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Epic Games stops alternating 4-day work week employee policy

An Epic Games policy that was introduced at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is now being removed and it has employees highly upset.

TJ Denzer

October 22, 2021 12:30 PM

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As the COVID-19 pandemic was in its absolute worst in 2020, there were a lot of policies put in place by companies to try to alleviate the stress of employees and create safer work environments. Epic Games was one such company to do so with the institution of alternating Fridays off, but the company is now shutting down that policy. According to insiders, Epic announced it was going back to regular five-day work weeks and many employees are not thrilled about the decision.

This decision by Epic Games was reported by Bloomberg, with whom sources familiar with the situation shared the details. According to the reports, Epic announced via its employee Slack channels that the alternating Friday off policy was being shelved. Many employees pleaded for the company to reconsider, but Epic’s stance was that some employees were able to take advantage while others were not, creating an unfair environment. Nonetheless, many employees reported that the alternating three-day weekends aided in reducing stress, boosting mental health, allowing better time management out of work, and even boosting productivity on projects at work.

Nonetheless, Epic Games bosses expressed that the policy was never meant to be permanent. It was among a few decisions that included canceling the Fortnite World Cup in 2020 to help maintain safety of players and staff with the intention of eventually allowing employees to take paid time off on their own schedule.

“Right now, we are seeing lots of Fridays off for deep work, and lots of people who must work Fridays anyways,” Chief Operating Officer Daniel Vogel wrote in an email obtained by Bloomberg. “This meant that many people were not benefiting from this policy equally.”

Nonetheless, employees have shared annoyance and grief at the idea of the policy going away for all of the good it did. As Epic also deals with the strain of keeping up on one of the largest games in the world on Fortnite, completing work on Unreal Engine 5, and also continuing its heated legal battle with Apple, the company appears to be stretched thin with issues. It will remain to be seen if Epic relents on this particular matter. Stay tuned as we continue to follow the situation for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.