Sciopero dei lavoratori in Blizzard; il CEO Kotick bacchetta la dirigenza: “risposte francamente insensibili”
Continua ad evolversi la situazione nata circa una settimana fa in Activision Blizzard, a seguito delle accuse mosse dal DFEH (uno dei Dipartimenti della California che si occupa di questioni legate al lavoro) per discriminazioni di genere ed abusi consumatisi all’interno dell’azienda.
Proprio in queste ore si sta infatti svolgendo uno sciopero/sit-in immediatamente fuori il campus di Blizzard, dove tantissimi lavoratori stanno pacificamente manifestando tutto il loro dissenso e tutta la loro solidarietà in favore di tutte le colleghe che hanno dovuto subire degli abusi sul proprio sacrosanto posto di lavoro. Tra questi anche gli sviluppatori del team di World of Warcraft, tra i più attivi in queste ultime ore nella protesta.
Pensate che in un lungo comunicato, il team di WoW ha anche annunciato che nelle prossime ore procederanno ad una fase di revisione di tutto WoW Shadowlands e di WoW Classic, e rimuoveranno tutti i contenuti di gioco non riterranno più appropriati per il loro mondo (fonte).
Blizzard questa volta non si è fatta trovare impreparata, ed ha deciso di rispondere all’indizione di questo sciopero assicurando dei permessi di lavoro normalmente retribuiti a tutti i lavoratori che avrebbero deciso di partecipare (partecipare allo sciopero non avrà quindi alcun effetto negativo sui salari dei dipendenti – fonte).
E’ quindi evidente (specialmente dopo questa azione) che qualcosa all’interno della leadership di Blizzard (o comunque della loro “strategia” legale) è fortemente cambiato, e sembrano passati “anni” da quando, solamente lo scorso fine settimana, il Presidente di Blizzard Allen Brack tuonava contro il DFEH e parlava di false accuse.
Qualcosa deve essere sicuramente cambiato dopo che il CEO di Activision Blizzard (che in questo caso, in cui nominiamo spesso Presidenti, CEO e Capi dei vari team, potremmo identificare come nel vertice assoluto della piramide) è intervenuto con una lunga lettera/comunicato stampa rivolto ai suoi dipendenti, in cui si può evincere chiaramente la posizione di Kotick e di tutta Activision Blizzard nei confronti della faccenda.
Kotick ha prima di tutto corretto il tiro rispetto al primo comunicato pubblicato da Blizzard, ed ha parlato esplicitamente di “risposte francamente insensibili nei confronti di temi importantissimi per i nostri dipendenti”, di fatto facendo una “tirata d’orecchie” a tutta la dirigenza Blizzard rispetto alla lettera pubblicata da Frances Townsend.
Nella lunga lettera vi è poi spazio per numerosi passaggi che testimoniano la volontà di Activision Blizzard di affrontare il problema di petto, al fine di sradicarlo fin dalle sue radici: Kotick sostiene di aver già avviato delle indagini interne, e che con l’ausilio di società esterne che gli forniranno consulenza andranno a scovare ogni mela marcia presente nel loro imponente staff, e procederanno con dei licenziamenti lampo.
Ecco la lettera integrale:
SANTA MONICA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick today sent the following letter to all employees.
July 27, 2021 – This has been a difficult and upsetting week. I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage. Every voice matters – and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future.
Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf. It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way. I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding.
Accuse Blizzard: parlano anche Ben Brode e Chris Metzen! Sospeso lo sviluppo di WoW
Many of you have told us that active outreach comes from caring so deeply for the Company. That so many people have reached out and shared thoughts, suggestions, and highlighted opportunities for improvement is a powerful reflection of how you care for our communities of colleagues and players – and for each other. Ensuring that we have a safe and welcoming work environment is my highest priority. The leadership team has heard you loud and clear.
We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind.
We will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.
I have asked the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of our policies and procedures to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace. This work will begin immediately. The WilmerHale team will be led by Stephanie Avakian, who is a member of the management team at WilmerHale and was most recently the Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement.
We encourage anyone with an experience you believe violates our policies or in any way made you uncomfortable in the workplace to use any of our many existing channels for reporting or to reach out to Stephanie. She and her team at WilmerHale will be available to speak with you on a confidential basis and can be reached at [email protected] or 202-247-2725. Your outreach will be kept confidential. Of course, NO retaliation will be tolerated.
We are committed to long-lasting change. Effective immediately, we will be taking the following actions:
- Employee Support. We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Compliance team and the Employee Relations team.
- Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspired ideas on how to improve our culture. We will be creating safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.
- Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.
- Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.
- In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.
Your well-being remains my priority and I will spare no company resource ensuring that our company has the most welcoming, comfortable, and safe culture possible.
You have my unwavering commitment that we will improve our company together, and we will be the most inspiring, inclusive entertainment company in the world.
Yours sincerely,
Bobby
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. These and other risks are described in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.
Cosa ne pensate community?
La discussione, come sempre, è assolutamente aperta!
Articoli correlati:
