Ubisoft’s chief people officer addresses “misconduct crisis”, thinks company is now “on the right path”

The chief people officer of Ubisoft, Anika Grant, has spoken about what she described as the company’s “misconduct crisis”, and said that Ubisoft is now “on the right path” to recover from it. 

As GamesIndustry.biz reports, Grant acknowledged the so-called “crisis” during the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit last month, and spoke about what the company has been doing in order to address the issues that were raised in 2020 regarding alleged harassment and misconduct.

“HR was considered to be part of the problem,” she said. “As a result, we had lost the confidence of our teams. Confidence in us as a function, confidence in us as individuals and as a profession. So my first priority was to figure out how we could win back that trust.”

Grant explained that Ubisoft has set up a number of initiatives, including a new code of conduct, an improved internal reporting system, more training programs, and an employee relations team (including external professionals with experience of handling misconduct).

According to Grant, in the company’s 2022 employee survey, the responses to questions that tied into safe and respectful workplaces all saw large improvements on previous years, with the phrase “I am treated with respect and dignity” ranking as the second highest-scoring question on the survey.

“The work that’s needed to foster a safe and caring workspace is something that never really ends, and something that we continue to focus on and be invested in,” Grant said. “But at least for now, we’ve heard directly from our teams that we’re on the right path and that progress has been made.”

Last week, it was reported by French news outlet Libération (and spotted by Eurogamer) that five former Ubisoft staff members had been detained by police for questioning as part of an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the company. These reports surfaced a week after Grant spoke about the “misconduct crisis” at the GamesIndustry.biz HR Summit.

Ubisoft is arguably best known for publishing and developing the Assassin’s Creed games. If you’re a fan of the series, be sure to take a look at our ranking of the best Assassin’s Creed games. For more game recommendations, you can read our list of the best single-player games.