Drum roll, on your mark, and open the curtain for the next team in our Behind the Scenes series… People & Culture!
Bringing people together to have a good time with games is not only the mission for our products, it’s also a lifestyle that we aim to integrate and maintain in our working relationships. Our work takes up a large part of our lives and, since we spend most of our time on the job, it should be as much fun as the product we end up producing for our players. We firmly believe that the fun we have with our work and with each other is transferred to everything else. This idea shapes our work within the People & Culture team (P&C).
We strongly believe that the best teams produce the best results and our team supports GameDuell in this endeavor in every way possible. We believe a diverse working culture full of appreciation for each other makes a strong team and contributes to a strong gaming community.
Hi team, can you tell us a bit about who you are?
A friendly hello from GameDuell’s People & Culture team:
We are doing our best to support our company’s biggest asset – our team members. We work with a variety of people from all over the world. We also have fun and are passionate about our job. We’re given the chance to create meaningful and lasting relationships, get to know our team members, be an advocate, and at the same time have a business mindset.
These are the people that take care of our team members. A short introduction to us:
AMINATeam lead and visionary for People & Culture policies at GameDuell, primary rock, contact point for the team, and person of trust for the whole company due to her extraordinary empathy.
Favorite food around the office: everything that involves butter.
Can’t work without: inspiring, dedicated, and open-minded people around me. That’s why I love our team!
What I like most about my job: Where do I start? Our team of course and having the opportunity to shape the culture and processes for a happy and successful team that is challenged by today's VUCA world.
CAROPassionate recruitment expert who sets trends, keeps questioning the status quo, and has a very big heart.
Favorite food around the office: Com Tofu xào
Can’t work without: coffee and an internet connection.
What I like most about my job: my team, GameDuell’s culture and atmosphere, and the possibility to take over new tasks and responsibilities that I’m interested in.
JANETTAdministrative and payroll genius, labor law and KPI gatekeeper. Plus, trusted business partner for our Customer Support team.
Favorite food around the office: great start to the day with a freshly baked bun
Can’t work without: my lovely colleagues
What I like most about my job: helping people to understand the bureaucratic stuff ;)
CHIP&C all-round talent, recruiter and talent hunter, and master of communication and social relationship building who offers trainings.
Favorite food around the office: making a colorful, nutrient-dense salad for lunch, in addition to a pretzel with butter.
Can’t work without: … my daily morning routine - a good coffee!
What I like most about my job: working with people who have the same commitment to their job. Being comfortable at the office and able to forge relationships that go deeper than meetings and email interactions.
BARBARABusiness partner and recruiter, eager to foster the collaboration across teams and to support team members in all matters.
Can’t work without: a good team spirit and notebook
What I like most about my job: working with a team of people who are passionate about achieving the best results in their daily work.
CATHLEENTech recruiting expert and business partner with heart and passion, optimizes processes in an agile environment.
Favorite food around the office: every place that offers Schnitzel
Can’t work without: an environment that creates a space for freedom, new ideas, and growth surrounded by inspiring and open-minded colleagues.
What I like most about my job: supporting teams and team members to grow, finding perfect applicant matches for our team, analyzing and improving the status quo, having various responsibilities, and the freedom to experiment.
MATHIASmaster of application and tool management, pro in all visa, relocation, and work-safety issues, whose heart beats green as he is our climate action manager.
Favorite food around the office: fruits and cereals with oat milk, and the surprise candies that GameDuell treats us with occasionally.
Can’t work without: small talks with team members and laughter.
What I like most about my job: meeting so many wonderful and talented people from around the world, whether they are applicants or already on board as team members.
STEFANSenior tech recruiter and almost engineer who talks in bits and bytes and a data protection hero.
Favorite food around the office: our organic fruits and cheese in the office
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What I like most about my job: getting in touch with so many different people around the globe.
What does your workday look like?
The question of what the People & Culture team does all day pops up often.
Everyone has different tasks to tackle, but we are working closely together. Roughly speaking, our work can be divided into three large blocks. One is getting passionate, dedicated, and skilled talent on board, another is consulting our teams and offering personnel support, and last but not least, making sure everything is administered and legally compliant. We have various tasks including recruitment, relocation assistance, onboarding, performance appraisals, talent management & development, labor law compliance, and workplace safety. As you can see, the People & Culture team is involved in all levels of our organization. That is what makes our job so exciting.
We know that our team members are an essential part of our company and we have the opportunity to make their working lives better. No day is ever the same and we learn constantly and grow together.
What do you especially like about your work?
We don’t have the classic everyday work routine where every day is the same. The daily duties of our job include making our team members’ well-being and happiness a matter of our professional responsibility. Working in P&C can at times be challenging, but it can also be tremendously rewarding. Team members come to us with their concerns and we strive to give our team members the appreciation that we always have an open ear for them and to create a trusting relationship.
With our work, we support our team to develop the best possible products and inspire customers, peers, and our audience by providing an extraordinary game experience. This is done through cooperative teamwork in a pleasant work environment with a funny, multi-disciplined, and international team.
What are new processes and opportunities for P&C?
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new, wide-ranging challenges to the health and safety of all our team members. We strive to create the best possible environment for our team to work successfully through this crisis.
We’ve also managed to welcome new team members to GameDuell during the coronavirus pandemic. The integration of our newbies in these extraordinary times requires a high degree of flexibility from both sides. We’ve adjusted our introduction process and focus on keeping regular contact to ensure a successful onboarding that provides access to relevant information and necessary resources.
How we deal with the Corona crisis can be read in our two-part blog post.
Do you have a favourite workplace story?
The P & C team has a lot of fun stories to share and one of them involves the rescue of an injured pigeon from our rooftop terrace. After finding “Taubi” (a very creative name based on the German word for a pigeon, which is “Taube”) and discovering that she was not afraid of humans, our mission was clear - we had to help her. We discovered through the band on her leg that Taubi was a carrier pigeon from Poland. Our Polish speaking colleague from the Office team called the attached phone number and spoke to Taubi’s owner, only to find out that he was already back in Poland and had no intention of coming to pick her up. After calling several pigeon clubs (yes, these really exist in Germany), we were finally able to reach someone. Taubi was picked up the next day by a really nice pigeon expert and enthusiast. Taubi, we hope you pulled through!
Taubi also made it onto our photo wall in our office room. This wall not only brings a smile to our faces but also to visitors and other team members. It is filled with funny team pictures that we took for birthdays, pictures from past events, memes, postcards, and hilarious face-swaps that make us laugh every time we see them.