They should really be doing MORE hiring. Stuff's pushed back, and still released buggy. Customer service... haha. Best joke of the year.Also, creating jobs can be their PR stunt if they really can't stand doing something just to be good people.
This kind of thing happens, they are temp employees. As a temp employee you really don't know where you will be working one week, month, day from now depending on your contract and status. If i were to be told in 2 months I won't be working - that is a luxury. Some days I don't even know I'm working tomorrow at the same place or know where that is.
Well ... they could have at least waited after christmas holidays & new years is over. Shows how the managers dont care about employees.So stupid to search a new job + place to live at this time. Some of the QA staff also just moved there - not even a year ago.
Now if only that 8% reduction of TOTAL trade for 20% increase of DEVELOPMENT teams actually felt like it benefited anybody. Maybe the Candy Crush players got it. Not so much for the Diablo, Wacraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, or Call of Duty player bases.
The timing is impeccably considerate. Are robots in charge of Activision?
Well... that's just how temp works always has been
Dig that hole deeper Bobby, lets get to the center of the earth.
Firing even more QA staff is a really really good idea. Esp. considering we are really happy to do the testing for free. Yes, I am TOTALLY serious.
I mean they HIRED 500 people as FULL TIME and didn't extend the contract of 20 TEMPORARY employees. This is just so extra and has no basis of actual controversy. Imagine people getting angry that blizzard had 520 temp employees from one studio, and 96% get on-boarded to be full time employees. I actually gained a little bit respect from Activision from this.
ActiBlizz has a lot to answer for and fix these days, but I'm having a hard time seeing this from the employees perspective. They were hired as TEMPORARY. Whether it's shady practice or not, it's not illegal and the word "temporary" should carry a lot of weight to the person considering the job. "I was hired as temporary but promised permanent later" should be a giant red flag, lol. Why aren't they outright hiring you permanent? You can't get upset if you signed a contract for a limited amount of time and when it expires, it's not renewed. The contract was fulfilled. It might suck that it's not being renewed but I just can't get to a place in my mind where the employer is in the wrong in this situation. They are being given 6 weeks notice, the most I've ever gotten in my life is 2 weeks, lol. If you don't like the labor laws go direct your anger at the people who make them. The way temporary employment is set up is definitely in the employer's best interests and not the employee's but it's the law. Also, maybe don't move cities for a temporary contract without a backup plan? These people signed a contract that is about to expire. It's not being cancelled or revoked, it's expiring.They are moving 500 temporary employees to permanent positions and letting 20 go to make that work financially for them, or maybe for other reasons altogether, that is their right as business owners and managers. Don't forget it's a business and it's main purpose is to make money. It's not to create entertainment for the masses and it's not to provide careers or jobs for individuals. Also, if a business wants to survive it has to be adaptable. What worked and what was needed a few years ago doesn't mean it will continue to work and be needed till the end of time. It's a fact that businesses need to move resources and make big changes regularly to stay competitive in their industry.To me, this just comes off as a bunch of people seeing an opportunity to get on the company shaming bus for attention because they want it, not because they need it. Which is irritating because there's actual real issues being brought into the light and maybe even being taken seriously enough for some real change to actually take place. This little temper tantrum takes away from that imo.Firing people in December should be illegal though, seriously. Millions of people struggle emotionally during the holidays without the added stress of losing their livelihood. Especially if you have kids looking forward to Santa's visit. This particular situation seems unlucky for all due to the contract timing, however. The employer is kind stuck in a too much or too little "notice" spot. It's tough to give an employee too much notice because they tend to not give a crap from the time they are told till their last day because "what are they gonna do? Fire me?" It's hard to stay invested when you've been rejected.
I know it sucks but from a business standpoint, sometimes you have to cut off a finger to save the hand.
I don't think this is a bad move on Activision's part... just oof timing.
Boy, I remember Raven Software back when they made DOS games such as Heretic and Hexen. I didn't know they were working on Call of Duty!
I don't see what is wrong here. 20 people are being laid off and given *2 months* advance knowledge of this happening - 4 weeks would be great, 8 weeks is *very* considerate.Whilst 20 might sound like a lot, when you're dealing with corporations that have 9500+ employees in ActiBlizz's case, 20 is nothing. Its under a quarter of a percent and this is all without adding in that they are *temporary workers* - they know they aren't sticking around, they just don't know for how long - well, now they do. 2 months from now, they will no longer be employed at ActiBlizz.I don't see the outrage at all here - even with all the terrible things happening at ActiBlizz, this is isn't one of them. Its non-news, to be honest. Whats that you say? 20 temporary workers' contracts expire in 2 months time? Holy baloney, thats bonkers!
this one has a lot of "good news/bad news" to it.but the main take away from this should be that bit about temporary workers being used as cheap labor.i've known lots of people who were hired "part-time", but then scheduled 40+ hours a week for over 6 months. and never given any benefits. when they asked about it, they were told "you're only part-time. part-time employees don't qualify for benefits."of course, "part-time" employees aren't supposed to be working 40+ hours every week, either.it's not just ABK that are using these not-quite-ethical practices. it is pretty much every company, in every industry.
I'm absolutely confused by the state of things. People are fighting for Activision to hire them?The company whose culture and work environment was deemed so abhorrent that all the major industry players Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo felt a need to speak out against it. A company that following a multi year investigation by the State of California found examples of multiple serious violations. That's had multiple reliable journalists reporting stomach churning examples of abuse that occurred at Activision and Blizzard ... has 500+ employees literally fighting for this company to hire them? Seriously, why?
