According to a recent report, Valve leadership allegedly obstructed internal diversity initiatives and prevented the company from publicly supporting Black Lives Matter.
In-depth discussions of Valve's infamously unorthodox organizational structure and how it might impede diverse hires, according to overt political opinions provided by current and former staff.
Stunted Internal Support Has Resulted In Lack Of Diversity
In an effort to understand Valve's murky workplace culture and decision-making, the YouTube channel People Make Games spoke with 16 current and former employees.
After that, the video examines the company's workplace culture and how it affects the company's diversity, Game Spot reports.
On paper, Valve has a system that is unstructured, in which there are no real bosses or supervisors and where employees are free to make their own choices.
Additionally, Valve employs its own stack-ranking system, which allows staff members to assess one another's performance and, in a secret manner, determine each employee's annual compensation and bonus.
The company, according to several respondents, lacks diversity, even by the norms of the frequently homogeneous games sector.
According to a former employee, there were more women and/or people of color among contractors and lower-level employees.
Additionally, the workplace flexibility that Valve promotes is not possible for the growing number of women who work in finance and human resources. because they are constrained by more rigid positions.
Moreover, those interviewed claimed that stack-ranking can also reinforce the studio's biases and hierarchy.
Part of the problem stems from Valve's usage of stack ranking, an employee rating technique that a Blizzard employee recently protested.
Every year, the Valve team evaluates one another in a series of meetings that produce an aggregate ranking of every employee.
It is important to note that based on that ranking, the employees who will be paid more the next year are chosen, PC Gamer writes.
Without managers to specify how decisions should be made or how pay adjustments will be made, the impacts on employee behavior appear to be rather pronounced.
Read More: Valve Adds Highly-Requested Component Lookup View in Steam Deck's Latest Client Beta Update
The Issue Came To Light Due To The Wave Of Diversity Initiatives From Other Companies
Diversity initiatives may not receive the attention they deserve because stack ranking encourages individuals to perform work that the organization and other employees deem valuable.
Although recruiting decisions can involve employees from throughout the organization, the article alleges that Valve is biased against employing people who look like them.
This is because the majority of its general staff and long-term employees are all white men, according to a Game Spot report.
After George Floyd's murder and the start of the statewide Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, these issues reached a boiling point.
According to allegations, some employees lobbied for Valve to publicly endorse BLM, while others were adamantly opposed to doing so.
Those interviewed said that senior employees of the business eventually decided against making any statement.
However, instead of issuing a company statement in support of the movement, staff members were given $10,000 to donate to any cause they chose.
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