Ubisoft discusses other corporate culture changes

Ubisoft has given an update on how it is trying to improve its company culture after allegations of widespread abuse, discrimination and harassment were made two years ago.

In a blog post last week, Chief People Officer Anika Grant and Vice President for Global Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility Raashi Sikka detailed new initiatives the publisher of Assassin’s Creed will soon roll out to better support its 20,000 employees.

The first is a global self-identification program that invites employees to confidentially and voluntarily disclose additional information about themselves, including gender identity, race, ethnicity, and any disabilities.

Sikka said the information will be used to “help us understand each person’s experience from a much broader perspective and allow us to take actions that are genuinely supportive of our colleagues.”

The company also hinted at a new initiative called Project Rise, which aims to improve representation of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity.

This is a five-year strategy “to ensure Ubisoft better reflects the diversity of our players” and will focus on further improvements in recruitment, internal talent development and the development of the external talent pipeline.

Elsewhere in the post, Sikka and Grant reiterated some of the other changes Ubisoft has made over the past year, including the recently created inclusive games and content team tasked with improving diversity and inclusion in its titles of the Editor and a diversity and inclusion training program aimed directly at HR and leaders.

The company reported that it also now has a dedicated neurodiversity program as part of recruitment and HR, and that a global employee resource group is meeting with CEO Yves Guillemot to discuss other ways to help Ubisoft improve.

Ubisoft also said there was a big focus on gender equality, noting that in the last fiscal year the global gender pay gap narrowed from 1.7% to 1.3% across the company.

“It’s good progress,” Grant said, “but we’re not done yet.”

Sikka added that women now make up 25% of all employees – up from 22% in 2020 – while 42% of the Executive Committee and 45% of the Board of Directors are also women. A third of all new hires in the last 12 months were also women.

The update is the latest in a series of efforts Ubisoft has made to clear up allegations dating back to 2020.

However, A Better Ubisoft — a group made up of current and former employees — remains committed to more effort, speaking out in an interview with Assassin’s Creed fan group AC Sisterhood this week.

Eight people from A Better Ubisoft commented on the company’s progress, all under pseudonyms. While they recognize there have been some positive changes – citing ongoing D&I workshops, more women receiving promotions and raises, and more diverse teams – they claim these aren’t reflected in every studio that Ubisoft around the world world has.

The group also insists that while Ubisoft has fired some abusers and allowed others to quietly resign or retire, others remain at large within the company. Some of them have reportedly been moved to new roles or different studios, and some have even been promoted.

A member added that some of the people who “were directly responsible for dismissing complaints and protecting offenders for many years, despite the replacement of key human resource managers, remain in office today”.

“We have personally filed complaints against these people,” the source continued. “Some of us have witnessed and experienced abuse from them. Not only do we think it’s still happening, we can see it for ourselves.”

Ubisoft responded to the interview with a statement from Grant, saying: “Ubisoft was quick to respond to the allegations that surfaced in 2020 and since then we have made great strides in our commitment to creating a workplace where everyone feels safe, valued and feel respected.”

Expanding on many of the changes mentioned above and in the Ubisoft post, Grant added: “We are committed to continuing to have an open and honest dialogue with all our employees and to ensuring that their feedback can help improve our global HR.” -Shape strategies and initiatives.

“As we look to the future, we are committed to putting diversity and inclusion at the core of everything we do. To lead this work, we have created a strong and growing Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility team with responsibility for including everyone at Ubisoft on this journey and ensuring it is a strategic priority at all levels of our organization, from our teams to our games.”