Ubisoft 2006 Annual Report Download - page 51

THE GROUP'S ACTIVITY AND RESULTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006-2007
39
1
Country Employees Employees Employees
at 03.31.07 at 03.31.06 at 03.31.05
North America 1,923 1,795 1,431
Europe and North Africa 1,600 1,188 1,175
Asia-Pacific 411 458 366
Total 3,934 3,441 2,972
Distribution of staff by region
Distribution of staff by activity (1)
(1) These include only permanent employees. The total number of employees therefore excludes trainees and temporary employees: intermittent and short-term
staff.
A motivating,
friendly work
environment
1.4.1.1 Direct communication
involving each individual in the
company’s day-to-day life
The teams are regularly informed of the company’s stra-
tegy and new developments in several ways: a group por-
tal, local intranets, a monthly group newsletter, internal
meetings at all the subsidiaries and team workshops.
An in-house survey is conducted every two years, on ave-
rage, to poll all employees on the company’s main strate-
gic choices and to determine the teams’ level of
satisfaction (80% participation in the most recent survey
conducted in April 2007). Initiatives and programs are put
in place based on the survey results and are made known
to employees at regular intervals.
1.4.1.2 Teams with a wide range of
profiles
By definition, the process of creating a game implies
strong collaboration among the teams involved, since all
technical and artistic areas interact from start to finish.
The diversity of the employees’ profiles is, in fact, one of
the strengths of the company, where multiculturalism and
open-mindedness are part of everyday life:
there are some 30 job categories at Ubisoft, ranging
from creative personnel to programmers, game des-
igners and product managers, all of whom are united
through their passion and shared objectives;
Ubisoft’s teams work in 22 countries, which means that
the group boasts at least as many different nationalities.
Since video games are products that continue to appeal
primarily to men, it makes sense that women represent
only 20% of Ubisoft’s employees (versus 80% for men). It
should be noted, however, that women account for 39% of
senior management and 41% of business personnel.
1.4.1.3 Close contact and a
friendly environment
Ubisoft is committed to ensuring close contact among its
employees by implementing, as much as possible, reasona-
bly-sized structures (85% of the sites have fewer than 200
employees), with HR managers who are in touch with the
staff and team managers who are available to their team
members.
More generally, the friendliness of the work environment
continues to be a strong point of the group’s culture, as
noted by 94% of the group’s employees during the last in-
house survey.
With regard to working conditions, Ubisoft complies with
all statutory requirements related to health and safety at
its establishments. In addition, employees are subject to
limited occupational hazards.
Valuing performance
and autonomy
1.4.2.1 Individual Autonomy and
Initiative
Employees enjoy a high degree of autonomy in their work,
as demonstrated by the results of the last in-house survey,
in which 91% indicated that they could take initiative in
their day-to-day work.
Employee autonomy is also encouraged through the gra-
dual implementation of IT systems that include user-
accessible web tools at all subsidiaries to allow employees
to manage their own absences, expense accounts, profes-
sional data and so on.
Activity At 03.31.07 At 03.31.06 At 03.31.05
Production 3,194 2,729 2,274
Business 740 712 698
Total 3,934 3,441 2,972
1.4.1
1.4.2