Ubisoft President responds to Vortex staff letter
A response from the company’s president came to yesterday’s letter from Ubisoft employees, in which they expressed support for the people of Activision Blizzard and indicated that their employer had not taken any significant steps to improve the workplace situation in the past year. In his statement, Yves Guillemot confirmed that the management was dealing with the comments and complaints of employees in all seriousness, summarizing what had changed in Ubisoft and outlining the direction that the new internal initiatives would take.
“The letter, which expressed strong support for Activision Blizzard developers and called for far-reaching changes across our industry, also criticized Ubisoft and our corporate culture. We have dealt with it at the management level and we take all the issues very seriously, “says Yves Guillemot at the beginning of his letter. Immediately afterwards, he reiterates his personal commitment to make Ubisoft a safe place to work and to promote changes that also have a long-term impact. Yves Guillemot also lists what has changed in Ubisoft over the past 12 months, and the process is similar to that offered by his Activision counterpart, Bobby Kotick.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot emailed all employees today about yesterday’s open letter:
„We have heard clearly from this letter that not everyone is confident in the processes that have been put in place to manage misconduct reports“ pic.twitter.com/P6T22vS5cL
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) July 29, 2021
It is an implementation of an anonymous system for reporting any inappropriate behavior in the workplace. In addition, recruitment processes have been modified across all Ubisoft studies and changes in the operation of the human resources department. All of this should be a prevention against any discrimination, harassment, but also any form of retaliation that some ordinary employees may expect from their superiors if they complain. “These are important steps that will move us forward, but everything will take a lot of time and there is still a lot ahead of us,” Guillemot explained.
He also wants to confirm to all employees that he deals with their problems on a personal level and recalls more than 300 meetings with 1,500 employees, which were supposed to improve the situation, as well as a company-wide audit addressing all the above issues. According to Guillemot, a special questionnaire will be launched before the end of 2021, in which employees will evaluate the past months of working conditions, but also the functioning of the Employee Resource Group – a group that has the opportunity to come up with their own ideas and initiatives to improve the situation. “You can contact me in person or talk to managers. I and the entire management team are committed to building a better Ubisoft for all of us, ”concludes Guillemot.
Some commentators call for the same approach as in Activision Blizzard, a protest march and a clear indication that it is something poorly.
However, the words of President Ubisoft are in direct conflict with what current and former employees signed under the letter think. They express concern about whether long-term change is really taking place, wondering why they were out of place leave only those who have been the most glaring examples of inappropriate behavior and do not understand what else Ubisoft wants to do to improve the situation. Some commentators call for the same approach as in Activision Blizzard, a protest march and a clear indication that it is something Wrong, others then even want a complete change of leadership, including the CEO. But no matter how the situation in Ubisoft develops, it is already certain that the case around Activision can be a trigger for change, which can be very extensive and change the whole industry. In the United States, there is pressure to form unions, which companies are understandably resisting, but the events of the last few days may go the other way.
