I haven’t seen major conversation about this in a minute, but having a studio in a state that bans abortion and has criminally prosecuted people for having miscarriages without a remote option sends the message that you value low taxes over your employee’s lives. It’s misogyny, plain and simple.
The number of times I declined to speak to a studio that wanted me to reloacate to Texas when I was job hunting was really high. No, the trans woman, who is married to a trans woman, is not relocating to Texas no matter how much money you offer and I won't even take the interview.
SAY IT LOUDER!!!!!
I’ve been waiting for more of this to pop up - most folks aren’t ready for this convo and I suspect many that participate in it will be… disappointing
When Dobbs came through and roe v wade was overturned, a bunch of tech companies said they would support any employees that needed reproductive health services in other states, but I’ve never seen an example of it actually happening.
lmao I love substanceless posturing it's so fun and cool
Sad, tired sigh goes here ->
I’m just a bystander reading the comments but my previous employer with ~5k employees, has offices in several states and set up a “family planning” travel benefit. Some companies are doing things but they aren’t important enough to be noticed.
I'm not sure I trust any game studio that requires work on-site to care about its employees at this point. There is absolutely zero reson for it, even if you're in a country with better protections. You're still asking employees to spend unpaid time on commute and risk airborn diseases. Why?
“Have a uterus? You have to risk your life to work for us, even though remote work is totally possible.”
“Come work for us! In a year or two our state will definitely make it illegal to be gay publicly, just like we have with trans people”
“A woman? Wearing pants?? Not at our studio”
“Come move to beautiful Texas, where your children will have to see the Ten Commandments in their public classroom, or else!”
Not to mention that Texas has utterly threadbare workers’ rights. I’ve done consulting work for clients in Texas, and holy shit, everything the utter lack of regulation is appalling. With exceptions for Austin and a few other places, TX min wage federal that hasn’t gone up since 2009 🫠
I loved living in Texas, it’s a great place with great people, but it’s just not safe.
I’ve never been there so I can’t speak for the people aspect. Just that all the legal research I’ve done for both indie devs and law projects left me going OOF 🫠 Women and queer peoples’ rights also vary by state, which is dystopian on its own…
Yeah it’s an absolute nightmare. I’d never recommend anyone go there now. Even if you are a fully non-marginalized person somehow, it still sucks.
I wouldn't even move there as a cis het dude. Not even Austin. Because: I couldn't in good conscience ever have my daughters come visit me there. I wouldn't even drive THROUGH the state if I could avoid it if they were in the car with me, AND IT'S A HUGE FUCKIN' STATE.
Look, I get what you're saying, but the state government is promising us a lot of tax breaks if we promise to ignore your extremely valid concerns. Fewer regulations, too! Hang on, I'm being handed a note titled "HB 1181"
And also the confederate monuments, can’t forget those.
I mean you can make this argument about US companies, too. “Come move to the US to work for us! You might get abducted and tortured! We won’t help!”
This post brought to you by the European recruiter who visibly winced when I told her I cared more about the visa than the paycheck.
My response every time someone asks why we paid out of pocket to move back to California - any of the above posts.