ANALYSIS OF HOW TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES IN THE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY

Prepared for
Tatyana Romanov
Human Resources Manager
AE Sports

Prepared by
Joana Guray
Senior Consultant
Bieber Fever Consulting

April 5, 2011

April 5, 2011

Ms. Tatyana Romanov
Human Resources Manager
AE Sports
8382 156 Street
Surrey, BC V3S 3R7

Dear Ms. Romanov:

SUBJECT: SUBMISSION OF REPORT ON HOW TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES IN THE VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY

Bieber Fever Consulting presents the report you requested on January 18, 2011 on how to retain employees in the video game development industry. Our report, “Analysis of How to Retain Employees in the Video Game Development Industry” uses a combination of secondary sources from academic, business, and news websites.

Retaining employees has become important for companies because trends show that there is a shortage of highly-skilled workers. The purposes of this report are to identify the reasons why video game developers choose to stay with their company, to explain the techniques that employers use to self-promote in order to retain employees, and to offer recommendations for small-sized companies in the video game development industry based on our findings. We concluded in our report that letting all developers participate in the direction and conception of a project will increase their enjoyment of their work. Providing benefits and competitive wages will keep the company competitive in retaining employees. Using a leadership style that emphasizes positive relationships between employees will increase emotional attachment to the company. Lastly, organizing charity events will improve employees’ perception of the company.

This report was completed with contributions from Jordan Lee, Amy Leung, Eamonn Singleton, and myself. We would like to thank AE Sports for providing us with the opportunity to prepare this report. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us at (604)-284-0517 or teambieber@bfconsulting.com. We are more than happy to provide assistance on the implementation of the recommendations outlined in this report.

Sincerely,

Joana Guray
Senior Consultant

Enclosure
TABLE OF CONTENTS

TRANSMITTAL LETTER ii
LIST OF GRAPHICS iv
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vi
INTRODUCTION 1
Purposes of Report 1
Scope and Limitations of Research 1
Sources and Methods 2
RETENTION FACTORS 3
Job Satisfaction 3
Extrinsic Rewards 3
Organizational Commitment 5
Organizational Prestige 5
SELF-PROMOTION TECHNIQUES 6
Job Enrichment 6
Competitive Pay and Flexible Benefit Plan 6
Relational Leadership 8
Corporate Social Responsibility 8
CONCLUSIONS 10
RECOMMENDATIONS 11
REFERENCES 12
APPENDICES 14

LIST OF GRAPHICS

Figure 1: Increases in Health Care Costs 2006-2010 4
Figure 2: Average Annual Salary of Video Game Designer by Years of Experience 7
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The growth of the video game development industry has led to more demand for talented video game developers. Trends show that there is a shortage of talented video game developers. As a result, companies that can effectively retain these highly-skilled workers have a competitive advantage. Retaining talented employees leads to higher quality work and lower turnover-related costs. Knowing how to retain employees effectively is a challenge for many video game development companies. The purposes of this report are to (1) identify the major reasons video game developers have for remaining with their company (2) explain the related techniques that employers use to self promote and thereby retain their employees (3) provide recommendations suited for small-sized companies in the video game development industry.

This report uses secondary sources such as articles published in academic journals, business reports, and news websites. Journals were obtained through online databases including Business Source Complete, ScienceDirect, and Wiley Online Library.

Four factors that influence why