Posts Tagged ‘harassment’
Activision Clears Self of Misconduct
Activision Blizzard published the results of an internal investigation today that found “no widespread harassment” at the videogame giant from 2016 to 2021, despite a lawsuit from California regulators last year alleging exactly that and massive turmoil among Activision employees since then. The investigation was ordered by Activision’s board last year after the California Department…
Read MoreMicrosoft & Activision, Part II: Repairing Culture
In a post earlier this week we explored the numerous antitrust and privacy concerns that arise from Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Today let’s assume that Microsoft somehow does close this deal. How would Microsoft then address the deeply troubled corporate culture at Activision? That’s a challenge ethics and compliance officers encounter all the…
Read MoreGloomy Stats on Workplace Misconduct
Another week, another report trying to quantify the breadth and cost of workplace misconduct. This one comes from Vault Platform, an internal reporting startup; and the rather gloomy headline here is that roughly half of all office workers in Britain and the United States have experienced some form of misconduct during their careers. Vault released…
Read MoreMore Activision CCO Drama
We return today to the saga surrounding Activision Blizzard and its chief compliance officer Frances Townsend — because, much to my astonishment, this story is getting even stranger. Townsend is doubling down on her statements about whistleblowers and, apparently, blocking employees on Twitter who disagree with her. Townsend made headlines last week for an ill-phrased…
Read MoreActivision CCO Steps Into a Mess
Looks like Frances Townsend, the chief compliance officer for Activision Blizzard, is going through some things this week. The state of California just sued the video game giant for allowing a sexually harassing culture, Townsend then circulated an email to employees calling the allegations false, and now employees are furious at her statement. This is…
Read MoreWynn, Part II: Third-Party Oversight
Today we revisit Wynn Resorts and the report its compliance monitor released last month. As you might recall, that report is a sweeping review of how Wynn has tried to rectify its operations after a sexual harassment scandal forced the departure of its founder and long-time CEO, Steve Wynn. Last month we took a deep…
Read MoreCBS Beefs Up Ethics & Compliance
Here’s something worth watching: CBS has announced a raft of measures to improve its ethics and compliance program, after blistering headlines about sexual harassment and retaliation in its executive offices and on the sets of its TV programs. Most notably, CBS will place “human resources production partners” on set at all of its programs, so…
Read MoreTech Workers Suspect Harassment Payouts
Ethical culture warriors, reflect on this: a new survey of technology workers finds that one-third of them believe their companies give generous payouts to employees leaving amid allegations of sexual misconduct. The survey was conducted by Blind, an online social network that allows employees to talk about their companies anonymously. Blind simply asked: “True or…
Read MoreHow to Undermine #MeToo
We have another useful lesson for ethics and compliance officers today from the world of politics: a small but telling glimpse into how men misinterpret the #MeToo movement and stifle attempts to speak up about sexual harassment. This example comes courtesy of Kevin Cramer, Republican congressman from North Dakota. Cramer is now running for Senate…
Read MoreKavanaugh and Compliance, Part II
Exactly one week ago, all we knew about Brett Kavanaugh’s personal conduct was that one woman had accused him of sexual assault 35 years ago when they were both high school students; and that Kavanaugh denied the allegations. Well, a lot can change in one week. Today we have a broader collection of allegations against…
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