Keywords Studios
Work wellbeing score is 72 out of 100
3.0 out of 5 stars.
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Keywords Studios Pay & benefits reviews

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3.2Work-life balance
2.4Pay & benefits
2.6Job security & advancement
2.7Management
3.2Culture

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gameminimumwageprojectcontractsalarylowbad

Good to start, not great long-term

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It was a good job to get started in the field at a younger age, but the pay is very low. How much enjoyment you get out of a project depends a lot on which project, and who is the lead on said project. Overtime is common and expected and some projects will force you to. Crunch periods is also common. The type of work involved has worsened my chronic arm and hand pain.Workplace culture is very focused on performance, doing a lot of overtime. Hardest part of the job are crunch periods. Most enjoyable is when you are on a more relaxed project.It is rare to have a tester stay longer than 3 years.

Pros

Good location, Fun stuff from working at certain client locations

Cons

Low pay, crunch, recurring overtime, job not very secure, performance-based reviews
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N/a

A contractor outsourcing company without ever given a proper job title hence very low salary to the point that even working in Depanneur pay more on Day1.
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Official response from Keywords Studios

12 January 2023
We would love to address your concerns. May we ask that you reach out to your local HR Team? If you are unsure who that is, you can contact us at globalemployeecommunications@keywordsstudios.com. Thank you!

Insights into Keywords Studios

Based on 42 survey responses
What people like
  • Feeling of personal appreciation
  • Supportive environment
  • Inclusive work environment
Areas for improvement
  • Fair pay for job

Une belle façon d'obtenir de l'expérience mais sans plus

Il est facile d'entrer dans l'industrie du jeux vidéo avec Keywords et il y a une belle ambiance de travail. Mais par contre, la rémunération est pitoyable, le niveau de stress est énorme et il y a très peu de support de la part des dirigeants et des ressources humaines. Aussitôt que vous avez l'expérience requise pour travailler ailleurs, sautez du bateau. Keywords a une attitude 'utiliser-jeter' face à ses employés donc il est important de quitter avant que vous soyez à jeter.
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Official response from Keywords Studios

4 January 2023
Bonjour, nous prenons note de vos commentaires. Pour ce qui est des divers avantages, nous les réévaluons constamment et essayons de les ajuster régulièrement en cours d'année. La meilleure des chances pour vos prochains défis!

Good culture, salary and benefits not up to scratch

The atmosphere and people at Keywords are brilliant and you can gain a lot of experience there. Lots of room for growth in certain departments and being a global company there are opportunities for transfers to other locations. Having said that the salary and benefits are way below market rate, it's a real shame as it really puts a dark cloud over all the good things about the company.

Pros

Great people, learning culture and opportunities for growth

Cons

Salary and benefits are below the market standard
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Official response from Keywords Studios

12 January 2023
We would love to address your concerns. May we ask that you reach out to your local HR Team? If you are unsure who that is, you can contact us at globalemployeecommunications@keywordsstudios.com. Thank you!

Good place to get experience.

Other company values experience more than keywords. Employees are numbers.They out trans employee.People don't know what a shower is.Low paying job, but it's okay because we have free coffee.They told us in a company meeting we are lucky they did not lower our salary.Big try-hard culture. People are promoted based on of they are friends with management or not.

Pros

Can become a good safety net when moving on to better company.

Cons

Not trans friendly, People stinks, Low wage, Low recognition, Try hard culture, Low salary, Poor benefit
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Official response from Keywords Studios

14 November 2022
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We have taken note of your comment concerning the “outing” situation. We have not been informed of such situations, but we’ll make sure to update our management team on this matter, as not only do we have training and policies, but we want to make the workplace an inclusive and welcoming one. We keep the identification information we receive completely confidential to avoid this kind of event. We take unacceptable behaviors and comments very seriously to protect all employees, no matter who they are. We invite you to please reach out to your local mangement team to discuss your concerns. We are here to help.

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Co-workers were nice

I appreciated the co-workers, the work was very relaxed and they accomodated me well.Leaders seemed to be competent which is a plus, we had a party that was fun early on.

Pros

Clean and professional

Cons

8 hour shifts, removed benefits
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Official response from Keywords Studios

4 January 2023
Hello, thank you for your feedback, we appreciate it! We wish you the best!

Good place to start in the industry

It's a good place to start in the industry, but not to stay. There's going to be times were you have no work for weeks sometimes months on end with no pay or communication. Comparing how much they pay and how little benefits there are in comparison to other companies is a real eye opener.
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Official response from Keywords Studios

4 January 2023
Thank you for your feedback. We're continuously reevaluating our comprehensive benefits package to see where we can provide improvements and remain competitive. We also review and adjust salary scales on a regular basis. We have various roles to explore and training courses one can take to help our employees grow. We wish you the best for your continued career in the gaming industry.

Horrible

Garbage pay, filled with creepy men, no benefits.It’s a joke. You’re better off working at mcdonald. It’s also on call so some days (or weeks) you wont work at all.
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Official response from Keywords Studios

4 January 2023
Thank you for your feedback. Our employees should never hesitate in reporting bad behaviour that is not professional nor acceptable. We take our employee's health and safety very seriously. We take it so seriously that in 2022 we hired an external firm to periodically send surveys out to all our staff to gather anonymous feedback to make sure that we were being successful in our providing a healthy and safe workplace for all. In regards to salary, benefits and scheduling, those all have evolved over the past years. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with us and do wish you all the best going forward.

Minimum wage and no benefits until at least 1 year

The management and level-up system is awful and very biased. They can decide to not promote you for any reason they see fit, and the promotions barely come with a raise. You can only be promoted every 6 months, and someone who doesn't know you or your work is responsible for the decision. Their criteria is very arbitrary and no preparation is given.Also the company is set on expansion but does not accommodate the employees they acquire. They constantly refuse to pay us more stating they are giving us competitive market prices, even though we work for AAA game titles.

Pros

Work from home temporarily

Cons

Bad pay, requesting back to office, nepotism, poor management, high turnover, ineffective promotion system
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Official response from Keywords Studios

3 August 2022
We appreciate your taking time to share your thoughts and do invite you to meet with your local HR team about your concerns. We are here to help make your experience the best it can be.

Fun place to work but pay is abysmal

Pros:- Experience in the game industry- Exposure to Game Development Cycles- If you are passionate about games, the job is fun:Cons:- Low starting salary- Contractor work, not the same benefits as Electronic Arts
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Official response from Keywords Studios

10 June 2022
Hello and thanks for the review! We're happy to have provided you with a fun introduction to the gaming industry. We're continuously reevaluating our benefits package to see where we can provide improvements, introducing additional new perks on a yearly basis.Thanks again for your feedback and best of luck!

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Inflexible Company

To Keyword Studio's credit, there is frequent opportunity for advancement depending on your performance, but the raises and wages are peanuts compared to their competition. You will be doing more work for less than those in similar positions elsewhere.Furthermore, they tout a 3-day minimum flexibility, but never honor that, requiring 5-days for you to receive any amount of work. If you sign a contract with them, you will be required to work the shift they tell you, without consideration to your transit time or needs outside of work. This can range from the typical early morning to afternoon shift, to the midnight shift.Remote is generally not a possibility, and has only been a begrudging temporary measure put in place for COVID.
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Official response from Keywords Studios

10 June 2022
Hello, your feedback is appreciated! We're often reevaluating our benefits package to see where we can make improvements, and we also adjust salary scales regularly.As per your working hours, we invite you to talk to your manager to see if some arrangements could be possible.

Chill job

Was pretty relaxed job. Wages are low but livable in Montreal for someone with roommates. I liked the job but someone looking for more challenge probably wouldn't.

Pros

Chill

Cons

Low wage
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Official response from Keywords Studios

28 March 2022
Hi there, thank you for your feedback. We're happy to hear you enjoyed the working space.Also, we are always working to improve our salary for entry level positions and we also have a career ladder in place for all of our testers and offer multiple opportunities each year for advancement for those who are interested. Have a nice day!

Excellent

Les gens sont respectueux et aidants. La job est amusante ; je ne me suis jamais ennuyée. Beaucoup de compliments de la part des boss. Possibilité du travail à temps partiel.

Pros

Café gratuit, flexible
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Official response from Keywords Studios

31 March 2022
Bonjour !Nous sommes très heureux de lire votre commentaire ! Il est très apprécié de voir que vous êtes satisfait de votre emploi et que l'équipe de gestion vous supporte bien ! Nous souhaitons que votre appréciation demeure la même, et n'hésitez pas à communiquer avec votre équipe sur place si vous observez des endroits où nous pourrions nous améliorer.Merci !

Fun place to work at with great company culture

It was one of the coolest place I got to work with. Some up and down but nothing out of the ordinary. It is the most inclusive place that I have worked at. Salary could be higher but I think its a good transitional job or a summer job.

Pros

Greatest company culture and fun job 80% of time

Cons

Being on call it can take months to be assigned to a new project
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Overall not too bad but no room to grow / salary

Fun people and lots of different games to work on, can ask to move projects which is nice. The salary is quite low and there isn't much room to move up.

Pros

Cool people

Cons

Pay
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Official response from Keywords Studios

19 March 2021
Thank you so much for your feedback! It’s great to hear that you are enjoying your role as a game tester and the atmosphere at Keywords. Regarding our growth opportunities, we are proud of our Level Up system which guarantees that employees receive wage increases over time. You can achieve up to three raises in a year! Last year alone, we had 484 Level Up promotions and 124 promotions to higher roles in Montreal (Test Leads, Project Managers, Managers…).Thanks again for your comments, we are here to help provide the best experience we can!

Nice Co-Workers, horrid management

Pay is low, and they do not care about you. Promise the world, deliver nothing. Often let go with no projects. Play favorites and do not repect those who work hard.

Pros

Free Soda

Cons

Everything else
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Official response from Keywords Studios

25 October 2020
Hello, and thank you for sharing your feedback.It is true, as you mention, that there are short term projects on which to work. There are now, more than ever, an increasing amount of projects in which staff are offered permanent contracts, with access to benefits packages. The Level Up system is in place offering merit-based promotions, and revised annually based on employee feedback. Even in a mostly remote working climate, trainings and new job opportunities are regularly being shared with staff. We are glad that you enjoyed the perks, such as free snacks and drinks, and hope you enjoyed the time with your former coworkers.

Good job for a highschool student

You get what you pay for. This is a low level job that would be amazing for a high school student. There are a LOT of smelly people here, literally. People show up in clothes they haven't washed in days reeking of B.O

Pros

Pretty relaxed workplace

Cons

Too relaxed, low pay, managers look and act like something you would find in fast food
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Official response from Keywords Studios

27 July 2020
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your time at Keywords.Even though starting positions can be on call, more and more employees are on permanent and fixed term contracts. As for career advancement, we are proud to promote from within with our Level Up program, which gives employees the chance to grow professionally and achieve up to three raises in a year and more opportunities for promotions!Thank you again, we wish you the very best!

wage is way too low for the responsibility they give

they keep saying us we should never talk about the things we see in the office otherwise we might get sued by the customers and the keywords, imagine getting sued for thousands of dollars for minimum wage.Also they are hiring on-call employees and expecting people to be available 40 hours a week for minimum wage. they really need to hire permanent employees instead with better pay. work environment wasn't that bad but employees are gossiping a lot. worst part is if they are talking about behind an employee's back and they act normal when that person is around. professionalism is kind of low in the company.

Pros

free fruits

Cons

unstable shifts
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Official response from Keywords Studios

27 July 2020
Hello! Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.We are sorry to hear you experienced issues with some colleagues. We strive to have a safe and comfortable work environment, and we urge employees to report any issue with our HR department. Keywords employees receive more than minimum wage, even positions that require no previous industry experience. Salary increases quickly through our Level Up program, all Level 3 employees move to permanent positions and there is also training in place to encourage and help earn promotions to higher responsibility and higher paid positions.Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. We take all feedback to heart and as a learning experience for us all. We wish you the best!

Très mal payé et heures supplémentaires obligatoires!!

Payé au salaire minimum pour un travail a temps plein et heures supplémentaires (fin de semaines ou soirs) obligatoires sinon une note au dossier est ajoutée.
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Amazing workplace to start working in the industry, not to stay

KWS is an amazing workplace to start working in the industry, amazing with capital "A", but after more than 3 years, the lack of insurance and stability, make first party QA much more attractive to the experienced tester.

Pros

Can be really relaxed often, schedule flexibility possible, anyone can enter

Cons

No benefits, no insurance, even most experienced testers gain close to minimum wage
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Official response from Keywords Studios

3 March 2020
Hello, and thank you for your review. We are glad to hear you found Keywords to be A-mazing!While most positions are on-call at the beginning, about half of the workforce at Keywords Studios Montreal are on permanent contract, and approximately 75% are on long term projects. Scheduling is done according to each employee’s provided availability. Staff members can provide any availability they choose, offering reduced availability can result in reduced hours.Keywords is especially proud to promote from within; all Level 3 employees moved to permanent positions in the past year. The ratio of permanent staff continues to increase, as it has over the past decade. Once they become permanent employees, testers are given three options of benefits plans at different price points, and may choose the one that suits them best. Multiple benefit plans were considered, and the program was revamped according to employee feedback.In addition to these benefits, we are proud to offer employee perks including a discounted mobile phone provider, bike share program, gym discount, coffee, refillable OPUS station at the office, happy hour parties, summer and winter parties, event ticket and game giveaways throughout the year, and free fruit every day.Thanks again for your feedback. We think the Keywords staff is pretty A-mazing too.

The more you care, the sadder it gets

- Salary is low, and planning appears to give less hours if you get a salary upgrade. - It is impossible to know if you'll get work before the very day before and your schedule may be switched between day and evening on a weekly basis, leaving any possibility of adapting your sleep out the window. It is possible, and even likely, to end not be receiving any work for days. - Training, while paid, ended up useless as the first project I've been assigned to required completely different methodologies. As an employee, you get shifted around projects often on a day to day basis, requiring you to constantly adapt to different requirements right after training. - The best, and only good part of the job, is the other employees, it is very easy to get friends with everybody since everyone clearly have a passion for games. Even if you'll often end up never seeing them again as they put you on another project...
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Official response from Keywords Studios

24 February 2020
Hello, and thank you for your review.We are glad to hear that you are enjoying the friendships you’ve made at Keywords. While staff are scheduled according to project needs, and not who their friends are, Keywords Montreal organizes events throughout the year to give everyone the opportunity to socialize outside of work; summer and winter parties, Halloween and St Patrick Happy Hour events, tournaments, as well as the private Star Wars screenings and Esports Central event late last year.The Level Up program has been implemented to offer built-in growth and salary increase opportunities for Keywords Montreal team members. In terms of scheduling, both permanent and fixed term contracts (often 6 months) are based on clients’ needs, as well as the quality, availability and desire of Testers.Sorry to hear that you did not find Training to be helpful on your first project. You may be pleased to learn that Just last week, we were able to grow the FQA Training program from 3 to 4 days! Training will now cover more ground, and help new Testers be better prepared for a variety of project need.We hope this helps address some of your concerns. If there is anything else you would like to discuss, we encourage you to share with your leadership or the relevant department.

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Overall rating

Based on 222 reviews

Ratings by category

3.2 out of 5 stars for Work/Life Balance
2.4 out of 5 stars for Salary/Benefits
2.6 out of 5 stars for Job security/advancement
2.7 out of 5 stars for Management
3.2 out of 5 stars for Culture

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