Report on Western Canada: Rated A+ for Family

In one sense, Melodie Li has a “second life.” The part-time HR generalist with Next Level Games Inc., an independent third-party video game developer in Vancouver, works from home. And even as a part-time employee, she still receives benefits. In fact, any employee working more than 20 hours a week is eligible for benefits. “The [company] did make a special arrangement for me because of the nature of what I do and how long I’ve been with them,” she says. She puts in as many hours as she can while she’s caring for her 21-month-old son, Nolan—and Maggie, her black Labrador retriever mix.

But generous benefits plans are typical in many new media high-tech companies, according to Li. “We may have a few areas—the healthcare spending account (HCSA) and higher paramedical allowances—that stand out, but in the end, I think it’s really the culture and philosophy that result in how we manage our employees,” she says. A culture and philosophy that emphasizes one-on-one coaching, team recognition and work/life balance, and that protects employees’ personal time from “perpetual overtime.”

Rewards in play
Out West, and particularly in downtown Vancouver, there is a higher concentration of new media companies and, therefore, higher levels of poaching and wooing skilled workers, says Li. The company needs to find other ways to differentiate itself. Next Level’s guiding principle has been to let its plans and policies reflect the value that the company has placed on its employees. “We really consider them our main asset,” she explains.

Benefits at Next Level are an important way to attract and retain talent. The 86 full-time employees enjoy 100% drug coverage, an $800 HCSA, 100% dental coverage, up to $2,000 for orthodontics and $750 per paramedical service.

Vacation is also generous (three weeks to start; four weeks after three years). Employees can carry over five days to be used any time in the following year, and they receive five personal days annually.

Next Level is also very family-friendly: new and adoptive parents receive top-up payments for maternity leave to 80% for 27 weeks. And parents can work from home if their children are sick.

“Sometimes, if parents don’t have any other options for childcare, we’ve had some kids come in and spend the day [in the office].” That goes for pets, too. “[But] we are not a doggy daycare,” Li says, “so if it starts to get really rowdy, it’s up to the discretion of the team members to figure out what’s appropriate and what’s not.”

Challenging stages
As with most companies over the past year, Next Level Games has been affected by the economic downturn. In October 2008, for the first time since the company started in 2002, Next Level had to lay off six full-time employees. “Up to that point, we had never had to do that,” says Li. “We would just carry the costs of extra people and allocate their time to internal projects that benefitted the studio.”

Benefits have also been challenging. While the company has maintained its benefits for now, when employees request additions or improvements—for example, adding critical illness—it’s tricky. “We usually give them the choice: we can implement a new option, but we may have to cut something else back,” she says. “In the past, we had the capital to just build our plan. Now we have to be more diligent about maintaining the cost of the program and swapping benefits in and out if we need to.”

Another issue has been salaries, which the company froze in 2008 (along with many other high-tech companies). “Obvi-ously, we have to be cost-conscious as well as competitive, but we tend to focus on paying average market salaries and emphasizing the other benefits of working in a company like ours.” But Li says employees have been understanding, adding that big decisions such as freezing salaries or not having bonuses are always made together in a company meeting so that employees are part of the process.

If monetary compensation isn’t feasible, the company finds other ways to compensate its employees. Project-end celebrations and monthly cake-and-beer Fridays promote a fun, team-oriented workplace. “[And] every once in awhile, we also book a massage therapist to come in—usually if a team has been working particularly hard and needs a little break,” Li says. She pauses for reflection and then chuckles. “I miss out on all of that when I work from home.”

Brooke Smith is associate editor of Benefits Canada.
brooke.smith@rci.rogers.com

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