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Internal Blizzard Memo Encourages Effort To Hire And Retain More Women
Kotaku reports on an internal memo at Blizzard intending to combat unequal ratios of male and female employees, representing a stark contrast to recent leaked internal memos from other tech companies.
The memo, which Kotaku confirmed from Blizzard is real, details that only 21% of Blizzard's employees are women and that they leave the organization at a higher rate than men. Blizzard's President Mike Morhaime points out that these numbers are consistent with the industry at large, but he does not find them satisfactory for Blizzard.
He goes on to explain Blizzard's diversity effort that will start initially by focusing on women but will "expand to other under-represented minorities" over time. The effort is detailed in the Kotaku article, as well as republication of Blizzard's LBGTQ council and the internal hopes to expand it.
[Source: Kotaku]
Our Take
Kudos to Blizzard for pursuing a diversity effort, as the video game industry can always be more open and inclusive. Unfortunately, meritocracies are often biased despite an assumption of objectivity, and industries have to be shaken up to get an actually realistic sample of the best people for the job.
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