Life Is Strange Developer Implements Permanent Work From Home Scheme

DONTNOD, the developer of Life is Strange, is letting its staff work from home permanently beyond the pandemic.

You don’t need me to tell you that the last eighteen months have shaken the world of work in a huge way. No matter the field of work, industries have had to adapt to the global pandemic and find new ways of safe working. Video game developers are part of this struggle, with teams needing to somehow work on big game projects without the use of a communal office space.

Though parts of the world are starting to return to normality, some workplaces are deciding to keep aspects of remote working. One such studio is DONTNOD, which you might know as the developer of the Life is Strange series. The studio tells us that it’s implementing a permanent working from home policy to provide its employees with maximum flexibility.

dontnod
Tell Me Why, another game by the same studio.
Credit: Dontnod

Work where you want!

The French studio, which has offices in both Paris and Montreal, now lets its employees choose from either working from home or a flexible office environment. Staff can choose to work remotely on a permanent basis. As such, the studio will provide sufficient equipment to work from home. That includes a desk, chair, peripherals, and work computers Alternatively, staff can choose to work from a hot-desk in the office with allocated days for more flexible working.

DONTNOD CEO, Oskar Guilbert says that the new remote working policy should help employees to grow in both their personal and professional lives: “We know that everyone has different needs and different ways of functioning and that is why we wanted to create a program that would give everyone the freedom to choose how they want to organize their day-to-day lives.”

As such, the team at DONTNOD hopes that the new policy will help widen the pool of hireable talent. Rather than commuting everyday, employees are able to work remotely from anywhere within either France or Quebec.

life is strange
Credit: Square Enix

Safety measures are still in place

While the global pandemic is still underway, DONTNOD is still keeping some health and safety precautions in place. Desks are laid out in small ‘bubbles’ so that congregations and meetings are kept small in scale. In addition, only a limited number of people are allowed into the offices at any given time.

After eighteen months of adapting to work from home settings, it’s likely that we’ll start to see more businesses adopt flexible working . Working from home can have its drawback, like the feeling of never being able to switch off from work mode. However, there’s nothing better than being able to grab a cup of tea from your own kitchen while at work.

Although it’s not made by DONTNOD, a brand new Life is Strange game ‘True Colors’ is set to release this week. You can read our thoughts on the new release here!

How do you feel about the idea of working from home more permanently? Let us know across our social channels.

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Featured Image Credit: Square Enix