Word got out about Spectrum Studios’ odd job demand and it spread like wildfire on social media. The LinkedIn job ad made it crystal clear that hopping into a sauna with the team wasn’t just suggested, it was a must-do for understanding the game they were building.
You can imagine the double-takes that caused.
The community wasn’t having any of it, calling out how out-of-line this was for any work environment.
Soon after, the controversial job listing vanished from the internet, but not before everyone got a good eyeful. It boldly stated: Attending Sauna Sessions (not negotiable, entire team need to understand the product).
Really?
Requiring the whole team to dive into sauna visits to better understand a game’s development process? Talk about sweating over the details!
Ethics and good judgment seem to have been left out in the cold with this one.
Aleksandra Wolna, a scriptwriter, got more than she bargained for with Spectrum Studios’ job listing. The ad itself kept mum about any “naked sessions,” but Wolna’s own digging before applying brought this steamy detail to light.
Aleksandra Wolna didn’t just walk away from a job posting; she dodged what she felt was a sauna-shaped bullet. After spotting a job notice on LinkedIn while searching for opportunities, Wolna didn’t bite right away. Instead, it was Jacek Piórkowski, the creative honcho at Spectrum Studios, who reached out to her, intrigued by her LinkedIn post about job hunting.
Digging a bit into the studio and Piórkowski’s profiles, Wolna uncovered the now-infamous sauna requirement. Right then, she nixed the offer, putting her foot down over the eyebrow-raising sauna meet-ups, which she labeled as outright inappropriate.
This move sparked quite the chat on social media, setting off ripples across the Polish gaming scene. Those shared screenshots from the job listing didn’t just stir up a small buzz; they kicked up a storm.
Interesting, Jacek Piórkowski seems to have forgotten his naked sauna discussion with Wolna when he popped up under her LinkdIn post about job hunting.
Despite her previous refusal over the bizarre sauna requirement, Piórkowski seemed to have amnesia about their earlier exchange.
He doubled down, defending the sauna meet-ups as essential for immersing in the environment of their new sauna-centric video game. Piórkowski’s pitch was that to truly understand the sauna setting of the game, “You have to feel it”—suggesting even exclusive women-only events to accommodate concerns.
“We require you to go to the sauna as part of your environmental exploration and research; Plus, on the occasion of sauna trips, we do company meetings. But there is no requirement to be naked in the sauna or to be in it with the boss — if someone wants to participate in a women-only sauna, for example, or go to meetings on their own, and only come to meetings to talk, that’s okay too.
As the rules of proper sauna use – in a dry sauna you need a towel or naked, in a banya or steam sauna only naked (there is 90% humidity, you can’t cheat physics).
At a company meeting, the girls were alone on the scrub. I don’t care. I needed them to understand what emotions we wanted to evoke.” – Jacek Piórkowski shared a statement with Komputer Swiat (Translated by Respawnfirst).
Jacek Piórkowski, the creative mind behind Spectrum Studios, is sticking to his guns about the sauna requirement, despite the waves of criticism crashing down on him.
In a heated response, Piórkowski suggested that Aleksandra Wolna had ample opportunity to challenge his unusual team-building method. He even pointed out that other scriptwriters at the studio, whom he calls the “Narrative Girls,” have participated in these sauna sessions, which he credits with helping to develop an “incredible script” that proves his approach works.
But the plot thickens with an accidental twist involving Magdalena Kucenta, who Piórkowski dubbed “Narrative Mulan,” hinting she was a key player at Spectrum Studios.
Kucenta was quick to set the record straight with a public clarification that her role was advisory, stemming from her time as Piórkowski’s narrative design instructor, not as an employee.
“The worst I’ve experienced was being told bluntly in a job application that the position would be off-the-books, which I never responded to. But this sauna situation is on another level entirely,” said Aleksandra Wolna when asked if this has happened before.
The lack of self-awareness from Spectrum Studios is shocking to say the least. In an industry where sexual harassment is all too common (looking at you Activision), situations like these further expose the degusting mindset of some “creatives.”
