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Blizzard Starts Drive To Recruit More Women and Ethnic Minorities (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The company behind games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch has started a drive to recruit more women and ethnic minorities. The information is in a leaked internal email from Blizzard's CEO, seen by the website Kotako. It claims 21 percent of Blizzard's employees are women, and although that's similar to the rest of the gaming industry, it says it wants to do better. The company claims the initiative will focus on finding more female employees and getting them to stay on longer. At the moment women are leaving at a higher rate than men but it says it'll fall short of setting "quotas."
... to have some of the men declare that they feel like and wish to be treated as women. Then they could be counted as such, right?
At the moment women are leaving at a higher rate than men but it says it'll fall short of setting "quotas."
I think "Quotas" are what most people object to that object to hiring more women and minorities. No one wants to feel like they missed out on a job because they were the wrong sex or race. Not men, women, Europeans, or Africans.
Trying to be more appealing to women and minorities is a noble goal because in order to relate to all demographics of clients you need all demographics of staff. It's easy to miss out sometimes what another group might find appealing or offensive without valid representation.
Appeal to minorities and all genders but don't set quotas. As long as Blizzard is really doing this and not just saying they are to look good- they're doing the right thing by my way of thinking.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
She won't even play their games and hates them a shit load. They probably have other issues than hiring.
This sure sounds like female employees are going to be enticed with better compensation, perks, more flexible hours, etc. - how else could they possibly "convince them to stay longer"?
If being more flexible with hours and giving better compensation attracts more women then everyone benefits. Even men will surely be happier with more flexible hours and better benefits. If it attracts women but makes mens lives easier- that's a benefit for everyone.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The games business is notorious for terrible working conditions, terrible management, and a huge percentage of coworkers who are just plain jerks.
Bad management means you have low job security and a high chance your work will end up getting thrown away when the project is cancelled.
And whether your coworkers are jerks because they're misogynistic, or because they're trolls, or because they're SJWs, or because they're divas, or because they're just social misfits, it still sucks dealing with jerks all the time.
On the other hand, it's a growing business, so even a bad job might lead to a good opportunity eventually.
I honestly wonder what management is hoping to achieve here.
Setting up a legal defense for future lawsuits by women and minorities.
It is also possible Blizzard concluded their customers would boycott the products unless there are more women and ethnic minorities among the employees
It's not their customers. It's gaming "journalists". They're some of the most hardcore SJWs around and they run campaign after campaign against anyone who doesn't pledge allegiance to their cause. Are you not diverse enough? Well, here's a bad review! Does your game make me feel icky? Bad reviews! Did you not hire my friend? Bad review!
They've got a great protection racket going.