Eurogamer.net and the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet have reported new allegations against the management of Paradox Interactive, made by employees and former employees of the company. The different voices speak of discrimination towards women and management tolerance for i mistreatment.
Both publications portray Paradox as a company dominated by male-dominated culture, in which the contribution of women is marginalized. A testimony tells: “I attended meetings where I was the only woman in the room. I tried to suggest “based on my experience I think we should go this way”, but I got the answer “You know, you’re only here in a symbolic role. So I guess you should keep quiet on the subject.“
Other testimonies speak of tolerance for vulgar and misogynistic jokes, as well as for verbal abuse during meetings. One of the women said that the mistreatment of junior employees was allowed because mid-level managers preferred to appease their bosses rather than complicate their lives. Reports on the mistreatment of subordinates are numerous, but there is also talk of the hiring of an elderly manager, whose history of mistreatment of women was known, a few months after his former employees had just reported him.
In short, Paradox’s problems seem not to have been solved yet and that there is still a long way to go to make the company a less toxic workplace. The new allegations come after trade unions Unionen and Sveriges Ingenjörer published the results of a survey, in which 44% of Paradox employees said they had been abused, and 69% of women that they had suffered abusive treatment.