| 65 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd say "flag and move on," but I hear that CS is short-staffed.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
What about the "Staff Change" issue?
I am aware that Paizo management cannot speak to it directly (at least right away), but it is difficult for most of us to accept that the firing of a certain long time employee was justified, as everything we customers have seen and heard suggests that she has performed in an exemplary manner.
I might accept something like "We didn't see eye to eye on certain issues, so we regretfully had to part company", but at this point I think many of us are beginning to give credence to various rumors that did not originally seem well justified.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
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
| 37 people marked this as a favorite. |
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.
I can answer the first one! When I worked briefly at Paizo in CS, I made $15 an hour. That was higher than the starting amount I believe based on experience. In any case, I had a wonderful time working under Sara's guidance and with my fellow CS folks. I would not consider working under anyone else's leadership of the CS department, that much I am certain of.
Also obligatory, discuss your wages amongst your coworkers, an injury to one is an injury to all. <3
|
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
What about the "Staff Change" issue?I am aware that Paizo management cannot speak to it directly (at least right away), but it is difficult for most of us to accept that the firing of a certain long time employee was justified, as everything we customers have seen and heard suggests that she has performed in an exemplary manner.
I might accept something like "We didn't see eye to eye on certain issues, so we regretfully had to part company", but at this point I think many of us are beginning to give credence to various rumors that did not originally seem well justified.
I would like to know how a new position was created, staffed by a (former?) employee who as far as was communicated was working for another organization entirely (OPF) and placed over the CS staff to begin with. Especially when that employee had not been in the CS chain previously?
Are the accusations of leaking the contents of a "womens support group" accurate? If so, that is extremely concerning on its own without factoring in apparent newly gained management power over others.
|
|
| 9 people marked this as a favorite. |
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.
I can answer the first one! When I worked briefly at Paizo in CS, I made $15 an hour. That was higher than the starting amount I believe based on experience. In any case, I had a wonderful time working under Sara's guidance and with my fellow CS folks. I would not consider working under anyone else's leadership of the CS department, that much I am certain of.
Also obligatory, discuss your wages amongst your coworkers, an injury to one is an injury to all. <3
There is power in a union.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
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:
What the statement should have said:
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...
This is amazing!
|
| 9 people marked this as a favorite. |
What about the "Staff Change" issue?I am aware that Paizo management cannot speak to it directly (at least right away), but it is difficult for most of us to accept that the firing of a certain long time employee was justified, as everything we customers have seen and heard suggests that she has performed in an exemplary manner.
I might accept something like "We didn't see eye to eye on certain issues, so we regretfully had to part company", but at this point I think many of us are beginning to give credence to various rumors that did not originally seem well justified.
Why do we need any input on this? Why do we need to accept it? I mean I loved Sara as much of the next person and honestly believe her firing was a loss for Paizo, but I also believe that Paizo owes me nothing in regards to statements on personnel issues.
And why would a statement matter anyway? As has been discussed here to death, statements of this nature are boilerplate anyway. Nothing that would be said is going to satiate your desire for more information about her firing.
The reason could very well be that management sucks and made a bad call. It could be that Sara was insubordinate (and yes, refusing management orders that suck can be construed as insubordinate). Regardless, none of that matters because any issues of her employment are between Sara and Paizo. And I hope they keep it that way.
|
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
I can answer the first one! When I worked briefly at Paizo in CS, I made $15 an hour. That was higher than the starting amount I believe based on experience. In any case, I had a wonderful time working under Sara's guidance and with my fellow CS folks. I would not consider working under anyone else's leadership of the CS department, that much I am certain of.
Also obligatory, discuss your wages amongst your coworkers, an injury to one is an injury to all. <3
Thank you. That tracks with what I've been told. And knowing the Seattle area, I know that's nowhere NEAR a living wage.
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Just because she wasn't in the CS chain before doesn't mean that a new position can't be placed over CS.
True! For me it seems odd given the public statement that issues between CS and Management started coincide with the timeline in which this new position was created and placed over CS. It gives a feeling that the position was created with the intent of what we're seeing.
Similar to how union busting firms get picked up to represent companies going through PR issues.
| 23 people marked this as a favorite. |
Without commenting on the veracity of the accusations, denying the leveled charges should not be interpreted as a sign of guilt. If you were accused of something you didn't do, your reaction would be to angrily deny it.
If we mean to believe victims we can't elide the process of fact finding, because it is the sole way in which we can tell victims apart from perpetrators-- not doing that MEANS believing perpetrators and becoming a weapon for any abuser who wants to hurt someone.
I say this as someone who has been punished for standing up to a sexual abuser through false allegations, and was also intimidated by campus police when an abuser got wind their partner was talking to me about them exhibiting red flags. I know the idea of not being able to take people at face value in situations like this is scary, and makes situations far less simple, but it is incredibly important to keeping victims safe that we use our own power carefully, and not allow ourselves to become an instrument of abuse.
If you are interested in the social justice dynamics of situations like this one,and in how to ethically conduct yourself when facing situations like this one I strongly recommend lesbian feminist Sarah Schulmann's Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair.
For the time being, don't accuse alleged victims of lying and absolutely offer them support should they need it, but we can't demand that wrongs be righted without knowing there are wrongs to right and where they lay.
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I would like to know how a new position was created, staffed by a (former?) employee who as far as was communicated was working for another organization entirely (OPF) and placed over the CS staff to begin with. Especially when that employee had not been in the CS chain previously?Are the accusations of leaking the contents of a "womens support group" accurate? If so, that is extremely concerning on its own without factoring in apparent newly gained management power over others.
As far as the first part, she is employed by Paizo with the former position of Organized Play Manager; separate from that, she is the Executive Director of the Organized Play Foundation.
Just because she wasn't in the CS chain before doesn't mean that a new position can't be placed over CS.
I think it is going beyond the firing to accusations other former employees have made about the company culture.
|
|
| 35 people marked this as a favorite. |
I’m pretty concerned about how several of the accusations brought up were not addressed in the statement. Paizo was a company I always counted as “one of the good ones.” But now I feel naive and I’m painfully aware what it feels like to fight as an employee for certain ideals to better your company in spite of management rather than because of it.
I want the following addressed.
1) Did the company prevent trans employees from attending cons/have an issue with trans employees rooming with cis employees despite all parties saying there was no issue?
2) did the marketing lead really say that “maybe we don’t want to be the company known for diversity?” (Paraphrasing)
3) Did Tonya take credit for the inclusiveness pushes led by other employees once they received positive attention?
4) was it really stated that there should be not be a blog on Juneteenth because it would draw attention away from pride month? (Which is a troubling zero-sum perspective on equity and ignorant of intersectionality of communities).
5) what *concretely* are you going to do to look into and address these concerns? The “we’ll do better”, as others already stated, is not enough.
I’m very conflicted regarding my continued support monetarily of the company if these accusations are not properly addressed.
Also, is anyone moderating this forum thread or is it purposeful that someone trolling and arguing to the point this discussion is no longer on topic purposeful to obscure the many calls for a better and more thorough statement people have stated earlier in thread? If you don’t care about this topic I don’t understand why there’s a need to keep cluttering it up to let us know how much you don’t care. But a good portion of Paizo’s customers do as we expected more from the company than the next- thats how they represented themselves.
| 16 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't think I'm alone in taking a "wait and see" response.
With that said, I am very not impressed by this statement, and the standard for what I am expecting in the future has gone up in response.
| 16 people marked this as a favorite. |
I am not very good at expressing myself when someone I love and trust acts in a way that is disconcerting. It typically hurts too much to really form words so just...
I am disappointed.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
| 39 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't know what Paizo's internal workplace politics are like or what led to the termination of the frontline customer service employees. And I sure as hell am not going to wade into the morass of issues raised by the infamous twitter post we've all read.
What I do know is that the people who "left" were well liked by the community, respected for the work they did, and, in many ways, the face of Paizo (particularly for those whose primary interaction is not the forums). On the one hand, I feel for those who remain behind, but, on the other hand, my patience with customer service will be limited in the future, and that falls on the management team that decided to cripple them because *shrug*.
Whatever the reasoning or background behind the scenes, this entire fiasco is a self-inflicted wound that leaves a sour taste in my mouth as a fan and a (former) long-time member of the community. Terminating the customer service manager without a transition plan in place or an effective communication strategy is unprofessional, and well below what I expect of the company. Having the number two person quit in response is even more damning.
I can't speak for everyone, but to me, if you want to make this right, you need to make some management changes. Some loud management changes. Starting with the person directly responsible for the decision to terminate (and I suspect we all know the name of that person). This reeks of petty infighting, and whoever decided that it is in the best interest of Paizo to fire the person who we know, for a fact and with a metric ton of evidence, helped us, supported us, and provided good service, needs to go.
I want blood. I want that person out. Their incompetence is evidenced by this post, this thread, this drama. Whatever justified this termination pales in comparison to the harm it has created, and someone needs to be held accountable.
Now give us a press release saying they are gone. They deserve it after creating this situation.