Corporate Governance

Paradox Interactive AB (publ) is a Swedish public limited liability company and is governed based on Swedish law and internal rules and regulations.

The Swedish Code of Corporate Governance is applicable for Swedish companies with shares listed on a regulated market in Sweden. Nasdaq First North Growth Market where the company is listed is not a regulated market but requires companies to apply the Code. Companies must not comply with all rules in the Code, and has the option to apply alternative solutions believed to better fit their purposes, as long as any discrepancies are reported and the alternative solution is described and reasons behind it explained (the principle of ”comply or explain”) in the corporate governance report.

April 2024

Summary of 2023 Survey Results on Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Victimization, and Bullying in the Workplace

Comment from Mattias Lilja, Deputy CEO

Paradox remains committed to identifying and acting on discrimination, harassment and victimization in our organization. An annual evaluation of our work in this area is a crucial part of our long-term efforts. Our first and second reports for the periods 2019-2021 and 2022 were made public in February in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The report for 2022 constituted our benchmark for comparing future results, and thus is our main point of comparison this year. Both previous reports were conducted by Gender Balance, a Swedish firm specializing in issues of discrimination and harassment. In accordance with the long-term plan for our work in this area, their work has been handed over to Paradox’s HR Department, who has conducted this year's survey and the subsequent report.

There are reasons to be cautious when reading this year’s results, as we had a lower response rate compared to previous years. That being said, there are some conclusions to be drawn from this year’s survey:

  • In general, misconduct still disproportionately impacts women in the company, which highlights the continuous need for structured long-term efforts in this area.

  • Bullying & Victimization, in situations where a manager was the perpetrator against female respondents decreased significantly, indicating the positive impact of multi-step manager training in this area.

  • Previous reports have highlighted a nasty jargon that disproportionately impacts women. This year, we continue to see a noticeable reduction in the reported rates of that jargon among both genders, indicating that our focus on this area continues to have a positive impact.

  • Suppression techniques persist as an issue. However, the reported rates of suppression techniques where women were the victim has decreased, while it has increased for men. Suppression techniques will be an area of focused efforts in 2024. 

  • The reported rates of unwelcome comments are relatively stable. We have continued to analyze when and where they do occur, and concluded that many of them occur in relation to Paradox’s social events where alcohol is present. Thus, this is an area of focus going forward.

  • Physical harassment remains at low levels.

Our commitment in this area has no endpoint. In the past year we’ve focused on ensuring a high baseline knowledge when it comes to detecting and handling cases of harassment, bullying and victimization, with improved support as well as multi-step training sessions for managers. We will continue our efforts to train and educate employees in this area, ensuring a high baseline knowledge. In addition, we will:

  • Reinforce training in detecting and acting on suppression techniques, for both managers and employees.

  • Further evaluate how we plan and conduct company events where alcohol is present. We have previously reviewed our policy on alcohol at company events and will further increase focus on safety and look into our support structure surrounding those events.

  • Develop a plan to increase the participation rate for the next survey, to get a more certain result for evaluation of 2023.

Lastly, we will continue to evaluate our progress on an annual basis. However, future reports will not be shared on the website, but should you be interested in our efforts and their effect, we urge you to reach out to us directly as we aim for continued transparency in our work. Please feel free to make requests to ir@paradoxinteractive.com