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Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

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Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#271

Post by awb »

speed_spread wrote: post #265
refurb wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. My company won’t do anything more than confirm date of hire and salary. You could probably get a manager to give an informal reference “off the books”, not on company time.

They confirm _salary_ ?! How on earth is this not private information? When negotiating salary for a new job, the employer will sometimes try to coerce you into giving this info in order to low-ball you and now all they have to do is call your former employer... wtf And yet I'm sure they try to keep anyone still employed from revealing their current salary to their coworkers.

Hopefully not in CA.

https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/labor/discrimination/salary-his...

> California Assembly Bill 168 took effect in October, 2017. This legislation bars employers from asking job applicants about salary history when applying for a position.

I guess asking a reference isn’t quite the same as asking the applicant, but still it’s pretty inappropriate (if not illegal) and I’ve never heard of a past company revealing past compensation information.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#272

Post by papito »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #160

This has the feel of the CEO rounding up as many patsies as he can find to scapegoat in order to placate the investors. No doubt the culture there is rotten to the core, the rumors of the horrible work environment and harassment are widely known, however, I predict you won't see too many of the exec team having to leave. It'll be all low level expendable IC's that the CEO won't have to encounter at the country club a…

Having just finished "Flying Blind" and filled with incandescent rage, reading about the rise and fall of Boeing (and GE) as an engineering company, this seems about right. The upward failures keep failing upward.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#273

Post by thebean11 »

bigbillheck wrote: post #269
Terretta wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fish rots at the head. This isn’t a fish. And as a kid living on the water, saw plenty of dead fish — usually the head is the last identifiable part to go (middle goes first).

> This isn’t a fish Are you familiar with the concept of 'metaphor'?

They are saying it's not an apt metaphor

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#274

Post by rickstanley »

Today I only play Heroes of the Storm from Blizzard... It's a nice alternative to other MOBAs, simple and fast when compared to. But I don't waste a penny on their store nor give any helpful feedback. I just play with my friends, and when we're done, that's it, logout and forget.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#275

Post by bryan_w »

pm90 wrote: post #103
speedgoose wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working a at FAANG is not as attractive to most when you don’t know about the issues in the video games industry. There is a reason why FAANG companies pay well and video games companies don’t have to. I met zero people who told me they dreamed about working in a FAANG since childhood.

Microsoft owns Xbox and a multitude of game studios…

Most insightful comment of the day. :)

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#276

Post by secondcoming »

bertil wrote: post #243
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #5

Question, when these people find a new job will the person hiring them know?

I’ve worked in the gaming industry and I was surprised how some fairly standard questions about creativity, playing games, character development, etc. lead to detailed insights into the candidate’s personality. We’ve had candidates answer “You have to organise a fun evening for the 80 employees of this office. Your budget is $10. What do you do?” (a question meant to leverage their understanding that 70 of those 80 a…

> Candidates have suggested with blunt words that their pick characters in certain video games because they are female, well-endowed and barely dressed.

Are these characters ones made available to them by the game developers? If so, what's the offence here?

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#277

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

thebean11 wrote: post #273
bigbillheck wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This isn’t a fish Are you familiar with the concept of 'metaphor'?

They are saying it's not an apt metaphor

True, yet irrelevant to the discussion, which is I think the part people object to.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#278

Post by Planktonne »

aflag wrote: post #266
Planktonne wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being fired for harassment/abuse doesn't magically mean that you'll never harass or abuse someone in the future. Hiring someone with a track record of these issues puts your other employees at risk.

Are you saying they can't ever be hired again then?

Not at all (and I'm not really sure why you're leaping so precipitately to that).

But someone's previous conduct in a professional role is absolutely relevant information when considering hiring them; that's why we have the concept of a reference at all. It's not stigmatising someone or being unfair to them to consider their prior actions.

If someone has previously been fired for harassment, then that doesn't mean that they should never be employed again. Rehabilitation is totally possible, but it's not an automatic thing: someone with that history should expect it to be a concern for future employers, and should be able to outline (as you would with any other issue) the steps they've taken to mitigate it and ensure the same behaviour won't be repeated.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#279

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

bertil wrote: post #243
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #5

Question, when these people find a new job will the person hiring them know?

I’ve worked in the gaming industry and I was surprised how some fairly standard questions about creativity, playing games, character development, etc. lead to detailed insights into the candidate’s personality. We’ve had candidates answer “You have to organise a fun evening for the 80 employees of this office. Your budget is $10. What do you do?” (a question meant to leverage their understanding that 70 of those 80 a…

I agree with everything but your last sentence. Can people not look at other people anymore? And I am concerned you are actually sexually harassing the female employee by asking her that question and singling her out for her sexual appeal and gender.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#280

Post by FooBarBizBazz »

pferde wrote: post #196
pm90 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair most broism does originate in SV though doesn’t it?

I think "broism" originates from colleges, and is then carried over to businesses by new, young employees who never had the necessity to actually grow up and become decent people. Therefore it is not a geographically focused phenomenon.

I'd also link it a little to the '08 crash and the invasion of Tech by Finance types. But that's becoming ancient history.
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