A Polish developer has come under fire for expecting employees to accept mandatory sauna sessions.
In a now-viral LinkedIn exchange, Spectrum Studio creative director Jacek Piórkowski approached designer and narrative writer Aleksandra Wolna about working for his studio. Wolna replied that Piórkowski had previously approached her for a job and she had refused after asking him to accept mandatory and reported nude sauna sessions.
“Jacek started a conversation with me under a post that I was looking for a job. I did my research on him and his studio and politely declined because of the sauna issue,” Wolna told Eurogamer. “Later I posted about the situation regarding All In Games employees who were not paid and are now looking for a job, as I am also owed a lot of money by this company. Suddenly Jacek appeared offering me a job again.”
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“I reminded him that I refused and told him why, which can be seen in those viral images,” Wolna continued. “Jacek then proceeded to convince me and others that there is nothing wrong with what he expects from his employees.”
Publisher All In Games has reportedly not paid its employees for half a year as a result of its “temporary” financial crisis.
Piórkowski has changed a number of his LinkedIn comments in the time since his initial post on Wolna, but still defends the decision to require employees to participate in sauna sessions, stating that the requirement is in place because it is what about the studio game. “I don’t want to waste my time explaining what is the difference between Ruska Bania and Dry Sauna. You have to feel it,” wrote Piórkowski.
A job listing for the game that Piórkowski refers to reads as follows:
“Spectrum Studio is working on a groundbreaking new game: mix of Life is Strange (Narrative), Final Fantasy (story, characters), Heart of Darkness (dog adventure levels), The Tourist (exploration and quest) and THPS2 (tricks and specials).
The main character will be the saunamaster and will be tasked with performing in various saunas (aroma, music, choreography, everything).
The studio then lists the requirements of the position, and here the mandatory sauna sessions are specified (there is no mention of nudity). Spectrum Studio also said it will offer “sauna plans, free of charge” within this post.
In a separate thread on LinkedIn, Piórkowski said that this mandate is “not about stripping,” but rather experiencing different types of saunas. The developer said that the level of “humidity” inside certain saunas can get too high and if someone uses a towel, “it can result in fungal infection”, which is why there are times when participants are advised to go out naked.
In a further comment, Piórkowski asked Wolna if she would hire an engineer to build an airplane if they didn’t understand the mechanics that make an airplane fly. That’s something, Piórkowski said, he wouldn’t do. “It must be understood [the] task and it’s very specific…” he wrote. Wolna noted that there is a big difference between providing a suitable candidate for any given job and an employer expecting its staff to be naked during activities related to work.
“You had a lot of time to prove me wrong, to write [a] the scene in [a] sauna without being in the sauna… Instead, we’re wasting time on social media,” Piorkowski replied. “My Narrative girls had to go to [the] sauna with me to go out with [an] Great proof-of-concept script… Technically, it could be done without it, but I absolutely adore the fact that they can use their sauna experience to write great scenes.”
Piórkowski has now released a full statement about Spectrum Studio’s sauna mandate. In a video shared on the studio’s LinkedIn page, he apologized to Wolna. “I didn’t mean to embarrass, hurt, offend or show disrespect to Ms. Wolna. My choice of words was bad. I didn’t make my intentions clear. I didn’t explain why taking a sauna is so important and practical, essential for me”, he said (thanks to Magdalena Kluj for the translation).
“I did not expect that it would be received as pretentious and would cause negative connotations.” He noted that his use of “narrative girls” was wrong and was only meant to convey that the narrative team at the time was all female.
Piórkowski went on to talk about how “passionate” he is about the sauna experience. “In recruiting, I took an ironclad rule about talking saunas and opening people up to the experience,” he said. “I’m looking for people who are equally passionate about sauna-taking culture and open to the experiences that are part of that culture. I believe that a subject’s personal experience helps to understand sauna culture.”
Piórkowski continued: “I agree that the words I chose could be perceived as encouraging to get a sauna session with the head of the company; it was not my intention. I proposed and am still proposing candidates for [experience] female-only and male-only sauna session, as long as it reflects the true sauna experience.”
Piórkowski said he will be “more careful with the choice of [his] words in the future to avoid embarrassment and doubts about [his] He stated that he has also started “consulting with a human resources specialist regarding this case”.
“Once again I want to apologize to Mrs. Aleksandra”, he concluded.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Wolna told Eurogamer that she’s “a little bit sorry that this is the only thing that went viral, when it all started with a post mentioning the recent situation with All In Games employees not being paid.” However, she is “glad the sauna man was called out and the situation started an important discussion about the appalling recruitment practices”. Wolna said he accepted the apology.