LogInSeveral Blizzard employees discussed Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra's comments during a recent Q&A and shared their concerns about the company's return-to-office policy and the decision to reduce profit-sharing bonuses.
Blizzard Entertainment has recently held an internal Q&A session with its workers during which the company's president Mike Ybarra addressed the staff's questions regarding the use of the "Stack Ranking" system, the lower profit-sharing bonus, and the new policy that would require employees to return to the office.
As noted by Game Developer, Ybarra's responses were apparently so outrageous that they provoked Blizzard employees as well as their friends and families to publically criticize the company's leadership on Twitter.
The outlet reached out to several sources close to Blizzard who attended the Q&A or were aware that it took place to discuss the content of the meeting. It also received comments from Blizzard Entertainment’s spokesperson who touched upon the topics discussed during the Q&A.
According to Game Developer's sources, the Q&A session involved the discussion of Blizzard's "stack-ranking" policy. Ybarra reportedly defended the ranking system and downplayed the company's former lead software engineer Brian Birmingham's statements that this policy made him unfairly rank an employee whose performance he believed was satisfactory.
Blizzard spokesperson, however, noted that Ybarra didn't directly address Birmingham's comments adding that while Blizzard has "high expectations for [its] team", it doesn't "stack rank employees 1 through X."
"Managers set goals with every employee and we measure performance against those goals," they said. "We provide managers with guidelines for how to consider performance ratings across larger teams to ensure they’re more fair and unbiased, and there is flexibility."
Another topic that reportedly made Blizzard employees enraged was the company's decision to lower the annual profit-sharing bonus. The developers were particularly disappointed with this news, especially considering that the company had a really strong quarter reporting an approximately 90% year-over-year growth in revenue and operating income in the Blizzard segment.
What, as sources state, added fuel to the fire was Ybarra's comments that the decision to cut the annual profit-sharing bonus impacts executives just as much as other employees. "If you think that executives are making a lot of money and you aren't, you're living in a myth," he reportedly said.
While the statement is technically factual – the reduction of the profit-sharing bonus will apply to all employees, including Blizzard's executives – sources agreed that this statement doesn't make sense since if a Blizzard employee with a lower salary does not receive the bonus, they will have a reduced budget for expenses, while executives such as Ybarra who have a considerably higher salary and supplementary compensation will not share the same financial worries.
Another topic that was discussed during the Q&A was Activision Blizzard's requirement to return to the office. At the time of the announcement, the company's plan drew much criticism from employees.
While some of them have expressed concerns that ending remote work would heighten developers' risk of contracting COVID-19, others were worried about the additional costs that returning to the office would incur for those who were originally hired as remote-only workers, as well as for those who will have to face longer commutes.
Game Developers' sources stated that Ybarra was asked a question asserting that the return-to-office policy could result in the company losing valuable employees during a critical time.
Responding to it, the company's president reportedly didn't provide any concrete strategies for retaining talent, only saying that Blizzard "wants people to be happy, and if decisions about being happy don't align with where [the company is] going, and [emplyess] won't be happy, then [they will] have to do what will make [them] happy."
According to sources, Blizzard developers interpreted this statement as implying that if employees are dissatisfied with the return-to-office policy, they should depart from the company.
Commenting on the topic, the Blizzard spokesperson said: "We understand some people may not find this model ideal, and that change is hard, but we’re one of 90% of companies returning to the office this year and we’re committed to supporting teams in making the transition."
They also added that employees who were initially hired to work remotely will maintain their remote status under the return-to-office plan.
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