Activision calls for proposal to interview at least one diverse candidate per “unfeasible” position

A new report has revealed that Activision Blizzard is resisting adopting a recruiting practice that would require the company to interview at least one candidate who is a qualified female or a minority candidate. Activision Blizzard, through its lawyers, has called this practice “unworkable”. In a new report from VICE, the AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the United States, submitted a shareholder proposal to Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts (EA) asking them to adopt a hiring policy that would require every company to include women and people of color in its initial pool of potential applicants.

The AFL-CIO is a shareholder of Activision Blizzard and EA, and the letter of request has been sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The proposal is modeled on Rooney’s rule in the National Football League. Passed in 2003, the rule required NFL teams to interview at least one non-white candidate for a coaching position. VICE reports that the rule was later expanded to include women and other marginalized candidates.

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Activision, a company with more than 9,000 employees and the makers of some of the biggest games such as Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, reportedly resented the proposal. She took steps to evade herself by claiming that these guidelines are excluded from the SEC guidelines for shareholder proposals.

In addition, a letter from Activision, obtained by Motherboard, states: “Although the company has implemented a Rooney Rule policy as intended [for director and CEO nominees], implementing a policy that would extend such an approach to all hiring decisions amounts to an unachievable encroachment on the company’s ability to run its business and compete for talent in a highly competitive and changing market. quick.

Activision says this proposal violates SEC guidelines as a way for a shareholder to “micromanage” the business. In a statement to VICE, EA says it will “review the shareholder proposal” with its board of directors.

It should be noted that these proposals are legally non-binding. What they end up doing, however, is highlighting the issues and paving the way for a business to fix them. But Activision seems to be getting ahead of these discussions.

Matt TM Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter @LawofTD.