After allowing sexual harassment to run rampant.
In a perfect world Human Resources would exist for something other than covering management’s behind and sweeping issues of sexual harassment under the rug. Ubisoft does not exist in a perfect world. Over the past few weeks we have seen a near constant flow of claims of sexual harassment and misconduct coming from the various Ubisoft offices. In fact the number has swelled to well over 100 employees coming forward with claims of harassment according to an investigation by French newspaper Liberation.
You might think that the HR department that hasn’t so much passively sat by and allowed this culture of abuse to go on unchallenged as they have apparently actively encouraged managers to assault female employees, would keep their heads down and their mouths shut lest they make things worse. According to a translated version of the full article by Liberation, the HR department over at Ubisoft has actually threatened to quit if they are not exonerated by CEO Yves Guillemot.
During a video conference with the HR departments of the different entities present in more than 30 countries with more than 18,000 employees, the 90 human resources managers attended a speech, which was described as “ubuesque” (“ludicrous”) as one of Liberation’s witnesses.
Romane adds to this by saying, “The head of HR of Ubisoft Montreal intervenes and says, ‘These articles are unfair, and if Yves [Guillemot, the CEO,] does not make a public statement to exonerate HR, it’s simple, I leave Ubisoft with half of my team.’”
Yes the same department that has allegedly for years been covering up workplace toxicity and abuse is now claiming to be the victim in all of this publicity. The same HR department that allowed rampant abuse to boil over and has now resulted in not only a major PR disaster for the company but a massive list of investigations, layoffs, probes, firings, and likely legal action against the company and the senior management that allowed it all to happen or even actively participated in the abuse. Really nobody is considering their feelings.
Perhaps Ubisoft would be better off in the long run letting them quit.
Source: Spieltimes
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