Is the Immersive & Gaming Industry Supportive of Working Parents?
Are Immersive and Gaming companies and studios doing enough to support working parents? From flexible working hours to comprehensive parental leave policies, the level of support offered can have a huge impact on employee well-being and productivity.
At TechNET Immersive, we truly value family-friendly practices, and this topic is particularly important to us. In our 2024 Immersive & Gaming Salary Report, we explored this issue in depth, and we’re excited to share our findings with you!
Let’s get into it…
Meet the parents working in Immersive & Gaming!
Our Immersive & Gaming survey shared that 38% of professionals are parents, and among them, 76% are male and 24% are female. This data provides insight into the demographics of working parents within the industry, which can help shape more effective support policies and highlight where employers should be offering more support. Working fathers traditionally do not receive enough time off or paid leave when their children are born, so extended leave should be a good direction for immersive and gaming businesses and studios to go in.
Speaking of support, let’s take a look at what employers are doing well, and where they could use some improvement…
Employer support: the positives and negatives
We found that the most common offerings from employers are:
- Remote working (73%)
- Shorter/flexible working hours (39%)
This data shows that many immersive and gaming businesses accommodate parents with remote work and by offering flexible hours, which is especially important for parents with children at home. However, due to the creative nature of the industry, it is quite common for professionals to be working remotely in this space already, regardless of whether or not they have children. This likely influenced the results, but it is still great to see that so many people are benefitting from remote/flexible working opportunities.
However, fewer businesses and studios offer extended maternity / paternity leave (5%) or on-site childcare facilities (2%), indicating a lack of support in these areas.
18% of our responses shared that their employers completely lack support for working parents in the business. This highlights a significant need for improvement.
Do parents encounter biases?
We asked our working parents to share if they have experienced bias in the workplace, and if so, how. This is what they told us!
It’s clear that parents are faced with the challenges of juggling work and family life, but the common consensus is that the lack of support in certain areas is adding to their stress.
This imbalance can lead to reduced job satisfaction, lower productivity, and even burnout in some cases. For companies and studios, this means potentially higher turnover rates and less engaged employees. To build a more inclusive and supportive environment, immersive and gaming companies need to prioritise the needs of working parents alongside their other employees, implementing policies that offer real, tangible support.
However, on a good note, whilst we received a lot of negative responses, we also heard from parents who haven’t encountered biases and that feel supported in their roles, which is positive news!
Next steps
Are you surprised by what we found? To support all employees, it’s important for employers to look at customising benefits to meet different needs. Fingers crossed that next year’s results will be more positive!
For more insights into the challenges of working parents and other immersive and gaming topics, download the free 2024 Immersive & Gaming Salary Report today!
