According to a Vice Report, Activision Blizzard wants to avoid a proposal to interview at least one diverse candidate when hiring for a position.
The proposal was addressed separately to Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts by the AFL-CIO Labor Federation, which owns shares in both publishers.
The proposal was based on the NFL’s Rooney rule, which was passed in 2003 to require all teams in the football league to interview at least one diverse candidate for each vacancy for head coaches. It was later expanded with vacancies for general managers and similar positions in the office.
In its letters to publishers, the AFL-CIO advocates the adoption of the rule, saying, “A diverse workforce at all levels of an enterprise can improve the long-term performance of the company.”
Activision Blizzard cites its diversity programs to Vice, saying: “We appreciate the diversity of the Activision Blizzard community and understand that our employees and players come from a wide variety of backgrounds. To provide epic and engaging entertainment for a diverse, growing world “Our audience needs to reflect these communities.”
However, it also reacted to the AFL-CIO proposal by asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to release it from demand from shareholders at this summer’s annual meeting.
Vice reports that an Activision Blizzard lawyer told the SEC in January: ‘While the company has implemented a Rooney Rule policy as intended [for director and CEO nominees]implementing a policy that would extend such an approach to all leasing decisions amounts to an unworkable breach of the company’s ability to run its business and to compete for talent in a highly competitive, fast-moving market. “
Activision Blizzard’s lawyer further said that the proposal is micromanaging in nature, and that it leaves no room for the company’s management or board to exercise discretion over how new lease decisions are structured.
On the other hand, a representative of EA told Vice that the publisher would consider the AFL-CIO proposal, saying that he was ‘committed to maintaining rental practices that promote inclusion and diversity’.
As Vice-notes have made, the AFL-CIO has already achieved success with similar proposals from Rooney Rule shareholders, who have convinced five of the largest U.S. banks to adopt such policies and add public accountability to their existing diversity initiatives.