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Earlier this year, many Ubisoft employees came forward on social media with a number of sexual harassment accusations about executives. Some of these individuals include Assassin’s Creed Valhalla‘s Creative Director Ashraf Ismail, former vice president of editorial Maxime Béland, former Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët, former Ubisoft Canadian studios head Tannis Mallat and former Global Head of HR Cécile Cornet. All were let go after the company performed an internal investigation.
Recently, current employees at Ubisoft received an email from the CEO Yves Guillemot discussing further changes to its sexual harassment guidelines. In the email, which Ubisoft, Guillemot explained, “the subsequent independent investigations, sharing that 2,000 employees participated in the listening sessions, 14,000 responded to anonymous surveys, 100 interviews were conducted, and 40 focus groups were held.”
As of last week, the company will be focusing on four major areas:
- Guarantee a working environment where everyone feels respected and safe.
- Putting diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
- Refocus and strengthen our HR function.
- Make the managers of the group accountable and empower them.
During its investigation, Ubisoft found that 25% of its employees had experienced or witnessed harassment in the past two years and that “1 in 5 do not feely fully respected or safe in the work environment.”
Ubisoft will provide specialized help and support for employees, along with mandatory anti-sexism and anti-harassment training going forward. Guillemot also mentioned that while Ubisoft has already taken action to punish those caught in the act, the Code of Conduct “will be revised and enforced going forward.” Ubisoft will also be adding new VP’s and Editorial members and is searching for a Head of Diversity and Inclusion.
“Some also expressed doubts about our ability to change,” says Guillemont. “I assure you, these changes will take place, and we will carry them out together.”
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