S H O C K
We are approaching the first anniversary of the fateful day California filed a lawsuit against studio Activision Blizzard following an investigation into sexual harassment, gender pay discrepancies, and other examples of the company exercising a toxic work environment. And if the World of Warcraft publisher had thought the situation would have passed by now, matters remain wide open.
The most recent headline, originally published by Axios, concerns a proposal from The State of New York. The state is suggesting that Activision Blizzard release an annual report, specifically focusing on efforts to combat harassment, abuse, and other toxic practices within its walls. The report would openly disclose hours worked by staff, as well as pay and other compensatory efforts. Also to be listed in the report is the total number of filed complaints, pending matters, and settled cases, among other details.
In response to New York’s proposal, Activision Blizzard’s board of directors unanimously voted to recommend that all company shareholders vote against the annual harassment report proposal. The board suggests that compiling the report would take focus, time, and energy away from other matters — matters, the company posits, that would do more benefit to the Activision Blizzard staff in the long-term.
“Focusing all our attention on these concerns is the best way quickly and effectively to create genuine change in our workplace,” reads Activision Blizzard’s response. “Second, the proposed report itself, even if completed after significant time and expense, would create a set of metrics that are simply not the best measures of how the Company is responding to employee concerns.”
“The Board is committed to measuring the speed and effectiveness of our changes accurately, not based on metrics that are not precisely tailored to our Company’s situation,” continues the statement. Activision also states its concern that such a report might jeopardize the personal details of its staff members.
Activision Blizzard is not the only company New York is proposing the report to, having also requested similar efforts from under-scrutiny companies such as Starbucks and Tesla, both of which have also faced concerns of employee abuse and toxicity in the workplace. Microsoft’s board of directors also previously rejected such a proposal in 2021, though the company as a whole eventually found in favor of instigating the report.
The official vote on the annual harassment report is likely to take place at Activision’s annual meeting in June. You can read an abridged timeline of the Activision Blizzard controversy right here.
