Bloomberg (may require registration or subscription) reports Activision Blizzard employees are calling for a
walkout tomorrow to protest the company's responses to the
recent sexual
discrimination lawsuit and "demanding more equitable treatment for
underrepresented staff." Interestingly, Jason Schreier follows his reporting
with
a
tweet saying "Blizzard told employees this afternoon it will offer paid time
off to those participating in tomorrow's walk-out." According
Polygon as many as 2,600 employees may take part. To help if you're running
into a paywall,
Polygon also has the statement of intent from a group of
employees:
Given last week’s statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and
their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent
internal statement from Frances Townsend, and the many stories shared by current
and former employees of Activision Blizzard since, we believe that our values as
employees are not being accurately reflected in the words and actions of our
leadership.
As current Activision Blizzard employees, we are holding a walkout to call on
the executive leadership team to work with us on the following demands, in order
to improve conditions for employees at the company, especially women, and in
particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other
marginalized groups.
1. An end to mandatory arbitration clauses in all employee contracts, current
and future. Arbitration clauses protect abusers and limit the ability of victims
to seek restitution.
2. The adoption of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and promotion policies
designed to improve representation among employees at all levels, agreed upon by
employees in a company-wide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion organization. Current
practices have led to women, in particular women of color and transgender women,
nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups that are vulnerable to gender
discrimination not being hired fairly for new roles when compared to men.
3. Publication of data on relative compensation (including equity grants and
profit sharing), promotion rates, and salary ranges for employees of all genders
and ethnicities at the company. Current practices have led to aforementioned
groups not being paid or promoted fairly.
4. Empower a company-wide Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion task force to hire a
third party to audit ABK’s reporting structure, HR department, and executive
staff. It is imperative to identify how current systems have failed to prevent
employee harassment, and to propose new solutions to address these
issues.