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Not that I think it's relevant in this situation, but the idea that someone needs to resign over accusations because doubt may linger is a really bad one.Accusations that I have used offensive slurs about members of the staff are categorically FALSE. Many LGBTQIA+ members of the Paizo staff are close friends of mine, and I would never talk that way about anyone on our staff or in our community.Sir, the issue is no matter what, you are only bringing bad publicity to Paizo now. Your empty statement doesnt talk about any actionable steps you or the rest of Paizo are going to take, just what you have done, and one of the allegations is that of taking credit while pushing back on those same ideas. Even if the allegations are false, the doubt will linger in people's minds. When this happens the company needs some kind of change to restore faith. Whether that is an independent investigation of all the claims with transparent reporting of the findings, or a change in leadership that is considered problematic at this time by public perceptions.What people are looking for with a resignation is accountability.
As Jeff's presented no plan of action or clarification, then the call for replacements and resignations won't go away quickly with a boiler plate denial and defaulting to "some of my friends are gay".
Like I said, I don't know that it applies here. Just that the idea that someone should resign just because there are accusations is bad.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve had to draft a crisis communication, but here’s what it should have said as far as I am concerned:
Recently, three long-time employees parted ways with the Paizo family. Paizo as a whole is sad for this loss, but these decisions were made with the best interests of Paizo, Pathfinder, Starfinder, and our fan community in mind. After those departures became public, several allegations were laid down by other former employees. I and the rest of the Paizo family am saddened by these statements. Many of them predate my time at the helm of the company, but leadership is about addressing matters as they stand rather than fighting about how or why they arose.
For legal reasons, I cannot speak publicly to these personnel issues or to other issues that might be the subject of future litigation. However, even Paizo’s detractors publicly admit that our company’s history shows a dedication to diversity and inclusion both in our hiring practices and through representation in our published products. We continue to aspire to those ideals and our future products will continue to reflect them. Everyone fails to live up to their ideals, but that does not excuse attempts to atone for past misdeeds or mean we should not attempt to create a better, more welcoming, and healthy work environment for our employees--whatever may have happened in the past.
Paizo’s employees are our company’s lifeblood and we could not exist without them. Internally, we must have a clear picture of the current state of affairs if we are to improve. For that reason, Paizo has retained [insert name of outside law/consulting/etc. firm here] to conduct an internal investigation into our company and its culture, focusing on worker health and safety. Because a creative company lives or dies on the comfort of its creative talent, they will also be empowered to investigate company culture.
I have asked them to investigate all of these matters and deliver a report—including recommendations for improvement—to me. Paizo staff will be able to speak to these issues to outside investigators anonymously and without fear of reprisal. After they deliver their report, a group of Paizo employees including Publisher Erik Mona, myself, and cross-sectional representatives from all of Paizo’s departments (including non-management employees) will review those recommendations and come to consensus on a course of action. When we have done so, we will report on those planned actions to our public fanbase.
I remind you that just because something was said does not mean it is true. I ask that our fans have patience with us while we investigate this matter and bear with us while we get to the bottom of the issue. In the meantime, Paizo will continue to publish the groundbreaking and revolutionary content as we have done for two decades.
My office door is open to any Paizo employee that would like to raise these issues. In an effort to be transparent with our fanbase, I ask that public inquiries be directed through our media department, ideally as a response to this message, so as to not overwhelm our media department.
- [Signature]
But, I'm not internal to Paizo, so I may not know everything going on...
VP of Marketing & Licensing
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Accusations that I have used offensive slurs about members of the staff are categorically FALSE. Many LGBTQIA+ members of the Paizo staff are close friends of mine, and I would never talk that way about anyone on our staff or in our community.Can you get them to issue a statement backing that up?
In my 4+ years of working with Jeff, I've never heard him utter a single derogatory thing about LGBTQIA+ people. That includes during executive meetings, tradeshows, Paizo parties, this strange Zoom world we live in now, and more.
Jeff has been nothing but helpful to both me and my husband since I joined the team. In fact, this goes well beyond Jeff--everyone at Paizo has been welcoming and open; it's part of our culture. Claims from nearly a decade ago that cannot be proven are being used as ammunition in an effort to prove a point.
Paizo is not perfect; no company is. We get better every year, and I think the products we've produced are reflective of the internal culture of Paizo today.
-Jim
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To that end, I should acknowledge that some members of our staff did raise concerns about the campaign’s theme early on. In retrospect, I did not give these concerns the full audience that they deserved, and I regret this oversight. That’s part of the learning process, too.
This was said about a year ago, after employees who raised concerns about Agents of Edgewatch were ignored. In the last year, it seems like things haven't changed, and employees are still being ignored.
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Jeff with the accusations against you and other members of management for not listening to those individuals, it would be best for Paizo if you stepped down.
Hard disagreement.
If someone lies about you on social media, you don't give them everything that could make them happy in order to make them stop.
You refute the lie, show your proof, and move on with your life.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve had to draft a crisis communication, but here’s what it should have said as far as I am concerned:
** spoiler omitted **...
That would be good, but I feel that the person at the head of this organization is not equipped to handle this situation.
The official statement is abysmal and shows that the person in charge takes no responsibility in identifying any actions that could be taken to identify raised issues.
"Look, here is a rug. Quick someone get a broom" - Anonymous
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Accusations that I have used offensive slurs about members of the staff are categorically FALSE. Many LGBTQIA+ members of the Paizo staff are close friends of mine, and I would never talk that way about anyone on our staff or in our community.Can you get them to issue a statement backing that up?
In my 4+ years of working with Jeff, I've never heard him utter a single derogatory thing about LGBTQIA+ people. That includes during executive meetings, tradeshows, Paizo parties, this strange Zoom world we live in now, and more.
Jeff has been nothing but helpful to both me and my husband since I joined the team. In fact, this goes well beyond Jeff--everyone at Paizo has been welcoming and open; it's part of our culture. Claims from nearly a decade ago that cannot be proven are being used as ammunition in an effort to prove a point.
Paizo is not perfect; no company is. We get better every year, and I think the products we've produced are reflective of the internal culture of Paizo today.
-Jim
Thank you Jim for voicing in. I seriously wish the initial response had more depth. The oil fire that has been burning for the last 24 hours is going to take more than a generic response and the initial response appears to have poured more oil on it.
I don't know Jeff personally, but you do. Your words have a lot of weight, but right now the community I feel needs more than just words to be held together.
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Jeff with the accusations against you and other members of management for not listening to those individuals, it would be best for Paizo if you stepped down.Hard disagreement.
If someone lies about you on social media, you don't give them everything that could make them happy in order to make them stop.
You refute the lie, show your proof, and move on with your life.
I agree but his response is not showing that there is any plan, most posting are calling it what it is, a boilerplate response.
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The recent departure of two long-time Paizo employees has generated a great deal of public discussion, including a series of accusations critical of the company’s management that range back several years. While Paizo cannot discuss personnel issues in public, we wish to strongly reaffirm the company’s commitment to the ideals of inclusiveness and diversity in gaming, both within our company and in the products we create.
From the day the company opened back in 2002 all the way to the present, POC and LGBTQIA+ contributors and staff have been a critical part of our creative and business operations, and our company has been at the forefront of these issues in the work we publish and the values we espouse.
We are committed to these values and work to do better every day, backed up by a tremendous staff at all levels of the company, all of whom share the values of inclusivity, diversity, and improvement. We are also working actively to listen to those employees and take additional steps to ensure that they feel their voices are being heard. By doing so, we believe we have become better now than we were 5 years ago, and that we will be better 5 years from now than we are today.
--Jeff
It's statements like this that give companies a bad name.
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The recent departure of two long-time Paizo employees has generated a great deal of public discussion, including a series of accusations critical of the company’s management that range back several years. While Paizo cannot discuss personnel issues in public, we wish to strongly reaffirm the company’s commitment to the ideals of inclusiveness and diversity in gaming, both within our company and in the products we create.
Respectfully, this entire statement rings hollow. We know Paizo us committed to those things, because your workers are.
The accusations aren't about Paizo the company, they're about a Management team that accepts accolades for inclusiveness that they tried to roadblock.
They're about diversity being used as a weapon against *your own employees*.
Realistically any statement here would be addressing why someone who as far as we can tell had moved to a 503C organization (Organized Play Foundation) instead of being a Paizo employee found themselves in a new role created for them, out over the CS team and then *fired* the CS Manager.
What is the status of OPF? Who works there now? Clearly Paizo isn't as removed from it as we may have believed.
Is "the painting" still there? If not, when was it removed?
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Managing Art Director
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Accusations that I have used offensive slurs about members of the staff are categorically FALSE. Many LGBTQIA+ members of the Paizo staff are close friends of mine, and I would never talk that way about anyone on our staff or in our community.Can you get them to issue a statement backing that up?
I have never, in my 9 years at Paizo, heard Jeff Alvarez say anything disparaging against LGBTQIA+ people (or anyone for that matter). He is one of the kindest most sincere people I have ever known, and my wife and I have become quite close friends with him.
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I am now convinced that there are some issues that should probably be addressed from near the top of the company, given the combo of a generic tone-deaf response and a very personal tone-deaf rebuttal. Confirmation that there's an issue would be fine and even good, except I'm also now convinced it's not going to shake out in an especially productive way from that side. Cool update.
I hope there aren't more well-regarded people caught in the crossfire. Despite this being a crummy response given it's from the president, I'll wait and see for more concrete follow-ups before passing much judgement on the overall tangled situation, and I encourage others to do the same.
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Great response from Jim, but that's exactly what I was talking about. A useless couple of paragraphs from Jeff means other Paizo employees have to do the answering and take the public heat here.
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Paizo is not perfect; no company is. We get better every year, and I think the products we've produced are reflective of the internal culture of Paizo today.
-Jim
Are these things not reflective of management culture?
https://twitter.com/AmazonChique/status/1437953182882217986?s=19
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Thank you Jim and Sonja for your valuable input. That doesn't mean there aren't still problems. But it is something.
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Jeff, can you speak to the truth or falsehood of any of the following, which have been corroborated by multiple former employees:
1) Warehouse and CS staff, at least, making well below a living wage for Seattle, at approx. $30k/year?
2) Allegations that despite a handful of BIPoC doing the work to create the diversity blog, Tonya and Aaron claimed credit for it when it was well-received?
3) Paizo barring employees from attending conventions in a personal capacity if they were not there representing Paizo, thus preventing people from making important industry connections on their own dime?
I'm appalled by this "statement". I have, for YEARS, trusted Paizo to be the inclusive, diverse game company that you put yourselves forth as being. I am dismayed to know that that is in spite of management, not led by it.
You need to resign. Tonya needs to resign. Then, Paizo can start regaining our trust.
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1) Warehouse and CS staff, at least, making well below a living wage for Seattle, at approx. $30k/year?.
You need to resign. Tonya needs to resign. Then, Paizo can start regaining our trust.
How many of the actual workers of Paizo live in the "compound" apartment complex *with roommates* because their full time jobs do not offer a living wage that makes other options accessible in WA?
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Even if (and that's a big if) every single allegation is false, I still think Paizo could use a shake up to improve the bargaining power, workload, and compensation of its employees at all levels. That's true of basically every corporation though.