On July 20, 2021, a complaint filed by a California State authority accuses management ofActivision-Blizzard to have left build a corporate culture where the harassment of women was trivialized while the latter only represent 20% of the group’s workforce.
July 28, 2021 took place a large demonstration of company employees in order to denounce the management and their behavior. Over time, the accusations never ceased and the various media did not fail to relay them. In March 2022, Activision-Blizzard paid $18 million to end the lawsuit. While a new complaint had just been filed according to Bloomberg media.
Yesterday, Activision-Blizzard returned to these accusations of harassment with an internal investigationmade in the name from the administration boardwhich reveals thatContrary to many allegations, the board of directors and its outside advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that senior executives at Activision Blizzard intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay instances of gender-based harassment.“.
The investigation also concludes thatActivision had been better than the average company regarding the level harassment and abuse suffered by staff. According to Gilbert Casellasresponsible for the investigation, the latter “concludes that, based on the volume of reports, the amount of misconduct reflected is comparatively low for a company the size of Activision Blizzard.”
We have instituted our own Zero Tolerance Policy. We will not be silenced until Bobby Kotick has been replaced as CEO, and continue to hold our original demand for Third-Party review by an employee-chosen source. We are staging a Walkout today. We welcome you to join us.
—ABetterABK? ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) November 16, 2021
Mr. Casellas has also returned on the multiple accusations relayed by the mediawhich he considers being too hard on Bobby KotickChairman of Activision-Blizzard, and the Board of Directors based on baseless accusations.
He partially admitted that some employees were treated badlybut he totally rejects the idea that the board of directors should be held responsible. What the survey calls “these unfortunate circumstances” do not allow, in the eyes of Mr. Casellas and his team“conclude that Activision’s executives or Board of Directors were aware of and condoned gender-based harassment, or that there was a systemic issue of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation“.
According to Gilbert Casellas, Activision-Blizzard “has taken appropriate disciplinary action against its employees» and that the company actually offers «a safe, inclusive and welcoming workplace that serves as a model for our sector“. We also recall that the company has recruited a new Director of Culture in order to try to establish a healthier climate in the company. To see if this will be enough to get Activision-Blizzard out of this controversy which has been going on for very long months.