Activision Blizzard have confirmed that they will be mandating a partial return-to-office stipulation for all of its employees from the spring of this year. All ABK employees will have to return to their workplace in April, while Blizzard workers are expected to return in July. As a quick reminder, the entire King staff returned back in July 2022.
As VGC reports, the new mandate requests all employees to attend their offices for at least three days a week. The same source also noted that disgruntled employees had leaked the news to social media. The employees noted that they are still concerned by the dangers related to the ongoing pandemic, which initially forced the at-home mandate in the first place. Meanwhile,
one Blizzard employee stated that many coworkers find the commute as well as the whole workplace environment, to be both expensive and stressful.
The employee also shared
the following message on Twitter: “The majority of employees at ABK have no interest in returning to the office either full or part-time. This isn’t to say that nobody sees the value in an office environment, but we’ve overall decided the risks do not outweigh those benefits. For over a decade now, lower earning departments have pleaded with leadership to include yearly [Cost of Living] adjustments into salary to prevent this, but [have] been denied, and our most recent meetings from last month suggest that there are no plans for this to change this year.”
Speaking with Gameindustry.biz, Activision Blizzard confirmed their intention to return to the return-to-office mandate.
“Activision Blizzard has been returning teams to the office over the past year, and on February 13, we updated our future-of-work plans,” said a spokesperson for the publisher. “In close partnership with each leadership team, we crafted a plan that is customized based on what’s best for our business and our teams.”
“We look forward to the increased real-time, in-person collaboration and opportunities this change will foster.”
