Activision Blizzard employees form anti-discrimination committee – Destructoid
Group struggle for greater equality between the sexes
A group of current and former Activision Blizzard employees has formed a new committee to combat sexism, inequality, and gender bias within the studio’s walls. The anti-discrimination committee currently consists of 12 members and has drawn up the list that requires the attention of Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, diversity director Kristen Hines and chief human resources officer Julie Hodges.
As reported by The Washington Post, the four-page document’s requirements include separate breastfeeding support, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and the conduct of independent investigations into employee complaints and incidents. The latter of these may be a response to Activision’s recent decision to create “Workplace Accountability Committee“, an internal investigative body consisting of several members of the company’s own board of directors.
Additionally, the new group is calling for the establishment of a transgender support network for all Activision Blizzard transgender employees and asking Activision to uphold its promise to waive mandatory arbitration for any and all cases. alleged discrimination, (Blizzard stated that it had previously done this in October 2021). To further clarify, the committee wants Activision to allow its employees to fully document any communication with the HR team.
“My hope on joining the committee is that we won’t let our enthusiasm die until there is meaningful and lasting change,” said Blizzard motion graphics designer Emily Knief. Blizzard motion graphics designer, Emily Knief. “At the end of the day, I want to jump into work and not have to think about anything but my work. But based on everything that has been going on, even before it hit the headlines, it has taken up a significant portion of my day, I have to think about leadership inaction. ”
Activision Blizzard responded to the new committee’s requests in a statement washington articles.
Activision Blizzard spokeswoman Jessica Taylor wrote: “We appreciate that these employees want to join us in building better Activision Blizzard and continuing the progress we’ve made. “For example, we have upgraded our breastfeeding facilities, waived arbitration, hired new DEI and EEO leaders, and partnered with staff to make our policies and procedures sound. should be more inclusive, just to highlight some of the issues the letter raises.”
While one might assume that some of the above needs would be standard practice in such a huge, multi-billion dollar global organization, there is clearly much more work to be done to improve security. safety, security and mental health of industry employees.
You can find a summary timeline of Activision Blizzard’s controversy, investigation, and response right here.