It has been a little over a year since we reported the reported facts of harassment at the French Quebec studio. Many promises and speeches were made. In addition, other studios such as Activision-Blizzard have been the focus of attention in similar cases. So what is it really like inside the giant? Has the situation changed for the better by accepting the mistakes or does the evil still creep in? We would be the first to follow the first suggestion. In view of the statements made by employees of the group, however, the second priority seems to be more of a priority.
He had the words, Guillemot
As reported by Kotaku, an employee who joined the Quebec division in 2018, quickly suffered from sexual harassment and racist remarks. She would have defended herself by reporting the statements to her management, which she received but left without further processing. The situation is said to have occurred again last year. With the storm of summer 2020, she was hoping for a different reaction to show a sign of improvement. Except that nothing was done. This employee resigned at the beginning of the year. According to her, nothing has changed:
I really hope things get better for Ubisoft, but they are not there yet.
What emerges from this employee’s testimony is the dichotomy between the announcements and their implementation and impact. It seems that there is still a lot of work to be done on both sides. Ubisoft, which has hired a new diversity and inclusion manager, workplace wellbeing manager and outside help, is still having as maze of a reporting process as it did before, according to several employees.
Symptomatic Laxity?
Despite several reports, the publisher would be content to contact them.
I testified on the Idoko platform by referring directly to a case that a colleague had already reported and I never had an answer, no other question, nothing (note, Idoko is one of the anonymous reporting platforms)
[…]I’ve been fetishized for my race. Not only were they late for the appointment, but they also failed to properly follow up on my case.
After the turbulence of 2020, several tools have emerged to address the lack of confidence mentioned in the group’s human resources. At Ubisoft Montreal, it was creating an email address “Respect from Ubisoft” to centralize complaints and a Whispli platform. Each unit has its own set of tools that make the whole thing opaque enough to make employees feel like they are drowning the initiative in bureaucratic twists and turns.
In addition, the assessment of the complaints submitted seems to contain a quantitative term. In fact, a company official allegedly told an employee who reported three incidents that this was not enough to constitute sexual harassment. The Asian employee in question should have experienced this harassment throughout the rest of his adventure in the studio. Generalization of assertions such as “You Asians, you all look the same “ come from his superiors to privately receive their compliments on his work and to endure the bullying as soon as it has been given by the public.
Different name, same default
Relay Expert Conseil is the name of the external body commissioned after the events of summer 2020. Unfortunately, Kotaku’s article is not friendly to the organization. In fact, the company seems to function more like Ubisoft’s HR department, including Tara. Despite several emails and calls from this agent, the only response was silence. Just weeks later there was a terse response announcing that no investigation will be conducted without explanation.
Finally, the final legal recourse was the resignation email addressed to the hierarchy including Yves Guillemot. The result was not what you expected:
Guillemot didn’t respond, but Lidwine Vernet Sauer, the newly appointed Head of Corporate Culture, responded, writing that she would take Valérie’s case back and refer it to Raashi Sikka, who was recently named Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion. Several interviews followed, including one with Sauer and Sikka, which ultimately led to nothing.
The saddest part certainly comes from the responses from the group’s veterans, who are utterly helpless in the face of the situation. According to them, the problem is cyclical and eternal:
[…]The same thing happens every few years, I’ve reported things N times, with witnesses and evidence, and either nothing has been done or Person X has been promoted or transferred. It’s sad, and if it’s a deliberate way of burying these things, it works.
Some evoke a generational and cultural problem that is far from stopping. So deeply rooted in the staff of the studio that only a 360 ° rotation could have an effect.
No matter how the director of Ubisoft wants things to change, the problems we will run into for a long time are that those in power – directors, managers – are old-fashioned, so the problems keep creeping up even with the best of intentions a . to produce.
The question remains unchanged: does Ubisoft even have the will to do it differently?
