Yesterday marked a milestone in Activision Blizzard history. Barely a week since a lawsuit was filed against him by the State of California for systemic sexual harassment and discrimination, a massive strike has been staged at Blizzard's Irvine campus.
And in a country so sensitive to the slightest mention of the term "union", this is not anecdotal. An event that has also prompted Bobby Kotick, CEO of the Activision Blizzard group, to speak in an official press release. He particularly regrets a first response from the company that remained “deaf” to the accusations (“tone deaf” in English in the text).
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Published shortly before the start of the strike by its employees, Bobby Kotick's letter provides a more empathetic response to what he himself defines as "a difficult and upsetting week".
“It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences, and respect the emotions of people who have been treated poorly in any way,” writes the business leader. I'm sorry we didn't show enough empathy and understanding."
Recalling the obvious, namely that harassment and discrimination have no place at Activision Blizzard, the emblematic CEO announces several measures to (re)become "the compassionate and caring company you came to to work” and to ensure a safe working environment for all.
First, Activision Blizzard called on the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a comprehensive audit of its managerial practices and the working atmosphere in general.
Bobby Kotick also announces five measures effective immediately in the hope of improving working conditions in the company.
- Employee support. We will continue to investigate every accusation and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capacities in this area, we are recruiting more senior people and specialized people to our dedicated human resources division.
- Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspiring ideas on how to improve our corporate culture. We will create secure, third-party moderated spaces for you to express yourself.
- Personnel changes. We assess the managers and managers of our company without further delay. Anyone who fails to uphold the integrity of our feedback and complaints processes without taking appropriate action will be terminated.
- Hiring practices. Earlier this year I sent out an email asking all hiring managers to audition at least one diverse candidate for every open position. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure our hiring managers follow this directive.
- Game Changes. The employee and player communities have told us that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We will delete them.
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Inadequate statements to address the issues
Bobby Kotick's promises are not only late and welcome, they're also disappointing; at least for the approximately 2 employees who signed the open letter published a few days ago and which calls for a profound change in the culture of the company − and of the industry in general.
Also, the response from the strikers was not long in coming and a press release was published yesterday. For its signatories, the statement from the CEO of Activision Blizzard carefully avoided several key points necessary, according to them, to improve working conditions in the company. To know :
- An end to forced arbitration for all employees;
- employee involvement in monitoring hiring and promotion policies;
- the need for greater pay transparency to ensure equality;
- employee selection of a third party to audit HR and other business processes.
“We will no longer be silent; we will no longer be asleep by the same processes that have led us to where we are today,” the employee statement read. A communication which, moreover, declares that the strike which took place yesterday was not an isolated event “that our leaders may choose to ignore”.
"This marks the beginning of a lasting movement for better working conditions for all employees, including women, especially women of color and trans, non-binary people, and other marginalized groups."
Via : Eurogamer
