The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP), Singapore’s national workplace watchdog, has launched an investigation into Ubisoft’s local studio following allegations of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination.
As The Straits Times report, TAFEP began receiving its own anonymous reports late last month following the revelation that the studio’s office culture was so bad that:
“Ubisoft Singapore has always been kind of known [internally] to be one of the worst Ubisoft studios in terms of culture,” said one former developer at the publisher of Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry. “People would visit [from other studios] and be like, ‘What the fuck is wrong here?’”
TAFEP is now urging “anyone with knowledge of any criminal conduct such as sexual harassment and assault to immediately report such incidents to the police”. As a national watchdog, the organisation has the power to force Ubisoft Singapore to change its workplace policies, and “employers may be tasked to carry out an investigation through interviews with affected parties and witnesses, and to review documented evidence.”
The Straits Times report also says the results of the investigation can be dealt with in one of two ways. In cases where “sexual misconduct involves criminal offences such as molestation”, the police will be involved, while on issues of workplace discrimination Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower can take punitive measures such as blocking Ubisoft’s ability to apply for (or renew) its work permits for foreign staff for a period of 12-24 months (which would impact 60% of the studio’s “expert and senior expert roles”).
The investigation comes following reports that the company culture at Ubisoft Montreal, Toronto, Quebec, Montpelier, and the head Paris office have also been found to be rife with harassment.
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