Media: “nothing has changed” at Ubisoft, despite personnel changes after the harassment scandal

GamesIndustry portal.

biz drew attention to a new investigation by the French publication Le Télégramme, which was published in early May. It is dedicated to the situation at Ubisoft and whether something has changed in the company for almost a year.

The main conclusions from the investigation

• The director of the HR department, Cecile Cornet, officially resigned in July last year amid massive accusations of harassment within Ubisoft. However, all this time she remained in the company.Cornet quit only recently when a replacement was found for her in the person of HR director Anika Grant, who had previously worked at Uber for three years.
• From the same company, Raashi Sikka came to Ubisoft — she took the position of vice president for Global diversity and inclusivity.According to the representative of the Socio-Economic Committee of Ubisoft, these appointments will not change the corporate culture for the better in any way.
• The fact is that the HR department employees who covered the allegations of harassment and inappropriate behavior are still working for the company.Ubisoft’s management also covers individual managers against whom charges have been made.
• This concerns, for example, Florent Castelnérac, the head of the Nadeo studio, who allegedly harassed dozens of employees.Some managers were simply transferred to other positions.
• For example, Hugues Ricour resigned as head of Ubisoft’s Singapore branch back in November, but still works for the company.According to Le Télégramme, “nothing has changed” in the Canadian offices of Ubisoft.
• Last July, the studio in Montreal was headed by Christophe Derennes, who turned out to be the cousin of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Since his appointment, several other employees have filed complaints of harassment, but they were silenced as a result.In recent months, Ubisoft employees have proposed various initiatives to solve the corporate crisis.
• One of the measures was aimed at hiring more women. However, the company’s management did not consider such proposals.However, Ubisoft has indeed taken a number of positive measures.
• For example, in the summer the company will update its charter — in particular, any form of harassment in it will now be officially banned.Also, after the July crisis, 20 thousand Ubisoft employees underwent special trainings, and managers received new instructions on imposing responsibility for inappropriate actions.
• However, some employees claim that the management refuses to conduct such trainings regularly, including for new employees.An official representative of Ubisoft said in a comment to GamesIndustry.

biz that the company has already made major changes to its internal processes and is trying to guarantee employees a safe and inclusive working environment.

Among the main measures are independent investigations, the introduction of anonymous harassment reporting tools and mandatory training. Ubisoft also notes the positive contribution of new managers in the person of Grant, Sikka and Lidwine Sauer, who took the post of head of the corporate culture department.

Recall that in July last year, a number of Ubisoft employees were accused of harassment and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. In response, Yves Guillemot promised to take a number of measures to permanently eradicate such cases and improve corporate culture.

The first hearing in connection with the class action lawsuit against Ubisoft is also due to take place in May. Employees of the company who spoke out against harassment will be represented by the Solidaires Informatique Jeu Vidéo trade union.