Very Interesting - Some Zenimax Business News

coryevans_3b14_ESO · June 2014

magickats242cub18_ESO wrote: »

Seriously, a month ago the angry masses were asking for the "bad" customer support to be fired because of the long wait times or canned responses. Now the angry masses are angry because some rep support temps were let go.

So which one is it? You want the reps fired or not?

Spot on sir, spot on.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

You're so very unfair Jessica .. the OP and many others much prefer their conspiracy fantasies than the reality of FACTS.

Shame on you.

Reykice · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

Good to hear... it will be even more believable once a date is set and we get past the "we will, we swear!" type of conversation.

Lodestar · June 2014

Lalai wrote: »

What about 200 temporary people hired specifically for when the console releases were suppose to go live, and then laid off when those consoles got delayed? The jobs were no longer needed at the time, and as a temp worker in a call center specifically that kind of turn around and short notice really is not unheard of.

I was laid off with 40 other people who were going to work under a temp contract for AT&T halfway through training... and that was just our building. Amazon has let people go from their temp Christmas jobs early, or moved the permanent folks around when they've dropped a certain type of support from the site you're working at (sometimes only a week or two after you got the new position).. and a lot of times they don't give notice. Specifically when it's related to an announcement that they don't want leaked.

There is more than one explanation for the why that makes perfect logical sense. If people are insisting on spinning it only one way, and saying that no other way could be an option then they are indeed just trying to be negative. I don't even deny that the whole "omg they aren't do well" is a possibility.. however I just don't think it's the logical conclusion from this article. Heck, I would take all the anecdotal evidence on guilds being empty as more solid proof of that than this article. I've done the whole call center temp thing though, so I've been that employee, and I know how often crappy stuff like this actually can/does happen.

This is much more believable. And I actually thought about that myself.

Call centres being what they are. I have experience myself. Often call centres are an outsource building, where staff get shifted around the company to various contracts.

While that is not quite what happens here, I do know call centre contracts come and go.

isengrimb16_ESO · June 2014

wrlifeboil wrote: »

isengrimb16_ESO wrote: »

This is not our grandfathers' job environment. I think a lot of young people are going to be in for a shock when they realize even "good" jobs aren't all that secure any more:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rbc-replaces-canadian-staff-with-foreign-workers-1.1315008

It's a race to the bottom. No job security. No loyalty on the part of the company or the employee.

The difference there is the ones in the article were permanent workers. Temps are temps - although in that case, it was a sneaky way to outsource jobs to a scab labour country.

The point is, anyone who knows that they are working on a TEMPORARY basis has no right to expect "job security" when major companies (a lot more major than Zenimax) refuse to offer it to actual employees?

My husband spent 14 years as a school custodian in a small town. When a city board (two hours away) took over the rural schools, one of the first things they wanted to do was make all the custodians go contract. To his credit, he quit and took a job downgrade rather than accept the weasel-ware that is a contract job.

But that's the way of the world at the moment. Some blame can maybe be put on unions, for pushing a little too hard, and of course business for always being penny-wise and pound-foolish; the rest of it is simple politics. What wasn't said in that article is that "temporary" foreign workers can also be paid less than Canadians (less than minimum wage, even, though that was supposed to have been changed), and that the programme is really little more than a form of "back door" immigration. I think we were also supposed to be very happy for India that it got these jobs, because, you know, it's so poor and hard done by, by people like lazy, greedy Canadians, you know.

Lalai · June 2014

Lodestar wrote: »

Lalai wrote: »

What about 200 temporary people hired specifically for when the console releases were suppose to go live, and then laid off when those consoles got delayed? The jobs were no longer needed at the time, and as a temp worker in a call center specifically that kind of turn around and short notice really is not unheard of.

I was laid off with 40 other people who were going to work under a temp contract for AT&T halfway through training... and that was just our building. Amazon has let people go from their temp Christmas jobs early, or moved the permanent folks around when they've dropped a certain type of support from the site you're working at (sometimes only a week or two after you got the new position).. and a lot of times they don't give notice. Specifically when it's related to an announcement that they don't want leaked.

There is more than one explanation for the why that makes perfect logical sense. If people are insisting on spinning it only one way, and saying that no other way could be an option then they are indeed just trying to be negative. I don't even deny that the whole "omg they aren't do well" is a possibility.. however I just don't think it's the logical conclusion from this article. Heck, I would take all the anecdotal evidence on guilds being empty as more solid proof of that than this article. I've done the whole call center temp thing though, so I've been that employee, and I know how often crappy stuff like this actually can/does happen.

This is much more believable. And I actually thought about that myself.

Call centres being what they are. I have experience myself. Often call centres are an outsource building, where staff get shifted around the company to various contracts.

While that is not quite what happens here, I do know call centre contracts come and go.

You're definitely not a gloom and doomer then

At least not by my standards. The gloom and doomers I generally think are the folks who spin all things as negative, regardless of any other explanations that may exists.. and insist theirs is the only logical one.

Besides, I've seen you around. While I may not always agree with you.. you do make good points and don't just shout the game is gonna fail and laugh at anyone who thinks otherwise. So, props!

Ragnar_Lodbrok · June 2014

I want to point out TSW, which started layoffs and the path to f2p EXACTLY the same way. And the fanboy's of TSW said the EXACT same things as you defenders are, yet it still happened. Go ahead and keep your head in the sand.

Lalai · June 2014

Ragnar_Lodbrok wrote: »

I want to point out TSW, which started layoffs and the path to f2p EXACTLY the same way. And the fanboy's of TSW said the EXACT same things as you defenders are, yet it still happened. Go ahead and keep your head in the sand.

TSW laid off permanent workers.. and that's the point at which I stated I would start to have some concern regarding F2P propaganda. Even then I'm still going to play the game until a point at which I stop having fun. Absolutely nothing is going to change that.

ShedsHisTail · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

frwinters_ESO · June 2014

They were temps. Contract workers. If they are let go early most of them still get some pay especially if its a breach of a contract. Plus it is a sketchy website as it does say to check out another article for the source yet it doesn't link it on there site. I would take this as a grain of salt.

Soliduparrow · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

So I guess what we have all learned from this thread is that "some" = 300

Someone (does that word mean like 300 ones?) should informa websters because they have an error with their definition.

ShedsHisTail · June 2014

Soliduparrow wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

So I guess what we have all learned from this thread is that "some" = 300

Someone (does that word mean like 300 ones?) should informa websters because they have an error with their definition.

"Some" is a relative term.

If you have 400 employees, 300 is more than "some."
If you have 4000 employees, 300 makes less of an impact.

GreySix · June 2014

ShedsHisTail wrote: »

Soliduparrow wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

So I guess what we have all learned from this thread is that "some" = 300

Someone (does that word mean like 300 ones?) should informa websters because they have an error with their definition.

"Some" is a relative term.

If you have 400 employees, 300 is more than "some."
If you have 4000 employees, 300 makes less of an impact.

To add to the confusion, if your company expects and has extraordinarily high turnover, even the first example might not have that much of an impact.

ShedsHisTail · June 2014

GreySix wrote: »

ShedsHisTail wrote: »

Soliduparrow wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

So I guess what we have all learned from this thread is that "some" = 300

Someone (does that word mean like 300 ones?) should informa websters because they have an error with their definition.

"Some" is a relative term.

If you have 400 employees, 300 is more than "some."
If you have 4000 employees, 300 makes less of an impact.

To add to the confusion, if your company expects and has extraordinarily high turnover, even the first example might not have that much of an impact.

Truth.

Audigy · June 2014

Alphashado wrote: »

It may or may not be true, but just take a look at your guild rosters... scroll down and look at how many people have been gone for 5 days or more... It's depressing

People can be gone for various reasons my friend!

I didn't log on for 3 weeks due my work and I try to get a few hours tomorrow and next week, before my schedule gets very demanding again.

Don't forget its summer, people go on holiday, others work and again others have their exams.

Yes people have left, but if someone has gone missing then this doesn't automatically mean he or she stopped.

Audigy · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

I applied for the position of the team cook last month..., so you are telling me that this position is still open?

I know that serving frog legs might have been a bit... unexpected and the cake on your shirt was a mistake, but I mean its food and all food will be the same in or on your belly soo

Still hoping for a positive answer from your company don't let the first impact influence your judgments!

jvh808 · June 2014

Gisgo wrote: »

Its a Hib newspaper btw.

Hib/Pellinor forever!

Tripp3r · June 2014

seems to me like a lot of you guys feel as though you DESERVE this game.

DaGhostDS · June 2014

Temp Customer service workers hired for the Console Launch, nothing to see here, just get your fact straight.

They probably should have read their contract, the part that says they can be terminated *terminator song* anytime.

Those jobs will be back in 6 month anyway.

Lkory · June 2014

Ya they did let go 300 12 Euros an hour employees to hire 500 indian ones.

This does not mean alot and mostly as they are contractuals.

DarioZ · June 2014

Can't believe there could be so many naive people... Really all of this imho is just a child of the "MMO zombie horde" of people not even knowing what game are they gonna play, or they would like to play, that migrate from a MMO to the next every two months.

The horde is gone, we can finally keep to play happily to our fav MMO. Now they can really start to have a realistic idea of the server sizes needed, of the CS required size and so on...

I'm really happy to hear this, it means that the commercial-op is ended and they can start to really make the game as it has to be...

AleriSadasIndoril · June 2014

Zenimax is not just ZeniMax Online Studios, there are also ZeniMax Online Ireland.
It's completely normal to have many time contracts and after the release also ends your contract and not all employees pass their probation periods.
There is no reason to close correctly to economic difficulties, it is just a normal procedure. Before anyone asks, I work as freelance game character designer.

ForTheRealm · June 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

Good to hear.
It would be even better if you could provide us with some basic business information on a more regular basis - some people care about the game and its future

isengrimb16_ESO · June 2014

Zenimax is a private company, it doesn't have investors to worry about.

But any smart company would have contingency plans. Surely they teach about that in business courses?

AleriSadasIndoril · June 2014

wikipedia says:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZeniMax_Media

Wifeaggro13 · June 2014

I dont think this game will go the way of SWTOR. Every game has layoffs thought the similar scenario occured . There was EA and LA involved and a CEO that had no buisness in the gaming industry Sio'nara Ritchtello. Lets hope Zos continues to get the funding to fix this game and expand upon it rapidly ala Rift fashion. Or we may be seeing a freemium model which is never good for the players in the long run.

ZOS_HugoP · June 2014

Greetings folks!

We feel this thread has devolved into a very non-constructive discussion, and has run its course. As the topic has already been officially addressed, here, we are going to close it.

Thank you!