Blizzard Entertainment staff are revolting over pay, after an internal study meant to ensure fair pay didn’t produce the desired results for the workers. According to a Bloomberg report, employees began sharing an anonymous salary spreadsheet on Friday, encouraging people to share their salaries and recent pay increases.
Most of the pay increases given after Blizzard’s study were less than 10 per cent, which is reported to be significantly less than most people expected. Employees at Blizzard Entertainment have previously described having to skip meals to make rent, while one veteran claims they are earning less than they used to with Blizzard almost a decade ago.
Last year, Blizzard Entertainment was asked by parent company, Activision Blizzard, to reduce costs. This resulted in hundreds of job cuts, with the remaining staff being burdened with new responsibilities without being compensated for the extra workload.
This year, Blizzard’s top performers received a salary increase that was 20 per cent more than in the past, and many more people got promotions.
One person added CEO Bobby Kotick’s salary and compensation package to the anonymous spreadsheet to contrast other listed salaries. Kotick is one of the highest-paid executives in the entertainment/ media industry, with his compensation topping $30 million in 2019.
Activision Blizzard maintains that it has always focused on fair and competitive remuneration for all its employees; that regularly reviews compensations; that the Company believes in recognising the talent of its ace performers and that it has never shirked from investing in employees or rewarding them.
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