Overtime Pay or Bonuses and Stock Options ?

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today, describing the announcement by Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent video game maker,  that they will begin to offer overtime pay to some employees.  However, these employees will no longer be eligiable for bonuses or stock options.

Electronic Arts was in the spotlight a while ago, after a letter from an employee's wife appeared on the Internet, accusing the company of abusing its employees by forcing them to work tremendous amounts of (unpaid) overtime.  

So, what do you think ?  Which would you choose - overtime pay or bonuses and stock options ?

 

6 Comments

  • Overtime pay - if you put in the hours you should get paid for it. Bonuses are good for those who contribute greatly to a project but by the nature of the job would never have to work overtime (or rarely). Stock options are only really good for startups - if you feel like your company is going to hell they don't really motivate you, now actual stock...that's better!

  • Scott,



    My first thought after reading your comment was Hey, that makes alot of sense. Let the "worker bees" get paid overtime, since it is often demanded of them, in order to complete all of the work. And let the managers and strategist, whose job it is to make decisions and develop plans rather than crank out work/hours, get compensated with bonuses, etc, based on the outcome of their decisions.



    On second thought, though, I wonder if this wouldn't just lead to the situation (that we already often have today) where the workers complain how the managers get all the bonuses and benefits and get rich off their backs (if the company succeeds).

  • True...maybe there is not perfect solution, but then when I ran my company I did an even profit split with all employees...so I'm certainly not an authority :-)

  • Overtime. Everytime, overtime.



    If stock options was what I was looking for, I'd open my own company.

  • I would take overtime. It's about immediate gratification vs. delayed gratification. If I wanted delayed gratification, I'd buy property. I work a 9-5 job for immediate gratifiction (i.e. my monthly paycheck), so if you want me to work overtime, then you need to satify my immediate needs.



    Of course, it's open to abuse. I mean, a lazy worker who works half-heartedly for 14 hours a day doesn't deserve any more than an efficient worker who does the same amount of actual work, but finishes it in 8 hours. But that's where manager discretion applies.

  • No one mentioned a 1-1 comp time? Geesh... I'd opt for that instead of money any day. Can't get my missed time back...

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