The last few weeks and months have made it abundantly clear that Activision Blizzard has deep-rooted issues that have crippled and poisoned the company’s workplace culture for years, and calls for radical improvements to the situation have been growing louder and reports have continued to shed light on increasingly worse circumstances at all corners of the company. One step that has been taken to that end is the establishment of a new Workplace Responsibility Committee.
As announced by the Activision Blizzard Board of Directors in a recent press release, the committee will be responsible for overseeing the company’s efforts in “successfully implementing its new policies, procedures, and commitments to improve workplace culture and eliminate all forms of harassment and discrimination.” It will be chaired by independent director Dawn Ostroff, while independent director Reveta Bowers will also work on it.
The company’s board has also said it is looking to “add a new, diverse director to the Board.” Meanwhile, according to the press release, the committee will require Activision Blizzard leadership, who will regularly report to it, to “develop key performance indicators and/or other means to measure progress and ensure accountability.” The committee will also be “empowered to retain outside consultants or advisers, including independent legal counsel, to assist in its work.”
It must be said that many will feel this is more of a band-aid than a meaningful solution, especially with the ever-growing belief that for the company to actual reform, it needs to cut out the rot that has been perpetuated by people at the top. Calls for the resignation of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick have been growing louder from not only employees of the company, but from shareholders as well, while platform holders PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo have also publicly condemned the company’s culture and the way it has handled the situation.
Kotick recently reportedly said that if he is unable to enact fixes to the company’s issues with speed, he will consider resigning. Read more on that through here.