Throughout this past August, the Microsoft office in Japan would close their offices every Friday, and even give their employees paid leave to account for this. While some might consider this going too easy on employees or predict a huge financial loss as a result, the opposite appears to ring true, and the numbers are very encouraging.
It is reported that productivity at the office has increased by 40% compared to the previous August. The positive effects don't stop at the offices however, as Microsoft has also reported nearly a quarter drop in their electrical consumption and nearly 60% less use of printed paper. On a planet where climate change is roughly a decade away from being irreversible, this is certainly a step in the right direction. Companies, both in and out of gaming, could follow this example.
The gaming industry is notorious for its grueling work hours and conditions. For example, one should look no further than Electronic Arts who has become reviled for putting money above both customer and worker satisfaction, with the spouse of one EA employee even accusing EA of making their partner work 85 hours a week and only getting Saturday evenings off for "Good behavior," which is more akin to prison lingo than office culture. And one can only imagine what kind of damage those kinds of hours are doing to the planet with the added use of paper and electricity.
To reiterate, all of this goodness has come from giving employees just one extra day off, and the positive effects will likely go on to have a positive impact for years. This was not just a one-off thing on Microsoft Japan's part either, as they plan to continue this in the winter of this year through what is being called the "Work-Life Choice Challenge Winter 2019," with the attempt prior to this being called the Work-Life Choice Challenge Summer 2019." However, instead of paid leave, employees will be encouraged to use both vacation days and year end holidays to keep their work style varied.
In the grand scheme of things, this hopefully shows a sign of changing times by allowing higher ups to see that working 9 to 5 for five days a week might not cut it as previously thought, and is in the best interest of both them and their employees to consider this alternative.