“Transparency and openness is always a good thing, especially when it comes to aspects that benefit well-being - to which pay and remuneration are essential - but it only works when everyone is engaged”
TheEditor S
One giant leap for fair pay in games?
alary bands have been in the news recently, specifically around German mobile game company InnoGames publishing theirs. It’s a bold and unique move; the idea being that prospective employees will know what salary they can expect, while those established in the company can gauge their salary progression relative to others in a similar role and department, feeling somewhat confident that pay is fair throughout the organisation, regardless of gender, race, etc.
It’s a pretty comprehensive pay structure, with a number of tiers within each department, although for those in small departments or working at the executive level, pay information isn’t made available, which is a curious omission given that is where the widest discrepancies often exist. InnoGames have justified this on the basis that executive roles and their values are varied and the issue is “multi-layered’. But, hey, it’s a start, right?
Whether by publishing salary bands InnoGames has started a ball rolling that will lead to greater pay transparency in the gaming industry is impossible to say. InnoGames is but one relatively small organisation (globally speaking), although it is in early discussions with the German games trade association to see if other organisations might sign up to the idea, which seems a positive move that with the right pressures from below as well as on high, could have the desired snowball effect.
I’m not so sure however that this could become a thing in other countries like the UK, where the safety net for employees is a little more ragged and among the creative industries, gaming isn’t known for offering the greatest levels of remuneration. In my experience there’s also quite a cultural divide between the UK and Germany when it comes to openness around salaries. I have a sizable family in Germany and they talk about their personal finances like the English discuss their aches and pains (or the weather). “How much you on now, Rich?” is often an opener around the table at Christmas. I also spent some years living in France and there too people were quite forthright about such things. Conversely, my wife’s American family would never discuss salary. All I know about my wife’s income is that it’s more than mine.
Joking aside, transparency and openness is always a good thing, especially when it comes to aspects that benefit well-being - to which pay and remuneration are essential - but it only works when everyone is engaged. InnoGames has taken a big step for InnoGames and a first step towards fairer pay more widely, but it will need a bigger pair of shoes and many more of them to move things further forward.
Richie Shoemaker
richie.shoemaker@
biz-media.co.uk August 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 5
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