Staff members were told of GAME’s impending change to force staff onto zero hours contracts, first reported yesterday by Eurogamer, via mass video calls held on Microsoft Teams.
The company’s various Area Managers – exempt from the change – held the calls yesterday, with local employees instructed to join. Multiple staff in the calls have told Eurogamer the meetings were brief, with the Area Managers reading from a script, and no oppurtunity given to ask questions.
At the end of the call, staff were told they would either be stepping down to the “Cast Member” zero hours contract or made redundant, following a meeting with their “Cluster Manager” – the firm’s next management level down from Area Manager.
“I think it’s been handled very disrespectfully, we were basically told shut up and listen,” one current staff member said, “then quickly hung up on with them passing all the responsibility to our Cluster Managers.”
Eurogamer contacted GAME for comment on the staffing changes yesterday, but is yet to receive a response.
Staff say the move to zero hours means they will have no secure income, while the removal of the current GAME contract also means losing overtime pay at a higher rate.
“I was told they’d been planning this for a while,” a staff member said. “They knew it was coming but didn’t feel the need to prepare us or talk to us in the lead up, just bombshell us with it.”
Eurogamer understands the move has indeed been in the planning for some time, with a growing pool of newer staff recruited on zero hours “Cast Member” contracts over the past year.
The move to close dedicated GAME branches and open GAME concession stores in Sports Direct and House of Fraser shops has also prompted staffing changes, with Store Manager roles lost and replaced by Concession Managers on lower pay.
GAME has been part of the Frasers Group since 2019, when the company accepted a takeover bid worth £52m.