Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
A company-wide email that Robert Kotick, CEO of planned worker strike taking place July 28th at Blizzard's Irvine campus.
Activision Blizzard has already seen its fair share of controversy in recent years, but a two-year investigation by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) unearthed a culture of active misogyny against the company's female employees. Women who worked within Activision Blizzard were allegedly subjected to sexual harassment and assault, wage disparity, inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, and denial of promotions or privileges on the basis of gender. The investigation resulted in a lawsuit filed by the DFEH against Activision Blizzard and catapulted the company's culture into the public eye. While some management at the company have denied the allegations, many Activision Blizzard employees have come out in staunch of the lawsuit.
Kotick's correspondence isn't the first response to be sent out to employees by upper management. Blizzard president J. Allen Brack and Activision Blizzard executive Fran Townsend sent out company-wide emails shortly after the lawsuit was made public, emails that were published to Twitter by Jason Schreier, a reporter for Bloomberg. But the response that management has provided its employees thus far has been somewhat contradictory, either denying the allegations or commenting on how the company is working to improve the culture unearthed and outlined in the investigation and lawsuit. Kotick, for his part, called the initial responses "tone deaf." Kotick has stated in his own email, which can be read in full on Business Wire, that proactive steps have been taken, including hiring an independent law firm to audit and review Activision Blizzard's policies and procedures.
Kotick said, "Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf." He announced law firm WilmerHale will be conducting a review of Activision Blizzard's policies and procedures to ensure it maintains "best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace," and he laid out five action items aimed at implementing "long-lasting change."
"1. Employee . We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Compliance team and the Employee Relations team.
"2. Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspired ideas on how to improve our culture. We will be creating safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.
"3. Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.
"4. Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.
"5. In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content."
UPDATE - 7/28/21, 12:30 PM ET: Ahead of the planned July 28 walkout, Activision Blizzard employees have responded to CEO Bobby Kotick's remarks about the allegations in the California lawsuit the company faces. Axios' Megan Farokhmanesh shared the organizers' message on Twitter:
The original story follows.
The timing of the Activision Blizzard's CEO's statement is likely to raise some eyebrows, as Kotick has up until now remained silent on the goings on even though the lawsuit was filed nearly a week ago, and his response came quickly after the announcement workers at the Blizzard Irvine office would be staging a walkout.
Over 1,000 employees have signed an open letter demanding change and ability since the information in the lawsuit went public. Hiring an independent law firm to oversee the company's policy is a start, but for many of the victims of Activision Blizzard's alleged long-standing "frat boy" culture, it may feel like too little, too late.
UPDATE - 7/29/21, 4:30 PM ET: organization among Activision Blizzard employees following the lawsuit's filing, WilmerHale's history could prove significant.
Source: Business Wire
