The world is currently battling a pandemic and a lot of people are worried about our current situation. I understand that a lot of people are unsure of what will happen now that the world is currently in isolation but fear not, things will get better. It’s normal to feel stressed out right now, everyone is feeling the weight of the situation (except Vanessa Hudgens it seems) and employers are pressed to isolate their workers in most industries.
Stand up guy Yves Guillemot, the CEO of Ubisoft, sent a message to his team, which was obtained by Kotaku and it’s exactly the type of energy we all need today. A lot of people working at Ubisoft are now self-quarantined and working from home and while the idea certainly is nice, working at home can only be so entertaining.
Luckily, Yves Guillemot is making other CEOs look like fools (looking at you Bobby Kotick) and reading his letter certainly brightened up my day, it’s a testament that he cars about his employees and their well-being.
Dear everyone,
We are now in a pandemic, with far-reaching effects on our daily lives. At this exceptional juncture, it is essential that we take special care of ourselves and our loved ones. The health and well-being of Ubisoft team members is our primary concern, and we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that all of you are safe and get the right support through these demanding changes. In particular, we have been encouraging all of our collaborators to work from the safety of their homes since the end of last week.
Across Ubisoft, people are going above and beyond to adapt to this unprecedented event. My warm thanks go to both your local and global management teams, who have done such remarkable work in implementing the required preventative measures, in line with recommendations from national authorities and the World Health Organization. I also want to commend the proactivity of our teams who have gone to great lengths to provide us with solutions to work from home under the best possible conditions, thus ensuring the continuity of our operations.
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As for the potential impact of the pandemic on our business, not only do we have sufficient cash reserves to take us through the storm, and Ubisoft’s international scope and our collaborative spirit also put us in a position to redeploy some our activities away from affected regions if needs be. Moreover, our core business – video games – enables us to offer a meaningful contribution to all those who currently seek enjoyable ways of spending their time within the confinement of their homes.
This is an unforeseen challenge that requires all of us to be even more caring, thoughtful, agile and resilient. Everyone has a role to play, and this includes taking the necessary precautions to protect ourselves and people around us. I believe we can learn a great deal from our teams in China, who have faced the same trials a few weeks before us: the experience of our Chinese friends give us hope in showing that responsible behaviour and pro-active public health measures can lead us out of the crisis.
We will continue to provide you with regular updates as we move forward. Your local managers and I are also available should you have questions or concerns. In the meantime, please take care of yourself.
Yves
Thanks, Yves, you’ve always made a lasting impression on me and the way you treat your staff should inspire other CEOs to follow suit and guide their employees through this pandemic.
