How to ask about work life balance in an interview

When it comes to work life balance, all companies are not created equal. It might feel uncomfortable to ask about work life balance in a job interview – after all, you want your potential employer to know that you’re a team player who’s not afraid of hard work. But the job interview might be the only chance you get to discuss this important topic, before you end up in a job that doesn’t value your personal life.

So if you’re interviewing for a new job, how can you figure out whether a company respects their employees’ work life balance – before it’s too late?

When is the right time to ask about work life balance?

The best way is actually to ask about it during your job interview, so you can avoid accepting a job offer from a company that doesn’t fit your lifestyle needs. But asking about work life balance in an interview can be tricky to navigate. After all, when you’re trying to land a job, the last thing you want is to appear “lazy” or “not willing to work hard.”

Job interviews aren’t only for the company to find out about you – it’s also for you to find out about the company. That’s why it’s standard for interviewers to reserve some time toward the end of the session. You can use that time to learn about the “quality of life” for employees – things like working hours, overtime, and so on.

But is it okay to ask about work life balance in an interview? Most employers do expect to get questions about overtime, crunch time, and work life balance from the people they’re interviewing. So yes, it’s totally okay to ask about work life balance during your interview – it’s healthy, and you shouldn’t feel negatively about it.

And here’s a pro tip: Keep an eye on the time. If the interview has only 5 or 10 minutes left, and you haven’t yet been given a chance to ask your own questions, take control of the conversation. You can say something like, “I want to respect your schedule – it looks like we’re just about out of time for this interview. May I use the last few minutes to ask you a few questions about your experience working here?”

Work life balance questions to ask in an interview

There are several ways you can ask about work life balance during an interview. In some ways, it depends on your own personality, and your interactions with the interviewers so far – do they seem open and honest, or do they seem to be “keeping it professional” and not really opening up to you? Here are some ways you can try asking about work life balance in an interview:

• “Do you guys have a busy season? When is it?” Any project-based company, including video game studios, will be extra busy just before releasing a new product. And depending on how well the company’s game producers do (or don’t) manage their development schedule, there can be additional busy times just before internal milestones or reviews with upper management. But if a project is very poorly managed, overtime can be all the time. That’s the kind of place you probably want to avoid. It’s definitely a red flag if your interviewers dodge the question, or if they say something like “it’s always a busy season around here!” 
• “How many high-severity tickets do you get each week?” For games that have already launched and are now being operated as global multiplayer services, part of the game team is responsible for handling any bugs or other project emergencies. When a problem arises, a “ticket” (problem report) is created and sent to the team to solve. If the game’s code is stable and well-written, there shouldn’t be more than a few emergencies each week. Any more than that could mean the team works long hours, late nights, or weekends to handle emergencies.
• “When was the last time you worked on a weekend?” If you’re being interviewed by people who are on the project team, you can ask them about their own personal experiences at the company. Ask about how often they worked late nights in the past month, or how often they worked on the weekends during the previous project. Again, if they dodge the question, or if they seem uncomfortable talking about it, that’s a good sign that the company doesn’t value their employee’s personal time as much as you may like.
• “How would you describe the work life balance here?” Sometimes it’s best to just ask directly! An open-ended question like this one lets your interviewers bring their own stories and experiences to the table, rather than just answering a simple yes or no. If they give an answer that sparks more questions, don’t be afraid to ask follow-up questions to help you understand their perspectives. Most interviewers will be happy to share their experiences with you – unless they suspect their stories might scare you away.

Do all tech companies work long hours?

Tech companies have a particularly bad reputation for expecting employees to “crunch” for extended periods – we’ve all heard horror stories about teams required to work well over 40 hours per week, and often extending into the weekends. For example, the latest report from IGDA shows that over 76% of game developers still work over 40 hours per week, at least occasionally.

Overtime can happen anywhere, even at the world’s best game companies. And sometimes, you might even be okay with it in small doses – especially if you’re working on an exciting project that you’re passionate about. But most of us would like to avoid having to sacrifice weeks, months, or years of our personal life.

In my own career, I’ve worked many (many!) long hours. Sometimes it was due to bad project planning, and sometimes it was completely out of my team’s control. For example, one time our publisher changed the ship dates, and there was nothing we could do about it, since they’re the ones who were paying the bills.

But I’ve also worked on projects that had little or no overtime at all. I can definitely say that’s what I prefer, and it’s what I’d recommend to anyone looking for jobs in the game industry. Overtime might not be completely avoidable, but if you can spend your career at companies that value a good work life balance, it will be much more pleasant and sustainable for you over the long term.

Healthy companies value work life balance

While there are definitely companies that have a “work hard, play hard” culture (which almost always means they won’t value your personal time), plenty of others are intentional about fostering a great work life balance for employees.

And you’ll know when you find one, because quality of life is a point of pride for them. They’ll be eager to tell you about it – without even needing to ask. They may talk about work life balance on their corporate web site, or on social media. You can also check for employee reviews on sites like glassdoor.com, although take them with a grain of salt, since many of the posts on glassdoor are from disgruntled former employees.

At the end of the day, avoiding crunch-heavy companies isn’t all that hard. By asking a few well-placed questions during your interviews, you’ll be able to learn everything you need to know about the company culture – and avoid taking a nightmare job at a company that doesn’t value your personal time.