Activision urges shareholders to vote against proposed misconduct report

pcgamer.com:

Activision Blizard is urging shareholders to vote against two proposals on the table at its upcoming annual shareholder meeting: One that would see an «employee representative» added to its board of directors, and another that calls for the creation of an annual public report on the company's efforts to combat abuse, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will naturally loom large at this year's shareholders meeting, but the company's handling of widespread workplace misconduct allegations that have come to light over the past year, and the unionization efforts they helped catalyze, are also major points of focus.

«Activision Blizzard has implemented a number of initiatives designed to enhance our workplace culture,» CEO Bobby Kotick said in his opening comments of the shareholders annual meeting notice. «Maintaining the very best workplace remains our focus, and we believe having such a workplace will give us a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining the highly in-demand talent we need to operate successfully.

»We intend for Activision Blizzard to be recognized as a model for other companies to emulate in the areas of inclusion, respect, and safety. We have made achieving this objective a top priority for the near and long term as we believe this will enable us to deliver the very best games for our players and returns for our shareholders."

Kotick said Activision Blizzard has made «significant progress» toward improving workplace conditions through «new resources, commitments, and investment in our workplace with respect to the prevention of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation,» and noted that the company now publicly releases data on pay equity