Ubisoft's Italian staff join French peers in striking return-to-office mandate

Employees from Ubisoft's France-based teams have been striking this week over the studio's three-day-a-week return-to-office (RTO) mandate, and now Italian workers are joining that effort.

Per Deadline, developers from the Milan team are holding their own strike today, October 17. Through the country's Fiom Cgil union, Ubisoft Milan members said they were afraid of having to quit their jobs because of the reinstated policy.

"It is unthinkable that a young person who lives in another region or in any case far from our territory could spend three days a week in Milan, turning their existence upside down," said Fiom representative Andrea Rosafalco. "It is not economically sustainable and unfair on a human level."

Ubisoft's return-to-office mandates

Last year, Ubisoft Montreal was the first studio to enact the RTO policy, after the previous three years were remote due to the pandemic. At the time, several Montreal staff believed Ubisoft reneged on its original stance, or intentionally used the policy to get employees to quit without severance.

This past September, Ubisoft said the policy would be standard for all its studios to create consistency. By this point, half of its worldwide staff were reportedly already back in the office, and one-third were working together in-person.

STJV, the French union, spurred Ubisoft staff in Lyon, Paris, Annecy and other cities to strike. At the time, it said the policy was made "without any tangible justification or any consultation with the workers’ representatives."

Along with a formal agreement that lets staff work from home (and choose when to work in-office), the union demanded Ubisoft increase workers' salary and open a "constructive social dialogue" with its employees.

French workers have been striking for the past three days (October 15-17), and this is the second strike from Ubisoft staff this year. Back in February, 700 French employees walked out after receiving "terrible" pay raises of 2 or 3 percent.