Jesse Meschuk leaves Activision Blizzard

Senior Vice President of Human Resources Jesse Meschuk made the decision to leave the company this week amid accusations of widespread employee abuse and the firm's inability to take them seriously. Jesse Meschuk, who was Blizzard's senior vice president of global human resources, stepped down this week as pressure on the company escalated.

According to the initial lawsuit and many further stories from injured employees, the company's human resources department played an important role in the development of the situation of discrimination and harassment. At the same time, according to the Axios portal, the case was not limited to incorrect, disrespectful, and sometimes directly offensive behavior from the department employees themselves, they often ignored incoming complaints, especially when it came to people from high positions. A culture of brotherhood and concealment of misconduct among company employees thrived, thanks in part to the HR department, which was unwilling to take action even when given the opportunity.

Axios gave several examples of similar stories. For example, one of the workers physically attacked an employee and she hurried to contact the personnel department, where she was skeptically told that she did not look like a victim, did not cry or be hysterical, and did not take any measures to protect her, but was advised to move to another department or to work from home. When she re-contacted HR, she was told that the culprit apologizes, but really wants to continue working at Blizzard, and notes that she was very friendly with him. As a result, the culprit remained at work in the company.

Note that Meshchuk has been with the company since 2009 and is leaving with Blizzard, facing perhaps the biggest crisis to date.

Meshchuk appears to have deleted his Twitter account earlier this year, just as besieged former colleague Fran Townsend decided to do so this week after her role in downplaying the allegations came under the spotlight.