Logitech International announced Logi Game Day on November 13, giving employees a dedicated day off to play games in what the company calls its first company-wide gaming day.
Its gaming brand, Logitech G, will mark the initiative with a streaming event at its Americas headquarters in San Jose on November 19. Robin Piispanen, Logitech G’s general manager and a former competitive gamer, will host.
The company is pitching the time off as a way to recharge and build skills that carry over into work, rather than simply an employee perk.
“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s chief executive officer said in a statement. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other.”
Logitech pointed to its Ctrl Tomorrow study, in which 81 per cent of gamers said they believe gaming builds real-world confidence, reduces anxiety and correlates with stronger day-to-day work performance.
It also cited another study in which 98.8 per cent of enterprise IT decision-maker respondents said gaming skills translate into workplace capabilities, including strategic thinking, complex problem-solving and performing under pressure. Those responses reflect participants’ views about gaming’s benefits, rather than establishing that a day spent gaming improves job performance.
For Logitech’s people team, the case also rests on giving staff room to switch off.
“Play is not the opposite of work,” said Elaine Laird, Logitech’s chief people officer. “When people have dedicated time to log off, decompress and immerse themselves in play, they return with clearer focus, renewed energy and fresh approaches to complex challenges.”
