Move of the Month: 8/14

Read a typical example of EA’s employment marketing, and you’ll find yourself immersed in the kind of life-changing rhetoric that only seems to work in California.

‘We thrive on outrageous thinking,’ the copy enthuses. ‘The excitement you feel throughout each workday is made possible by a culture that inspires you to do the best work of your career.’

So far, so uplifting. And if you look behind the hype, you’ll indeed find an organisation at the top of its game. EA is currently (at least) the third biggest gaming company on the planet, and in the last year alone has seen shares rocket by an impressive 57%.

Market experts suggest that the forecast for EA looks better still, with the release of Battlefield Hardline (shown above) promising to be a highlight of the 2015 gaming calendar. FIFA World Cup, also produced by EA, has prospered too, with an estimated 50 million games being played over the World Cup season. (I wonder if England managed to win any of those.)

A good time, then, for Dalveer Heer to step up to become the ‘Director Human Resources’. Ms Heer has worked her way up internally: she’s been an HR BP and a Senior HRM in three different countries for the firm.

There’s one blot on the EA HR copy book that Dalveer inherits. A decade ago, the company was the focus of a seriously tetchy debate about staff being over-worked. Blogs such as EA Spouse got a bit angry and a class action was taken against the firm, resulting in nearly $16 million being paid to game artists in unpaid overtime. Work-life balance seems to be much improved since then though, and in today’s fast-moving digital world there probably isn’t much merit in judging an organisation by 2004 standards.

So good luck Dalveer. We hope your promotion allows EA to further accomplish its original stated aims, as proclaimed in a 1982 ad which contained the following vision:

Towards a language of dreams.

In short, we are finding that the computer can be more than just a processor of data.

It is a communications medium: an interactive tool that can bring people’s thoughts and feelings closer together, perhaps closer than ever before. And while fifty years from now, its creation may seem no more important than the advent of motion pictures or television, there is a chance it will mean something more.

Something along the lines of a universal language of ideas and emotions. Something like a smile.

Like I said – only in California.

About the author

Andrew Baird

Andrew is the CEO of HRville. He is also Employer Brand Director of Blackbridge Communications, Editorial Director of Professionals in Law and an associate of The Smarty Train. Previously, he was the MD of TCS Advertising.