(Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
On the verge of its acquisition by Microsoft, video game publisher Activision Blizzard on Thursday released its first annual report on diversity and inclusion, and the results showed that the company has a long way to go before hitting its goals around increasing the representation of women and non-binary people in its workforce.
The gaming giant had faced pressure from shareholders and employees to reform its corporate culture and practices after a series of reports exposed rampant discrimination and harassment. The report is an attempt to follow through on promises to better track its progress on increasing diversity.
Among other changes, Blizzard Activision separated "Woman" and "Non-binary" gender identities in representation data, which is how the company was able to show that both groups made up 26 percent of the workforce in December, which is just over half of its 2025 goal.
"We'll continue to measure the impact of these changes, as we're confident this work will contribute to our goal of becoming the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry," wrote Kristen Hines, the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) officer for Activision Blizzard, in a blog post.
"We also believe this will help us meet the commitment we made in 2021 to increase the percentage of women and non-binary employees by 50% over five years."
Updated March 24, 2023 at 2:38 p.m. ET to remove video clip. After the report aired, Activision offered additional information to clarify that the company increased gender diversity in December 2022 by a fraction of a percentage and 2 percent year-over-year.
It's a tough time for the job market. Amid wider economic uncertainty, some analysts have said that businesses are at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill. At the same time, some sizeable layoffs have continued to pile up — raising worker anxieties across sectors. Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs due to U.S.'s new tariffs, while others have redirected money to artificial intelligence investments. Workers in the public sector have also been hit hard. Federal jobs were cut by the thousands earlier this year. And many workers are now going without pay as the U.S. government shutdown has now dragged on for more than a month.
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