Activision Blizzard workplace culture is making it impossible to hire and retain staff
In 2021, the state of California decided to sue Activision-Blizzard for a culture of rampant sexual abuse so horrible it led to the death of one engineer. The lawsuit was the result of a two-year investigation conducted by the DFEH, and the company-wide response to this unthinkable fiasco has been all over the place. CEO Bobby Kotick was caught forging an incredulous e-mail from HR head Frances Townsend, weaponizing her gender for damage control and earning them both even more ire. According to an annual report, the ongoing legal battle has now rendered them short-staffed.
“We have observed labor shortages, increasing competition for talent, and increasing attrition. We are experiencing increased difficulty in attracting and retaining skilled personnel. For example, we observed a significantly higher turnover rate of our human resources function in 2021,” read the report.
The “too big to fail” mindset plaguing the triple-A landscape has led to an increasing number of talented, hard-working people feeling burnout from intense crunch as well. In 2020, Bloomberg reported Activision-Blizzard pay was so atrocious, some people could not even afford to eat at the staff cafeteria. There has been a large amount of internal pushback against the hollow, corporate virtue-signaling, however.
The quality assurance team at Activision-Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software called off their five-week strike after a successful vote to unionize in January. Last month, the law firm working on behalf of Activision-Blizzard gave a bizarre presentation on how to squash unionization. The firm, Reed Smith, represented Activision-Blizzard in a labor board hearing against their striking workforce. The report went on:
“While none of our employees are
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