Paradox Report Notes Cases Of Harassment But Doesn’t Fire Anyone
Abuse allegations apparently didn’t warrant “legally permissible” employment termination.
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Paradox has published its third-party review of the company following allegations of sexual harassment and abuse that surfaced last year. A leaked internal survey previously reported that roughly half of employees and nearly 70% of women experienced some form of abusive treatment, while Swedish news media reported more specific and disturbing incidents.
Following the report, Paradox’s union requested a few by Gender Balance, a Swedish firm that specialized in gender discrimination issues. Paradox recently published its report noting that there were “relatively few severe cases” of harassment and that those cases did not warrant “termination of employment” under Swedish law.
“We believe that complete transparency is the best way to move forward and address the issues and behaviors that have been identified,” wrote Paradox chief of staff Mattias Lilja. “On February 7th 2022, Gender Balance delivered the final report and recommendations from their audit; it was shared with all Paradox employees shortly after, and we’re now publishing it.”
The report noted most cases of abusive behavior fell into a legal “grey zone” that defied current definitions but were still harmful for the victim. Those behaviors included “using harsh and demeaning language, ridicule, recurring mean-spirited criticism, unfairly questioning competence, interrupting or speaking over someone in meetings, and blaming and shaming.”
Most of the perpetrators were male employees or managers. Other behaviors noted were unsolicited comments on a female employee’s appearance, having work questioned in ways which aren’t done with male employees, or recurring use of negative gender stereotypes. Many women reported using coping mechanisms such as avoiding certain people, “putting up a harsh facade,” or saying they’re in a relationship to avoid unwanted attention.
Speaking to Swedish news outlet Direkt (via Eurogamer), Lilja confirmed that even in the few cases of severe harassment “termination of employment was not a legally permissible measure … however other measures have come into play.”
Paradox has also implemented new harassment policies, improved its process for case management, provided additional specialist training to staff, and reinforced support structure for management and HR. Paradox also updated its guidelines surrounding alcohol for internal and external events.
“We trust that their report provides an accurate picture of the issues present at Paradox,” said Paradox union rep Zack Holmgren. “It underlines a lot of the issues we had identified with our members before the audit. We are working in close collaboration with the company and other stakeholders, such as our safety officers, to follow up on and evaluate the execution of the action plan created based on Gender Balance’s recommendations.”
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/paradox-gender-harassment-report/