A Letter From Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager on Gender Equality Month

As we near the end of Women’s History and Gender Equality Month, I wanted to return to the Sledgehammer Games blog and reflect on what has changed at our studio since I last shared my thoughts with you.

But I want to start with something that hasn’t changed: the women who I get to work alongside every day at Sledgehammer Games are some of the most phenomenal people I’ve ever met. It remains an honour to serve this group of talented individuals in my role as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager, and to ensure every voice at our studio is given the same opportunity to be heard. 

Last year, I committed to sharing the tangible steps we have taken to improve our studio for the women who work here and the women who might work here in the future. To this end, here are a few of the initiatives our team has actioned in the last twelve months to support this goal, thanks to collaborations between DE&I, HR, operations, talent acquisition, studio leadership, and some incredible volunteers: 

• We are welcoming more diverse applicants to apply for roles at our studio by iterating on our job descriptions. We have added explicit invitations for people to apply for job roles even if they do not meet all the suggested criteria, which we know encourages more women to apply, and we now use the Textio tool to check our job descriptions for unconscious bias.
• We have empowered people from all departments and levels of seniority to more actively contribute to the creative direction of our games through a creative council pilot program, which allows us to be inspired by themes and ideas from more diverse sources—including our interns and junior employees, who are statistically more likely to be women than our senior directors.
• We have created new training, coaching, and mentorship initiatives that are focused on ensuring every person at our studio has opportunities for professional growth. We are investing in our amazing and diverse future leaders so they can see ongoing opportunities for themselves at our studio, and helping our managers be better prepared to inclusively support every single one of their direct reports, no matter who they are. 

There are so many other incredible DE&I initiatives underway, including regular celebrations of key annual observances, ongoing partnerships with community organisations, exciting opportunities to include authentic cultural content in our games, and collaborations with our other Activision Blizzard studios to build more accessible and inclusive systems. We can’t wait to tell you more about them!

Alayna Cole 
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Manager