# V4 Studio Wellness Policy

## Scope

This launch baseline applies to V4 production, animation, audio, localization,
narrative, design, engineering, QA, and live-ops teams during the mocap, VO,
composer, content-lock, alpha, beta, and gold windows.

## No Mandatory Crunch

Mandatory crunch is prohibited. The standard plan is 40 hours per week, and any
planned week above 45 hours requires written approval from Studio Operations,
People Ops, and the Production Director. Approved overtime earns comp time at a
1.5x multiplier and must be visible in the weekly studio-ops review. Anyone can
use the anonymous reporting channel without retaliation.

## Mental Health Resources

The studio provides an employee assistance program, a remote counselling
stipend, eight confidential counselling sessions per year, and a People Ops
crisis escalation contact. Leads receive quarterly training on workload risk,
burnout signs, schedule negotiation, and safe escalation.

## Sensitivity Reading Scope

The launch sensitivity-reading scope is the approved `DA_SensitivityReview`
manifest: operators, historical RTS civilizations, Hitman locales, Wukong
cultural representation, Desperados Wild-West treatment, Commandos German
depictions, and trauma-informed tone. Any open sensitivity escalation blocks
content lock until the sensitivity lead, narrative director, localization lead,
and legal clearance owner resolve it.

## DEI Baseline

Hiring and retention use structured interview rubrics, diverse candidate slates,
semiannual pay-equity review, quarterly retention metrics, and a named
accessibility and accommodation owner. The baseline is externally audited
annually and reviewed with People Ops before milestone staffing changes.

## Post-Launch Wellness Operations

The no-mandatory-crunch policy remains published after launch. People Ops
schedules a quarterly crunch audit by an external reviewer, using timekeeping,
planned schedule, on-call, and anonymous survey data. Corrective actions are due
within 30 days.

The studio staffs an on-staff mental-health counsellor, keeps the remote
counselling stipend available to all remote staff, reimburses approved claims
within 30 days, and preserves eight confidential sessions per person each year.

Sensitivity-reading scope follows §80 and receives a quarterly
sensitivity-reading refresh covering the approved `DA_SensitivityReview` scopes.

The DEI policy is published with hire/retention metrics, including candidate
slate diversity, interview rubric completion, hiring pipeline conversion,
retention by discipline, promotion equity, and pay-equity remediation. An annual
external audit publishes a summary and tracks remediation.

Off-hours support uses a weekly on-call rotation with primary and secondary
coverage. On-call weeks cannot run consecutively, PTO is protected, only SEV1
and SEV2 incidents page after hours, and mandatory comp time after on-call week
must be scheduled within 14 days.