working together in game jams to come up with the next game ideas to go into production. This encourages cross team collaboration and creativity.
We also have a weekly "Share the Love" where we share all of the updates going on in our games. This gives the studio the opportunity to keep up to date with what is going on and ask questions.
We run play tests of our games to get feedback from across the studio, this allows for collaboration and constructive feedback across departments.
We run milestone meetings on our games where the leads and anyone from service functions involved in the game join to make sure everyone is on the same page and aligned. We have a great culture where those in service functions feel part of the game teams that the are supporting.
there is a culture of trust and excitement with the games that we are making. We have a solid strategy that everybody is engaged with and believes is going to take Bossa in the right direction. The games that people are making are aligned with our strategy but also have come from the team!
We worked on a new strategy in 2021 that brought in key stakeholders across the studio to make sure we had early feedback and engagement. That was then rolled out through an all studio presentation with lots of follow up Q&A sessions. Everyone had the opportunity to digest the new strategy, reflect and ask questions. We then saw an increase in engagement through Peakon (our engagement platform) and strategy went from something that was a suggested priority to high scoring.
running regular engagement surveys. It asks questions across a variety of topics and has high engagement and participation rates. Managers engage with the platform, replying to comments and using insights to drive conversations and feedback in team meetings.
Our weekly share the love is also a great platform for this. We ask for any questions to be submitted before the meeting if people are not confident to ask in the all company meeting but then also always allow chance for live questions. We always take feedback on board and communicate openly.
having personal learning budgets. We give everyone their own "Bossa Bucks" to spend on personal and professional development. We sent personalised printed "Bossa Bucks" to everyone with our Co-CEO's pictures on which have a QR code which takes you to the L&D page to see the guide on everything L&D.
It has everything from personal development plans, communication skills to giving feedback. This has been fairly newly launched but as people attend more training or go on courses, we want to create a continuous learning culture where people share their learnings on the page.
we live them in how we operate every day. We trust and respect each other, always sharing thoughts and feedback in a constructive way whether it be in 1:1s, quarterly peer feedback or in any of our day to day interactions with each other. Our culture is really important for us and so we always make sure when we are interviewing that we do a culture fit interview. Knowing that somebody is going to share our values is equally as important as whether they are technically capable to do the job.
Game jams are also something which are loved by everyone, it brings people together and also enables people to be creative, coming up with awesome game ideas that could be our next game!
being supportive and giving advice but also allowing teams to work autonomously.
Both of our co-CEOs are approachable and give good insights to the projects in their areas of expertise but without taking away ownership from the teams. They are fair and always want the best for our People.
There was a structure change about 18 months ago to add a Chief People Officer into the C-Team. This shows the importance that the Co-CEOs put on the People function and ensuring that People are always on the agenda. Everything we do, we pause and think what is right for the studio AND our people.
Our hybrid/remote working allows people to work where they are most productive. We have a very cool studio (with the occasional office puppy) if people want to come in but also people can work from home all the time if that is what they prefer! We give people a budget to make sure they have the best set up for wherever they are working. This also means we can employ people outside of the UK!
We benchmark all of our salaries to ensure we are fair and competitive in the market, this is done twice a year and adjustments are made if the data has changed or if someone skills, experience or capabilities have moved. Our benchmarking is based on London salaries and is applied to all roles, regardless of where someone is based.
We have an EMI options scheme which means employees have options that will allow them to share in the success of the company in the future.
We use a platform called Benni to manage all of our benefits which has our core standard benefits, plus some flexible benefits that people can choose to add on at their own cost.
We are also exploring doing a 4-day week trial in August. If this works, we will look to do Summer working hours (4 day week in June/July/August) next year!
Throughout COVID we ran regular engagement surveys but also had tailored Pandemic/Covid questions to make sure we were checking in on how people were feeling. We made sure the studio was a safe place to go to when the rules lifted as we did have a small number of people who wanted to work from the studio for their mental health.
We made the shift to go permanently remote, allowing our Bossians to work from home or the studio based on what they felt best for them. This was a decision that was made off the back of multiple surveys and feedback sessions.
Bossa Games is a BAFTA-winning games studio based in Shoreditch, London. We're the creators and publishers of the cult-hit Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread and I am Fish. Known for our fun and creative culture, we love what we do!
2nd Floor, Unit E 5-25 Scrutton St London - EC2A 4HJ
Gaming
Henrique Olifiers (Co-CEO) Daniel Clough (Co-CEO)
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