IT'S lunch hour at the sprawling Razer Asia-Pacific headquarters in Chai Chee Industrial Park, the nerve centre of a company that makes computer gaming accessories.

For Razer's 85 employees, that means a quick nibble of Hainanese chicken rice, Pad Thai or laksa brought in by restaurant caterers and provided free of charge to the staff.

Afterwards, several employees take turns at the Simpsons pinball machine at one end of the cafeteria, manipulating the flippers to take a hit at Itchy and Scratchy and prevent the silver balls from 'draining'. Others are hunched over the pool table.

Two boys - probably older, but who look 18 - are pumping away at exercise machines at the other end. Nearby, a bar is being set up, with a chiller stocked full of free booze.

Many stop to admire the state-of-the-art online gaming console being built in the middle of the hall, which allows up to 10 players to pit their gaming skills against each another. While at it, they will also get to field-test the company's latest gaming mouses, mousepads, keyboards and headsets.

If they get carried away, lunch hour can extend beyond 2pm - or even 3pm. They are allowed to stay and play for as long as they like, so long as their work gets done on time.

No wonder the Generation Y employees of Razer - such as Ms Tammy Tang, also known as furryfish, her gaming moniker; Mr Julian Poon, aka rocket; and Mr Jonathan Chionh, aka flux - made a beeline to join the 10-year-old company, headquartered in California but with branches in South Korea, China, Germany and Singapore.

Here, some 80 to 100 Gen Ys vie for every post it advertises: be it sales executive, industrial designer or project manager. About 70 per cent of its 85 employees are aged between 20 and 31.

Ms Tang, 23, a geography graduate from the National University of Singapore, says she went through several 'mind-numbingly boring administrative jobs' before she stepped into the Razer recruiting booth at a gaming convention in Singapore last year.

An avid online gamer since her school days in Raffles Girls', she applied for the post of sales executive and was thrilled to land the job three weeks later.

She says: 'I thought: Wow, I get to work in a company related to my online gaming hobby. How much better can it get?'

Well, her expectations were surpassed. When she showed up at Razer's office in Chai Chee last October, her colleague zoomed in on a skate scooter to meet her.

The standard work attire at Razer is a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, even for the managers and the big boss.

She went to have a look-see at the sales department, where she would be working.

What department? The sales department was just a dozen desks thrown together.

No carefully arranged cubicles. No plush carpeting, just bare cement - so that Razer employees can zip around on scooters.

And clutter everywhere. But it was clutter she could live with, happily. A typical desk at Razer is strewn with the latest tech accessories: a laptop, an iPod, a camera, a mobile phone, headphones, a portable game console and action figures.

'It looked like a really fun place to work in,' says Ms Tang, who in her skinny jeans and T-shirt is easily mistaken for a schoolgirl.

The avid gamer says there are days when she and her colleagues hang out in the office playing Death Of The Ancients or Quake 3 till the wee hours of the morning.

'Our bosses know about it, but it's okay as long as we get the job done. We all appreciate the trust they have in us and work even harder,' she says.

Razer's chief executive Tan Min-Liang is only too happy to hear remarks like this.

'That's the idea,' says the dot.com entrepreneur-turned-technology lawyer-turned-Razer CEO, who at 30 just slips into the Gen Y age group.

'We're a gaming company; play is part of work for us. Conforming to norms would stifle creativity...Being creative and bringing out the creativity in our team members are important for our business,' he says.

He discloses that his company spends about $20,000 a month on perks such as free meals, beverages and free bus rides ferrying employees to the Toa Payoh and Jurong East MRT stations.

At least $30,000 has been spent putting in recreational equipment such as a pinball machine, pool table and exercise machine. Yet another $30,000 is going to an in-house gaming centre being set up in the cafeteria.

'It's the little things that make for a happy workforce and happier people are more productive,' says Mr Tan, who sports trendy khaki bermudas and a creamy yellow polo T-shirt.

If you wonder if any work gets done at all, don't. Mr Tan will have you know that he worries instead that his staff work too hard. 'It's normal to see my managers and staff working late nights, odd hours and weekends,' he says.

Business has been so good for the Asia-Pacific headquarters that he has doubled his headcount from last year. With the gaming industry still growing exponentially, he expects to double his staff strength again next year.

And he expects the proportion of Gen Ys to grow further when this happens.

Older employees in their 30s and 40s are still getting used to the culture shock that Razer poses.

Razer's finance director Ho Meng Hwee admits it took him almost a year before he weaned himself off long-sleeved business shirts.

He switched to sneakers only because it made it easier to ride the scooters. He sits at the far end of the 25,000 sq ft office.

Others, like head of operations Yvonne Goh, 46, still find it a struggle to dress down. She has shed her business jackets and skirts but is willing to go only as far as smart casuals.

And she's still learning how to manage her young colleagues.

'I had to institute some procedures such as filling up forms so that we can keep track of the stocks. The trick is to explain to them why it is necessary and how it will make our lives easier,' she says.

But looking at Razer's revenue growth, it's obvious that this is a way of working that's reaping happy dividends.

Razer is reported to have posted about US$350 million (S$482 million) in revenue last year and is projected to double that this year.

But despite the flush prospects, true to the spirit of the restless Gen Y, Ms Tang says she does not expect to stay on in the same company - or even in the same industry - for too long.

A few years down the road, she intends to return to school to become a chartered financial analyst and 'make some serious money'. But for now, she is not plotting any career moves.

She says: 'Sometimes I can't believe that I have been here for seven months already. I guess you don't feel the time passing when you are having so much fun.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 10, 2008.