Entrepreneur’s salary cap stirs interest
Unorthodox entrepreneur Dean Hall says his inbox has ‘‘exploded’’ after he described the progressive principles by which he runs his Dunedin computer games company, Rocketwerkz.
The 35-year-old former soldier and air force officer fired the imagination of Kiwi wage slaves after revealing he offered unlimited annual leave to Rocketwerkz’ 40 staff while capping his own salary at no more than 10 per cent of the firm’s next highest-paid employee.
Hall said people had expressed interest in joining Rocketwerkz since he aired his management philosophy in an interview on Sunday.
But the messages of support had been broader.
‘‘I have about 300 friend requests on Facebook. A lot of people have said ‘We like the sound of that and it seems rational and sensible.’ Hopefully we inspire a few other employers to think about the same things,’’ he said.
Rocketwerkz employs highly sought-after staff recruited from within New Zealand and around the world, and Hall said it would be ‘‘obviously very naive’’ to suggest every company could be run on exactly the same lines.
‘‘A lot of our decisions make sense because of how important creativity is to our industry and every industry is different, but I do think there is a lot of merit to treating people like people – as the most unique resource you have,’’ he said.
Hall said he was grateful to the military for teaching him that lesson.
‘‘That might seem ironic, but I think they do a fantastic job – mostly – of making you really look after your people.
‘‘I was in the army and the air force, and they have both left a huge impression on me which I think has really helped.’’
After a stint with Wellington games developer Sidhe, now Pikpok, Hall shot to prominence in the industry by developing zombie survival game Dayz as an expat in Britain.
Although Dayz never became a finished product, it nevertheless raked in $100 million in sales, which meant Hall has been able to take an uncommon approach to business.
Rocketwerkz is not profitable and Hall jokes that the games industry, like the airline industry of old, is one where ‘‘billionaires become millionaires’’. ‘‘Honestly, I am not too concerned by how much profit we make at all, at any time.’’
But that is not to say Hall isn’t ambitious for the company, or for the Kiwi games industry as a whole.
‘‘I am much more concerned about being market leaders in the genres we operate in and then the money just happens,’’ he says.
Rocketwerkz has five projects on the go, ‘‘including one which is very big and I’d say there has probably not been a game on that scale developed in New Zealand before’’.