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"We strongly believe that our team members are the core reason behind Ubisoft’s ability to deliver great games," Desiree Tan, Director, Human Resources, expresses.
In a year where many in the game industry are downsizing and restructuring, Ubisoft Singapore has been at the forefront of upskilling and retraining our team members. As the team strongly believes in bringing people together its HR and people strategy has been instrumental in driving it success this year on multiple fronts.
With an approach of creating a positive and fun work environment that fosters strong team engagement, Ubisoft Singapore has implemented various strategies and wellness initiatives to achieve a healthy and happy team.
In fact, this year, it continued a second run of its women leadership programme to develop female team members into future leaders. At the same time, it also encourages team members who are in between projects to learn a new skill, or to take up mentoring and training other team members.
Ubisoft emerged as a finalist for Excellence in Women Empowerment Strategy at the HR Excellence Awards 2023, Singapore.
In this interview, Desiree Tan, Director, Human Resources, Ubisoft Singapore, talks about the initiatives that made this journey possible.
Q Congratulations on your top performance at the HR Excellence Awards! How has your HR and people strategy contributed to your success this year?
At Ubisoft Singapore, we aim to bring people together, and to allow everyone to learn and grow. The studio continuously strives to strengthen a welcoming culture where our team members feel appreciated, proud and recognised.
Our HR and people strategy has been instrumental in driving our success this year on multiple fronts.
Our approach has always been on creating a positive and fun work environment that fosters strong team engagement, development pathways for all expertise and an inclusive culture centered around well-being so that team members can be at their best.
To achieve this objective, various strategies and wellness initiatives were put into place to achieve a healthy and happy team. We have a total wellness programme with monthly initiatives rolled out covering the physical, mental, social, and financial aspects. We also have special interest communities in the studio to connect fellow enthusiasts and organise activities – providing opportunities to explore new hobbies or skills team members have been meaning to try.
This year, we continued a second run of our women leadership programme, PowerUp, catered for the female team members to develop them into future leaders. The five-months programme supports our female talents through unique challenges and aims to build confidence in an historically under-represented group.
Q Looking back at your achievements, what aspect of your HR initiatives are you most proud of and why?
Reflecting on our achievements, there is a particular highlight in our HR initiatives that I am most proud of. We strongly believe that our team members are the core reason behind Ubisoft’s ability to deliver great games. In a year where many in the industry are downsizing and restructuring, Ubisoft Singapore has been at the forefront of upskilling and retraining our team members.
When we have team members in between projects, we encourage them to learn a new skill, take part in innovation projects or to take up mentoring and training other team members. As a result, many team members feel rejuvenated in being part of the industry and our studio, eventually moving into their next role or project with an even greater sense of purpose and commitment.
Q During your HR journey, what were some significant obstacles you faced, and how did you overcome them to achieve excellence?
Some significant obstacles that we faced recently were talent shortages and remote work transition.
Attracting top talent in a highly competitive job market was a major challenge.
Although the game industry is developing steadily in Singapore, it is still an emerging industry, and we need to balance between attracting industry veterans from overseas and grooming local young talent.
We addressed this by refining our employer brand, emphasiaing our unique workplace culture, partnering with more tertiary institutions in Singapore, and leveraging team member referrals to tap into hidden talent pools.
The shift to remote work during the pandemic presented challenges in terms of team engagement and communication. We saw the need to draw our teams back to the studio, where a lot of teaching and mentoring happens. The nature of our industry involves spontaneous sparks of innovation, this could be a discussion in the pantry, to desk huddles in prototyping a new feature, or going on field trips in the park behind our studio for art inspiration in our games. As a result, we rolled out a hybrid work arrangement late last year, to balance the need for flexibility, while reigniting the studio culture that was sorely missed by our colleagues.
Q How does your organisation measure the success and impact of your HR initiatives?
In our organisation, we use various ways to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of our HR initiatives. However, I would say that the team member’s feedback and voice carries the most value. We often engage in dialogue with our team members to understand their thoughts and feedback for improvement. For PowerUp, we also saw the commitment from the women who went through the programme. They came together and started the Women Employee Resource Group (ERG) in our studio, hosting bi-monthly gatherings covering various topics from confidence building to goals setting together. For other engagement and wellness programmes, we also look at participation rates.
We had a studio Wellness and Clubs carnival recently in July, where more than 300 team members participated in the half-day programme. By marrying both quantitative and qualitative data, we can utilise all feedback to continuously improve our HR initiatives and drive more impact.
Q In what direction do you see the HR/people function evolving in the future, considering the emerging trends?
It’s all about developing adaptive, empathetic, and authentic leaders who can lead teams through rapid change and ambiguity. There’s been an increased emphasis on the team member experience, or what I would call 'Moments that Matter'. With a combined effort from managers, leaders, and HR in the organisation, we can create more positive moments that matter.
Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets section!
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