huge news if the word “redundancy” was used but instead “reviewing” and “reduction of hours” are used.”
Unfortunately his theory is backed up by the very next comment,
“I have worked for Gamestation for five years. I’ve just seen my hours cut from 20 (which I was barely able to survive on without help from my partner) to 16. Although this is not as much of a dramatic cut as others it has left me with no other choice than to find another job.”
A few minutes ago another comment was posted by ‘Gamestation employee….currently’:
“I will not be able to continue working there after 3 years of dedication hard work and perseverance with my store, wish GAME HQ would see how much uproar they”ve caused.”
Note that GAME is not in financial difficulty due to the recession, profits were £122m for the 50 weeks up to January 2010 have been posted and the group has around 30pc share of the video games market.
Source : MCV
