Case Study: Electronic Arts achieves aligned total rewards and ongoing performance management, empowering managers to make pay decisions with GuideSpark

EA Aligns Total Rewards with Ongoing Performance Management

Electronic Arts (EA), a Redwood City–based entertainment company and publisher of franchises like Madden NFL and The Sims with ~8,500 employees globally, needed to expand organizational capabilities and shift its culture as it grew. EA moved away from a ratings-driven rewards model toward a collaborative, transparent performance approach focused on ongoing career conversations, but faced the challenge of equipping managers—especially technically oriented engineers—to make qualitative pay decisions and drive accountability without prescriptive ratings.

EA partnered with GuideSpark’s Talent solution to communicate the new Managing for Results program through a series of videos and facilitator-led sessions that taught the philosophy and mechanics of Base, Bonus, and Equity programs and provided hands-on coaching. The approach empowered managers to hold better pay and performance conversations, increased employee engagement around desired values and behaviors, and produced positive feedback and early signs of stronger decision-making and accountability across the organization.

Electronic Arts

Dalana Brand

VP of Total Rewards