Labor Rights Body Gives All-Clear for Ubisoft Singapore

The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) has finished investigating Ubisoft Singapore and its claims of workplace misconduct and pay inequity. According to the third-party labor rights body, Ubisoft Singapore has structured systems to properly handle misconduct and harassment, as well as a salary system based on performance.

The whole of Ubisoft has been dealing with the fallout from issues of misconduct and harassment for about a year and a half now. However, Ubisoft Singapore was brought into the limelight after an exposé by Kotaku in which current and former employees described the studio as “one of the worst Ubisoft studios in terms of culture.” Those interviewed cited issues such as sexual harassment, bullying by managers, pay inequies that heavily favored the expats over local talent. This led to the TAFEP beginning an investigation into the studio last August. This morning, the labor rights body released the results of their investigation.

Skull and Bones, a game in development by Ubisoft Singapore.

As GamesIndustry.biz reports, TAFEP says that Ubisoft Singapore has a confidential channel for reporting misconduct, an audited Code of Fair Conduct, and has independent parties handle any reported issues. Issues that TAFEP says have been handled appropriately in the past. As for the claims of racial pay disparity, the studio brought in a third-party consultancy firm to review their pay structure, and that firm gave their finding to TAFEP, who did some additional research. TAFEP says that employee salaries are “performance-based” and that Ubisoft Singapore was able to justify their employee’s pay, with experience and seniority being the main reasons some employees were paid more. “We’ve put best practices in place at Ubisoft Singapore to ensure a safe, respectful, inclusive and equitable workplace for every member of our team,” managing director Darryl Long said. “We will continue striving to be an exemplary employer in Singapore and the region, one that attracts and retains the best talents and creates amazing games that enrich the lives of our players.”

Ubisoft Singapore has had a number of changes over the past few years, and hopefully with this report it means those

Ubisoft has been heavily criticized over allegations of sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture issues. These have led to executives leaving and Ubisoft saying it was making changes. Employees however have maintained that not much is happening over multiple years, leading to a French Union suing the company. Outside of covering these developing issues at the company, TechRaptor is not covering Ubisoft games at this time until the situation has improved for employees.

Labor Rights Body Gives All-Clear for Ubisoft Singapore
Source: Pinay Guide Blog