Sean K Reynolds on working at Paizo (and other companies)

[Dire Bare]

You can be a "nice guy" and a terrible manager. Given some of the creepier things that have come out of employee revelations, though, "nice guy" is unfortunately questionable.

Yeah . . .

I've had friends who've worked in the trenches with me, who seemed like alright folks . . . . until they were promoted . . . .

 

[TheSword]

Thanks for the info!

and while there are more than 2 execs at the company, it's still a small family owned company. and in those companies its the owners who generally make all decisions that in any way effect the bottom line. and so I'm just saying that really Erik (it seems to me) has basically no say. He can quit or deliver the message of the owners, or not take the complaints to the owners cause he knows they're just going to jump on him and say no anyway.

To me that doesn't make him a bad guy, just one who is more concerned about his own job and paycheck than his employees.

I’ve seen people in this situation. Ultimately though they are the bridge between the owners and the work force. The owners will only ever change if the information they receive suggests it’s necessary.

Ultimately if Erik Mona isn’t helping the situation he’s hurting the situation.

He would find another job if he needed to. He needs to stop enabling bad business practice, before there isn’t a business to enable.

 

[Parmandur]

I’ve seen people in this situation. Ultimately though they are the bridge between the owners and the work force. The owners will only ever change if the information they receive suggests it’s necessary.

Ultimately if Erik Mona isn’t helping the situation he’s hurting the situation.

He would find another job if he needed to.

We know from other statements by Paizo employees that Mona is doing very well financially from his position, and likes to brag about it to the employees under his supervision.

 

[J.Quondam]

We know from other statements by Paizo employees that Mona is doing very well financially from his position, and likes to brag about it to the employees under his supervision.

Yeah, and I think his "sounds like we shouldn’t be telling you how well the company is doing" quip to SKR is probably a good indicator of his attitude toward sharing around the company's good fortune in any consistent way.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Isnt a huge part of the problem that there are literally hundreds of rpg 'writers' lined up to take Sean's job for less money?
[All other perceived management issues aside]

There it is.

The real value of labor is in it's scarcity. When a company knows there are a dozen equally-qualified people dreaming of having every position they field, it has zero motivation to spend more on its labor force.

Everything else is a secondary factor at best.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Considering everything that Crystal Fraiser, Diego, and other former and current staff have said, Sean K is adding to a chorus of voices stating, quite simply, that Paizo needs to clear out upper management and engage constructively with the union.

It means exactly the opposite. A union only has power if it has the loyalty or control of a bulk of the labor pool (note: not just the employee pool). As noted, there are dozens+ of people who would dearly love to work as a RPG writer.

Until the ratio of unemployed writers to job positions changes drastically, the company's current model works.

 

[Mordhau]

Ugh. I deal with something similar in public education (in the US). Some new amazing reform that's going to just make everything run smoothly . . . . if management took the time to understand and implement it properly, that is. Seems fairly universal.

A lot of these things seem like they just exist to give management something to do and justify having so many managers.

 

[Mordhau]

It means exactly the opposite. A union only has power if it has the loyalty or control of a bulk of the labor pool (note: not just the employee pool). As noted, there are dozens+ of p
eople who would dearly love to work as a RPG writer.

Until the ratio of unemployed writers to job positions changes drastically, the company's current model works.

It's difficult to change a signficant amount of your work force in one go; there is important knowledge that needs to be learned, how things are generally done, the systems they use etc (and of course with a company like Paizo there's good system knowledge of Pathfinder 2 required as well).

That's part of the advantage of being unionised.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Sad indeed. Sours me on Paizo, a company I've really liked in the past.

They certainly put out good products, but at what human cost? Hopefully the new union can help improve the company's work culture, but the rot seems to be pervasive at the top.

I'm especially disappointed in Erik Mona. He, like SKR, started in the trenches with WotC and worked his way up. His editorials always made him seem a very personable and nice guy. And I suppose, if you don't work under him, maybe he is.

Let me tell you something: a lot of creatives make really bad managers, since it requires a totally different skillset to designing. Unfortunately we tend to see management as a "promotion" so for a lot of creative people becoming managers is their only way to getting higher pay, but they end up in a job they are totally unsuited for.

How to know you're a good manager? Your staff are working well and don't feel like they're being managed at all.

 

[Jd Smith1]

It's difficult to change a signficant amount of your work force in one go; there is important knowledge that needs to be learned, how things are generally done, the systems they use etc (and of course with a company like Paizo there's good system knowledge of Pathfinder 2 required as well).

That's part of the advantage of being unionised.

No, but you start firing people, with plenty of qualified applicants ready at the door, the union will fail as the rest look to their own futures.

That's one reason why unions have been so thoroughly defeated in most areas of the US economy.

Unions only work if they control a significant portion of the labor pool, and their members are prepared to put their incomes on the line.