Ubisoft Management Are Happy Where They Are; Staff Aren’t

Part of me says you’d have to be blind to miss what Ubisoft employees are asking, but if I am honest, I am sure anyone partially sighted could still point out the issues that plague the company. Nonetheless, the recently appointed “Chief People Officer,” which sounds like the title given to that annoying holiday rep that wants to sing songs on the bus to the hotel, Anika Grant had a bit of a chat with Stephen Totilo of Axios recently. Of course, Grant wouldn’t be Ubisoft’s HR lead if she didn’t say that since joining the company in April of this year, that a lot has been done. Though, it has not been all sunshine and rainbows.

Since Grant joined, we’ve seen a slew of allegations and heavy legal cases emerge from Activision-Blizzard this year, which in turn rolled up the volume of those at Ubisoft seeking improvements. Understandably so given all that has been levied against the company. It was only a few short months ago a group of employees from Ubisoft were reaching out to those walking out of Activision-Blizzard, offering support and generally seeking for an alliance to call for better conditions in the overall games industry. Now a group, clearly in reference to the ABetterABK group, called ABetterUbisoft state what they want and claim to not have a seat at the table.

#ABetterUbisoft #EndAbuseInGaming pic.twitter.com/KtcPHAWq57

— ABetterUbisoft (@ABetterUbisoft) November 5, 2021

In the interview Axois had with Grant, she notes that while the initial news breaking and the number of investigations were supposedly being handled, the way in which they were didn’t communicate what was found within the company’s investigations. In Grant’s words, “unfortunately, people lost trust in that process.” Though, as we’ve seen multiple times with Ubisoft and is being reported by ABetterUbisoft, high-ranking employees who are under investigation are often shuffled around from studio to studio or department to department. Grant went on to say the communication issues are “something right now we are 100% focused on fixing.”

The interview went on to be a little broader, noting that the company has passed its 2023 goal of having 24% of its employees be women. That goal was surpassed in August with 32% of its hires being women. That is all fine. Chime a bell for what you doing well, but that only goes so far when employees of your company are continuing to ask for the most basic action of you: Such as a seat at the table, and a halt to the program of shuffling those with allegations around the company. The Chief People Officer might be happy where the company is at, but employees apparently aren’t.