Earlier this month, Activision Blizzard was asked to set up a version of Rooney Rule, a policy that requires employers to interview different candidates when hiring, according to a new report by Motherboard. Advocates for the massive back publisher Call of Duty and World of Warcraft responded that such a policy would be “an unrealistic violation of the Company’s ability to conduct its business.”
The country’s largest trade union federation, the AFL-CIO, which is also a shareholder in Activision Blizzard, has submitted the proposal to the SEC. In the report, obtained by Motherboard, the organization wrote that establishing a policy similar to Rooney Rule (a 2003 NFL policy set up to address the lack of diversity among coaching staff) would increase “workforce diversity by imposing the initial group of candidates to the Company will include, but should not be limited to, qualified women and minority candidates. ”
Motherboard reports that the adoption of the proposal could be voted on at future shareholder meetings, but Activision Blizzard is trying to get the SEC to intervene to prevent this.
“While the Company has implemented a Rooney Rule policy as planned [for director and CEO nominees], the implementation of a policy that would extend such an approach to all hiring decisions amounts to an inefficient invasion of the Company’s ability to conduct business and compete for talent in a highly competitive, fast-moving market. ” , the company’s lawyers wrote in a letter to the SEC obtained by Motherboard.
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Activision Blizzard and the AFL-CIO did not immediately respond to a request for Kotaku for comment. A spokesman for the gaming company said Motherboard has invested in scholarship and mentoring programs to help “develop the best and brightest diverse talent of the future.”
“Our talent is the essence of Activision Blizzard’s life,” he said. “We appreciate the diversity of the Activision Blizzard community and understand that our employees and players come from a wide range of backgrounds. To provide epic and engaging entertainment for a growing global audience, our workforce needs to reflect these communities. ”
The AFL-CIO has sent a similar proposal to Electronic Arts, of which it is also a shareholder, Motherboard reports.
“In accordance with our standard procedures, EA’s Board of Directors will consider the shareholders’ proposal,” said an EA spokesman. Kotaku in an email when asked if he would be willing to set up his own Rooney Rule in the whole business.
“The Council is committed to maintaining employment practices that promote inclusion and diversity in EA,” the spokesman wrote. “Overall, EA believes that a diverse and inclusive workforce is the key to our success. It nurtures our creative culture and allows us to create amazing games and experiences for millions of players around the world. EA is committed to attracting diverse, dynamic talent – prioritizing inclusive values and practices at every step of employees’ journey. ”
The video game industry has long been criticized for being dominated by white men, especially in managerial and c-suite positions. In June last year, at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests over the police killing of George Floyd, many gaming companies launched statements in support of the movement’s calls for justice and racial equality, but few supported these rally cries with specific commitments to address the issues within their own walls.
“Today and always we support all those who oppose racism and inequality,” Activision Blizzard said. posted to Twitter at the time. “There is no place for this in our society – or in any society. Black lives matter. ”
However, the company declined to comment when asked by Kotaku in June, on any specific measures it takes to promote equity and diversity in its own right. A few weeks later Activision Blizzard announced $ 3 million in donations at United Negro College Fund, Equal Justice Initiative and Management Leadership for Tomorrow, but nothing more.
The EA was a little more reflective.
“Racial justice matters,” the company wrote on its website during the protests. “We have long kept equality, inclusion and diversity at the heart of our beliefs at Electronic Arts.”
EA has announced that it will collectively contribute $ 1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP National Fund for Legal Defense and Education, provide employees with an additional day off each year to volunteer in their communities, and makes Juneteenth a company holiday and organizes a “conversation between companies” to discuss how to “focus their efforts to make an impact in the fight against prejudice, discrimination and injustice in today’s world”.
He also published its first annual impact report in November last year which included a section on the company’s demographics. Of the 9,800 full-time employees, 54.6% were white, 22.3% were Asian, 8.2% were Hispanic or Latino, and only 3.2% were black. Less than a quarter were women.
“As we make some progress, we have much more work ahead of us to continue to bring greater representation to our company,” said CEO Andrew Wilson. wrote in the report.
Update – 17:45 ET, 01/27/21: An Activision Blizzard spokesman responded Kotaku with the following statement.
Activision Blizzard is committed to engaging in inclusive employment practices and creating a diverse workforce; it is essential to our mission. Vice completely misrepresented the SEC document made by our external lawyers. In fact, our hiring practices are based on ensuring diversity for all roles. We engage in this way aggressively and successfully. Our objection was based on the fact that the AFL-CIO proposal failed to take due account of the application of these practices in all the countries in which we operate.
Our games have uniquely influenced popular culture and contributed to increasing tolerance and inclusion through their connectivity, as well as the heroes we portray and our stories that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion in so many powerful ways.
To ensure that our games remain true to our mission – to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment – it is necessary that all candidates of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, races and sexual orientations be considered for each open role. . We aggressively recruit different candidates, so that the workforce delivers the inspired creativity needed to meet the expectations of our diverse 400 million players in 190 countries. We remain committed to increasing diversity at all levels around the world of Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard did not immediately explain what Motherboard “Misrepresented” in connection with the SEC’s submission, it rejected the AFL-CIO’s proposal.
Update – 20:30 ET, 27/01/21: According to AFL-CIO Treasury Secretary Liz Shuler, his Rooney Rule proposal is “clearly viable,” as evidenced by other large companies that have adopted similar policies.
“Diversity and inclusion at all levels are important to the success of companies, especially in industries where there has been a historical under-representation of women and minorities in senior positions,” said Shuler. Kotaku in an email. “We are pleased that many banks have adopted various candidate search policies and we are now turning our attention to technology companies. Such policies are clearly viable, given that many companies have adopted them for their boards and are now adopting them for the workforce. ”
Some of these companies include Wells Fargo, Citigroup and JPMorgan.