On September 11, a lot of the over 4,000 workers at Ubisoft Montreal returned to workplace in Montreal’s Mile Finish for the primary time in three years. However hardly anybody appears pleased about it, and plenty of are livid at what they’re calling damaged guarantees from Ubisoft management.
Since Ubisoft Montreal introduced that workers could be returning to the workplace starting September 11, the studio’s intranet has been lighting up with posts starting from delicate concern to outright anger. IGN has seen quite a lot of feedback on the state of affairs throughout a number of Ubisoft inside postings, together with over 270 feedback on the announcement publish alone – nearly all of which have been unfavorable.
Lots of the feedback listing quite a few points workers have traditionally had working from the workplace earlier than as causes to not return: noisy calls in an open workplace, elevated bills, and an absence of enough gear or lodging. However the anger additionally runs deeper than the inherent issues with returning to the workplace. Amid a wider firm tradition of layoffs, recreation cancellations, and abuse allegations, this mandated workplace return appears to be the ultimate straw for quite a lot of workers who really feel that Ubisoft administration’s indifference to its employees has gone on lengthy sufficient.
Damaged Guarantees
Ubisoft’s overarching return to workplace plan throughout all its studios was first kicked off in the summertime of 2021, roughly coinciding with widespread availability of the primary vaccines in opposition to the COVID-19 pandemic. However in Montreal, the place Far Cry 6, Curler Champions, For Honor, and a number of Murderer’s Creed video games have been made, workers inform IGN that the corporate’s publicly touted plan merely…by no means occurred.
As an alternative, they are saying they have been reassured repeatedly over two years that they might stay 100% distant long-term, with many workers making main life choices and even accepting job gives assuming they might earn a living from home for the foreseeable future. IGN has seen quite a lot of paperwork circulated on the corporate intranet over the previous couple of years that appear to again up this perception. In a single instance, Ubisoft guarantees a “hybrid, versatile working surroundings” the place “100% distant work will likely be doable relying on numerous standards, comparable to productiveness and impression on the group, in addition to the character of the work being finished.”
However now that’s altering. Starting September 11, 2023, Montreal workers are anticipated to work a minimal of two days every week out of the workplace. The requirement is obligatory for all workers, with exemptions solely made for workers with specific wants “as soon as all different options have been explored.”
The announcement instantly sparked anger throughout the studio, with posts on the corporate’s intranet itemizing quite a few points workers have traditionally had working from the workplace earlier than as causes to not return: noisy calls in an open workplace, transit prices, and an absence of enough gear or lodging for particular accessibility wants and dealing types. A handful of workers introduced up the standard of the Montreal workplace particularly, mentioning previous points comparable to leaks, rats, bugs, and dearth of typical workplace perks comparable to free espresso. A number of raised well being considerations, citing ongoing fears in regards to the unfold of COVID-19. And lots of builders accused Ubisoft of breaking its guarantees round 100% work-from-home, with a number of workers saying they’d both accepted a job at Ubisoft or made a serious life change (comparable to shopping for a home outdoors of Montreal) believing it was a everlasting coverage.
One key theme in lots of feedback is a broader lack of belief within the firm to supply good working situations and preserve its guarantees over time. It’s been three years for the reason that firm was rocked with allegations of a poisonous work surroundings, however some workers have publicly claimed these allegations have but to be sufficiently addressed. On prime of that, the corporate has now finished a number of rounds of layoffs simply this yr amid a lot wider monetary cuts, cancelled quite a lot of each introduced and unannounced video games, and seen a number of others launch and underperform. With that a lot chaos so readily obvious externally, it’s unsurprising {that a} Montreal return-to-office renege is serving as the ultimate straw for a lot of.
A number of workers have gone so far as to invest that the change was successfully a gentle layoff on the a part of Ubisoft in an effort to assuage mentioned current monetary woes. By introducing an unpopular coverage, they urged, Ubisoft may push workers to give up and scale back headcount with out having to pay severance or take care of different potential monetary drawbacks of a mass layoff.
A number of commenters identified that Ubisoft Montreal has lengthy had agreements with the Quebec and Montreal governments to convey jobs and foot visitors to Montreal, in return for vital tax credit which have pushed wider business development within the province. However this system has traditionally been a controversial one, and its deserves might be beneath scrutiny once more amid Montreal’s wider struggles to rejuvenate its downtown post-pandemic and a broader pattern in employee disinterest in return to workplace.
“The weblog publish cited issues like ‘Ubisoft tradition’ and ‘collaboration’ as the explanations we would have liked to return to the workplace, however by no means as soon as defined what issues an absence of this stuff had brought on, or what steps had been taken to alleviate them earlier than turning to RTO as the answer, or what sort of adjustments administration expects to see because of RTO and the way we’re to measure the success of this plan,” one worker informed IGN. “The shortage of substance about why we’re doing this and the way can we all know if it is working has led lots of people to consider the explanations we’re being given are lies and the administration are afraid to say the actual causes out loud.”’
An Imminent Exodus?
Whereas workers are being inspired to talk with particular person managers for lodging, Ubisoft’s inside documentation has implied that exemptions “will solely be thought-about as soon as all different options have been explored.” In the meantime, a number of workers IGN spoke to have attested that Ubisoft’s system for locating these options isn’t working nicely to date. One mentioned that workers who’ve been utilizing standing desks or different particular gear from dwelling are unable to get what they want in-office with out “a battle and 20 physician’s notes”.
What’s extra, the lodging system appears to be bottlenecking rapidly as a consequence of a flood of requests, and never sufficient individuals to meet them. One other particular person famous that Ubisoft leaders seem like delegating accountability managing worker frustration to center managers, who appear largely powerless to deal with the anger.
IGN reached out to Ubisoft for touch upon this story, and acquired the next assertion in response:
Like many corporations in leisure and tech, we’re asking our colleagues to come back again to the workplace for key moments recognized by every group. We’re satisfied that the synergy, in-person discussions, fast iterations, and a way of belonging that occurs extra in particular person will assist us be simpler and agile collectively, and obtain our enterprise objectives.
First introduced early in June, the hybrid mode goes into place on Monday, September 11, and we’re accompanying our colleagues by means of these adjustments, giving them extra flexibility over the following eight weeks or extra to adapt. Open and ongoing conversations along with in depth particular person lodging and preparations are at present underway to ease this transition and the impression on everybody’s well-being, which stays our precedence to proceed to ship nice video games.
Whereas it stays to be seen how the unpopular return to Ubisoft Montreal’s workplace will impression the studio long-term, one doable mannequin might be discovered over at Blizzard. Like Ubisoft, Blizzard has equally been embroiled in a collection of very public upheavals over its work tradition, seen a wave of worker collective motion, and laid off lots of over the previous couple of years. After which, like Ubisoft, Blizzard instituted its personal equally unpopular pressured return-to-office earlier this yr. So what occurred to Blizzard? Effectively, based on Blizzard builders on social media, the RTO coverage resulted in a mass exodus of expertise so impactful that at one level that the corporate was creating “disaster maps” of what it may and couldn’t ship with the individuals it had left.
Whether or not or not Ubisoft will observe swimsuit stays to be seen, although quite a lot of worker feedback implied and even outright acknowledged that the coverage change had sparked them to search for work elsewhere. Latest historical past, too, signifies that workers are fed as much as the purpose of departure. [Update: Ubisoft reached out post-publication to note that Ubisoft rehired 600 former employees in fiscal 2021-22.] With Ubisoft as an organization greedy for a return to type after a number of gross sales disappointments, delays, and cancellations, one wonders how for much longer it might probably afford to enrage and upset its largest and most prolific growth studio.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
