Activision increased representation of women and non-binary people by 2 percentage points as it faces 2025 goal

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Video game publisher Activision Blizzard increased representation of women and non-binary people by 2 percentage points from November 2021 to December 2022, according to data shared with CNBC.

The company said women and non-binary employees made up 24.3% of its workforce in November 2021, but that figure rose to 26.3% by the end of 2022.

“We realize we have work to do, but we’re very proud of the progress we’ve made over the last year,” Alex DiLeonardo, chief talent officer, said in an interview.

Executives have vowed to make women more inclusive at the company after media reports described incidents of harassment of women that prompted government investigations.

Microsoft, a competitor and partner of Activision Blizzard, has begun talks to acquire the game publisher after reports pressured the game publisher’s stock price. Microsoft is working to resolve regulatory concerns about the deal, and executives said in January that they still expected to close the $69 billion acquisition by the end of June.

Of Activision Blizzard’s full-time employees at the end of December, 25% were women and 1% identified as non-binary, in line with 26% for both groups at the end of November, according to data released by the company in a blog post .

He also gave a new statistic – less than 1% identified as “something else”. In 2021, the company set a goal of reaching 35% full-time non-binary and female employees by 2025. The company said 29% of hires in 2022 were female, down from 30% in the year ending February 28, 2022. As of 2022, 2% hires are non-binary.

“I couldn’t be more passionate and committed to being the most performance-focused, welcoming and inclusive company in entertainment,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told analysts on a 2021 conference call. which followed an agreement with the US Equal Opportunity Commission to strengthen policies to reduce harassment and discrimination.

Activision Blizzard began using startup Textio’s software to make job descriptions more inclusive and gender-neutral, reviewing more than 5,500 listings in 2022 with the tool, Kristen Hines, whom Activision Blizzard named its first chief employee in Diversity and Inclusion last year, the blog post said.

“We will continue to measure the impact of these changes as we are confident that this work will further our goal of becoming the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry,” Hines wrote. “We also believe it will help us meet the commitment we made in 2021 to increase the percentage of women and non-binary employees by 50% in five years.”

Microsoft has been trying to increase the presence of women for years and has made progress in technical and leadership roles. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division, told a Wall Street Journal event in October that “we need to make sure teams feel safe, included, heard, where they can do their best work.” . In November, Microsoft committed to updating its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies.

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