Activision increased representation of women and non-binary people by 2 percentage points

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

The company said that women and non-binary employees made up 24.3% of its workforce in November 2021, but that figure had risen 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 past year,” Alex DiLeonardo, chief human resources officer, said in an interview.

Executives have vowed to make women more discerning in the company after reports of harassment of women in the media sparked government investigations.

Microsoft, a competitor and partner of Activision Blizzard, has entered into talks to acquire the game publisher after reports that the game publisher’s share price collapsed. Microsoft is working to resolve regulatory challenges over the deal, and executives said in January that they still expected to complete the $69 billion acquisition by the end of June.

Among Activision Blizzard’s full-time employees at the end of December, 25% were female and 1% identified as non-binary, according to data posted by the company on a blog, up from 26% for both groups at the end of November. .

He also gave a new statistic – less than 1% identified as “something else”. In 2021, the company set a goal to reach 35% full-time non-binary workers and women by 2025. The company said 29% of its hires in 2022 were women, up from 30% in the year ending February 28, 2022. Of the 2022 hires, 2% were non-binary.

“I couldn’t be more passionate and committed to being the most performance-driven, welcoming and inclusive entertainment company,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told analysts on a 2021 conference call following the deal with the U.S. company Equal. Commission to strengthen policies to reduce harassment and discrimination where possible.

Activision Blizzard began using software startup Textio to make job descriptions more inclusive and gender-neutral, reviewing more than 5,500 listings in 2022 using the tool, it said in a blog post.

“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 proportion of women and non-binary employees by 50% over 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, feel included, feel 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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Fix: Title and story updated to correctly reflect Activision’s latest available data on representation of women and non-binary people.