Recently, Activision Blizzard began a policy to convert many temporary and contract positions to full-time positions. So far, nearly 500 employees have benefited from this requalification.
It is now the turn of the testers (QA testers) to take advantage of this measure. Thus the 1,100 employees concerned will become full-time from July 1 and a good part of them will receive a salary increase. The minimum hourly rate will increase to $20 per hour starting April 17 and employees will obtain permanent employee status.
In a press release, Activision Blizzard specifies that this new status will open participation in a bonus plan and will also allow employees to enjoy all the advantages of the company. A decision motivated by “ambitious plans for the future” where the members of the quality assurance team (the testers) “play an essential role”.
An announcement in a difficult context
This announcement comes after the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, for 68.7 billion dollars, which should take the opportunity to push out the very controversial general manager of Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick.
It also comes after two other major events: the harassment complaint that resulted in an $18 million settlement and the formation of a union by Raven Software members.
A spokesperson, however, denied the causal relationship between the choice of Raven employees to unionize and the salary increase granted to the testers. He also took the opportunity to point out that “due to legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act” Raven employees would not be eligible for wage initiatives.
As a reminder, the creation of the Game Workers Alliance union was initiated after the dismissal of certain contract testers at Raven. Although the executives did everything to avoid it and several people were changed departments, a request for a union election was filed with the National Labor Relation Board.