14 DAY TRIAL // Former Valve developer Jeri Ellsworth has talked about the infamous layoffs operated by the studio at the beginning of the year, confirming that, while the company has a flat management structure, things were actually run by a group of veteran employees who behaved like they were in high school.
Valve's hardware efforts were led by Jeri Ellsworth and everything seemed to be going well until Valve made a never-before-seen round of layoffs at the beginning of the year, which saw, among the employees fired, Ellsworth and her team.
According to an interview made with The Grey Area podcast, the former developer was a victim of Valve's flat management structure, which places practically all employees on equal footing and sees big decisions taken with the help of groups of experienced staff.
"Now we’ve all seen the Valve handbook, which offers a very idealized view. A lot of that is true. It is a pseudo-flat structure, where in small groups at least in small groups you are all peers and make decisions together. But the one thing I found out the hard way is that there is actually a hidden layer of powerful management structure in the company. And it felt a lot like High School," she said.
According to Ellsworth, there was a core group of veterans who made sure that the environment at Valve never changed, despite the requirements of projects like her hardware one.
"There are popular kids that have acquired power, then there’s the trouble makers, and then everyone in between. Everyone in between is ok, but the trouble makers are the ones trying to make a difference. I was struggling trying to build this hardware team and move the company forward. We were having a difficult time recruiting folks – because we would be interviewing a lot of talented folks but the old timers would reject them for not fitting into the culture."
The round of layoffs were the result of "weird paranoia," according to Ellsworth, as the group effectively gathered all the troublemakers, in their view, and fired them without any warning.
"They went on a witch hunt and got rid of me and a bunch other talented folks. And it was just a couple of people [that did that] - that's what happens when you have a flat management structure like that, a bunch of people can wreak that kind of havoc."
Ellsworth highlighted that she still loved Valve and had lots of friends still working there, but emphasized that, with a company of over 300 employees, the flat structure couldn't work efficiently.