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Ubisoft’s toxic culture will not change following the departure of people like Tommy François, Maxime Béland, and Serge Hascoët, according to a report from Business Insider.
CEO Yves Guillemot has publicly acknowledged that the company has “fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees.” After an outpouring of stories accusing employees of sexual harassment and misconduct were shared on social media, Ubisoft has launched an internal investigation into these claims and removed François, Béland, Hascoët, and Ashraf Ismail and Yannis Mallat. However, former and present employees at Ubisoft believe that these dismissals won’t be enough to rid the offices of its problematic perspectives.
One former editorial employee claims that the “boys club” culture is entrenched from “top to bottom.” When she entered the office or the open-plan editorial floor, there were comments from male employees about “how my hair was, how I was dressed, if it was good or not, how my body was.” She said that she was scared to wear high heels or wear dresses, and too scared to drink at work events. A number of sources speaking to Business Insider corroborated these stories, and some added that they have sought out counselling after their time at Ubisoft.
Chelsea O’Hara, who worked at Ubisoft Toronto from 2016 to 2018, said she was “super pessimistic” regarding the company’s potential for radical change. “Removing a few directors—that’s just PR,” explained O’Hara. “You are going to have to upend the entire foundation of that company.” A former Ubisoft Canada employee said that the departure of editorial staff is a “great start, but only a start,” and another former Ubisoft Paris employee said that he was cautious about what will happen next. “Now Ubisoft needs to do a profound change to its systems, not just remove a few visible figures,” he agreed. “Can they do it? I don’t know. Habits die hard.”
This employee also shared his thoughts on Guillemot’s response to the allegations, who claimed that these “toxic behaviours” are something he has never tolerated. “In my 10 years in Ubisoft I have come to really like Yves… but he’s too nice and loyal with people who have been there since the beginning, and overlooks a lot of nasty things as a result,” said the former employee. Ubisoft declined to comment when approached about this Business Insider report, and offered its recent public statements from Guillemot.
