Following a sequence of allegations of sexual harrassment and abuse in opposition to a number of Ubisoft staff at a number of studios, the corporate have laid out extra of their plan to alter.
“We have significant work to do to improve the ways in which we operate and collaborate, and I am personally committed to ensuring we make these fundamental changes,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned. “They need to be profound, and we need to implement them quickly at all levels of the organisation.”
Guillemot made the statements in an inside letter to employees on Thursday, which the corporate then shared publicly. Ubisoft admitted final week that they “must do better” within the wake of the accusations from colleagues and the general public alike, which have been made in opposition to staff from the rank and file as much as high-ranking and influential positions.
“The situations that some of you have experienced or witnessed are absolutely not acceptable,” Guillemot mentioned in yesterday’s letter. “No one should ever feel harassed or disrespected at work, and the types of inappropriate behaviour we have recently learned about cannot and will not be tolerated. To those of you who have spoken up or have supported colleagues, I want to be clear: you are heard, and you are helping drive necessary change within the company.”
He introduced that Lidwine Sauer of Ubisoft’s Strategic Innovation Lab has been appointed the primary head of office tradition, and she is going to create “an international and diverse multidisciplinary working group within Ubisoft to support these efforts.” They’re additionally planning to ship out a company-wide survey they are saying shall be nameless, to ascertain a option to confidentially report inappropriate behaviour via a third-party whistle-blowing service, to carry “employee listening sessions”, and to name in an exterior consulting agency to audit their insurance policies.
“We are not looking for a quick fix, but rather a structural shift at Ubisoft that fully aligns with our values – values that do not tolerate toxic behaviours and where everyone feels safe to speak out. We must do everything we can to ensure no one is in these situations ever again. With this in mind, I also am putting in place a series of initiatives that will serve as a roadmap as we listen, learn, and act. I will need everyone to work together to build and implement them so that respect for others remains one of the pillars of Ubisoft’s culture.”
I dislike firms speaking about their “values” as in case your precise values should not in the way you deal with individuals. In gentle of current allegations, Ubisoft’s values appear to have tolerated poisonous behaviours and made individuals really feel unsafe to talk out, and it seems that respect for others was not a pillar of their tradition. I’m reminded of Riot Games a couple of years again saying their firm values had “served [them] well for many years”, when evidently their values had served many individuals poorly.
Guillemot didn’t give any replace on investigations into staff, which Ubisoft say are being carried out by impartial third events. He mentioned they “must take the time necessary to ensure that they are carried out with the required rigour.” Reports declare two executives are among the many staff suspended pending investigation.
The previous few weeks have seen a whole lot of accusations of sexual harrassment and abuse in opposition to builders, streamers, media, and extra figures in video games. It’s not simply Ubisoft. The Evo preventing games match, resulting from occur this weekend, has been called off following allegations in opposition to its now-former CEO.
Electronic Arts equally insisted in a public statement this week, “We take every allegation seriously and we investigate it. We are deeply committed to ensuring there is safe space for people to come forward and taking the right actions on behalf of our community.”
