As Paizo announced yesterday afternoon, two Paizo vice presidents have been elevated to newly-created executive leadership roles within the company. This sudden change in leadership occurred within 48 hours of the UPW announcing its existence, but prior to the decision to publicly recognize the union. The UPW was unable to comment on the matter until the change was announced publicly.
While we bear the two individuals in question no ill will, it is incredibly difficult to see this move as anything other than a continuation of questionable practices, and antithetical to the stated concerns of the Paizo workers. In the public press release the UPW issued on October 14th, one area of concern referenced was “a pattern of inconsistent hiring practices”, and this sudden and unusual elevation of vice-presidents into increased leadership roles represents a continuation of that pattern. One of these vice-presidents is also exempt from the long-standing (and still active) rule that all U.S. employees must move to Washington without financial assistance from the company.
When pressed by employees, management responded with an internal memo indicating that this change has been made to add more expertise and voices to the leadership team, which was a new designation for what had previously been known as the executive team.
We respectfully call on Paizo leadership to answer the following questions:
- How do these executive leadership positions affect the individuals’ job descriptions and day-to-day responsibilities?
- Do these positions come with additional power to hire, fire, or discipline employees?
- What additional compensation has been offered to these individuals?
- How were these individuals chosen for these positions, and what qualified them for this designation over other managerial employees within the company, not to mention outside of the staff?
- This is a drastic change to the makeup of Paizo’s leadership, but nobody outside the team was told anything about it prior to the original internal announcement. How long had these plans been in the works? Is it your position that company staff should not be afforded the right to learn about such significant changes in company structure before they are made official?
- Given the concerns already raised regarding a lack of diverse points of view represented on the leadership (formerly “executive”) team at Paizo, what new perspectives do you believe these individuals bring to the table that were previously lacking?
- What other personnel changes are you currently considering making without first consulting with affected employees or posting opportunities publicly?
Thank you,
United Paizo Workers