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An internal investigation by the Paradox Interactive unions revealed an alleged culture of abuse within the company, known to develop great strategy games such as Crusader Kings. Of the 133 Paradox employees who responded to the survey, 44% said they had experienced abuse, ranging from bullying to gender discrimination.
This is from a leaked document made public by Swedish tech website Breakit, although RPS saw a copy of the summary of the results and a union representative verified the authenticity of the document for us.
The survey was carried out last month by Unionen and SACO, Paradox Interactive’s two main unions, regarding working conditions in the Swedish part of the company. The results affirm that 69% of the women and 33% of the respondents have suffered ill-treatment during their stay in the company.
He further asserts that “abuse is a systemic and all-too-common problem at Paradox”, and that “high-profile perpetrators are seen as protected by the company”, creating a “culture of silence”.
While the survey results paint an unsavory picture of working conditions at Paradox, it should be noted that this was not a broad legal investigation into the culture of the company, but a action organized by union representatives. A representative from Unionen and CESO told us via email that the survey was only sent out to union members and Paradox staff in their union channel Slack. It is also difficult to determine when the alleged ill-treatment took place, as the investigation focused on the time spent by staff members at Paradox.
Nonetheless, the results of the investigation warrant further investigation, and it appears to be the next step for the company. The union representative informed us that, although it was not announced internally, Paradox was planning a “third party audit”, which they had specifically suggested to HR when they presented the results to them.
“As union members, we think it’s a good idea as long as we’re involved in the process,” they told us. “We believe our involvement is necessary to ensure that our members can trust the results, the interpretation of the results and the choice of questions.”
A spokesperson for Paradox Interactive told us, “The management team have worked hard to reconcile the informal investigation with our own internal research and are eager to act. Paradox is now in the process of bringing in an external, neutral company to conduct an in-depth audit of our processes and an in-depth employee survey. ”
“This will help us advance our efforts to all of the topics we’ve worked to improve over the past few years – harassment and abuse will be paramount among these, but we’ll also be looking at topics such as impartial hiring and compensation. , continuing awareness of prejudice, inclusion and more, ”they added.
This came out at an odd time for Paradox. Last week, the company’s CEO Ebba Ljungerud resigned, and former CEO Fredrik Wester stepped in to reprise his old role. The union representative told us that the investigation and Ljungerud’s departure were, however, unrelated and that they had no reason to believe there was a link.
It also comes a year after our own investigation into Paradox’s working conditions, in which current and former staff alleged mistreatment, low wages and mismanaged layoffs.
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