WotC Greg Tito On Leaving WotC: 'It feels good to do something that doesn't just line the pockets of *****'

We reported earlier that WotC's communications director Greg Tito had left his 9-year stint managing the Dungeons & Dragons brand for a political appointment as Deputy Director of External Affairs for the Washington secretary of state's office.

Greg Tito Leaves Wizards of the Coast

Greg Tito, formerly the communications manager in charge of overseeing messaging for the Dungeons & Dragons brand, is departing Wizards of the Coast for a career in the public sector. Tito announced that he would be joining the Washington secretary of state's office starting this week, ending an...

www.enworld.org

In a surprising turn of events, Tito criticized his former employers, saying "It feels good to do something that doesn't just line the pockets of a**holes." He later went on to clarify "Sorry. I meant "shareholders".

Tito is now Deputy Director of External Affairs for the Washington Secretary of State office in Olympia, WA.

 

[Oofta]

You think it was a general statement about private companies versus public companies?

... I guess I could see that?

But given the context of the company he left, and what that company has done in just the last 3 years, resulting in him RACING to try and get ahead of every boneheaded decision the shareholders have made that resulted in the company screwing over it's employees or trying to screw over it's customers, y'know, since he was in communications and had to try and smooth over every land mine they placed...

So because you believe WotC is a bad company to work for, you claim that Tito is saying they were badly treated. Which is not what he said. If he felt like he was badly treated given the nature of his post I see no reason he would not have just come out clearly stated it.

I feel like it has a larger meaning than "I would prefer socialism or communism, actually."

Some people just don't like working for corporations, particularly if they have to work on the PR/sales side of things.

 

[Alzrius]

Fair enough.

Does it help that a little later he tells on himself that he uses the employment market as a lever to treat his employees worse when he's got the power to replace them at a whim and better when he can't immediately replace them?

When an employer flat-out admits that they treat their employees badly, that's another kettle of fish altogether.

 

[Rabulias]

But given the context of the company he left, and what that company has done in just the last 3 years, resulting in him RACING to try and get ahead of every boneheaded decision the shareholders have made that resulted in the company screwing over it's employees or trying to screw over it's customers, y'know, since he was in communications and had to try and smooth over every land mine they placed...

Just to be clear, Hasbro/WotC business decisions are not made by the shareholders. Well, the execs who do make those decisions are shareholders, but only a tiny percentage of them. I know as I do own a few shares of Hasbro stock, and I was never asked to vote on the OGL issue or any other missteps that WotC may have made over the last couple years.

 

[Steampunkette]

When an employer flat-out admits that they treat their employees badly, that's another kettle of fish altogether.

The employer I was quoting stated he treats them with "Flexibility and Employee Friendliness" when the hiring market is slim and changes it to more rules and control when the he has the leverage of more potential employees.

That he's got the ability to run his company in a way that is employee-friendly and flexible, but chooses not to.

 

[Steampunkette]

So because you believe WotC is a bad company to work for, you claim that Tito is saying they were badly treated. Which is not what he said. If he felt like he was badly treated given the nature of his post I see no reason he would not have just come out clearly stated it.

WotC - [Updated!] Hasbro Laying Off 1,100 Employees

Just announced, Hasbro will be laying off an additional 1,100 employees after laying off 800 earlier this year. Some will be laid off this week, some over the coming months. People affected so far include Mike Mearls, Dan Dillon, Amy Dallen, and others. CEO Chris Cocks commented that “headwinds...

www.enworld.org

Context is crucial. WotC is not some vague unknown in a vacuum. Tito left a company that laid off 1,100 employees from a proven money-making arm of the company in the last few weeks of the 4th Quarter.

Layoffs on this scale at this time of year don't randomly happen just because. They're the result of the board of directors trying to increase the profit margin at the year end in order to hit various metrics to please the shareholders.

And that's just one example of what Hasbro and WotC have recently done in an attempt to exert more profit and more control to the detriment of their employees and customers.

Maybe the employee culture is -magical- inside the place, I dunno. Ask one of the 1,100 people who no longer work there so the Q4 numbers looked a little rosier. Some of them have spoken out about it quite loudly.

Some people just don't like working for corporations, particularly if they have to work on the PR/sales side of things.

S'truth. I might be projecting. I'll own it.

Will you also acknowledge that I might be basing my opinion on a wider trend along the way?

 

[Belen]

Just to be clear, Hasbro/WotC business decisions are not made by the shareholders. Well, the execs who do make those decisions are shareholders, but only a tiny percentage of them. I know as I do own a few shares of Hasbro stock, and I was never asked to vote on the OGL issue or any other missteps that WotC may have made over the last couple years.

Incorrect.

Large shareholders absolutely get heard. Additionally, mega shareholders such as Blackrock, Morgan Stanley, and others often get seats on the board which allow them to directly influence business decisions.

Maximizing shareholder value has come at the expense of long term stability, investment, and future profits. Many companies now poor their margins into buybacks etc that boost short term gains. They have also used loans to fuel spending to boost short term shareholder profits at the expense of their credit rating.

The net effect is that many corporations are in trouble with no margins for poor years.

The current environment is nuts and is not sustainable.

 

[DinoInDisguise]

Risk of what, exactly? Hurt fee-fees?

Bad publicity in a small town like I am in, can kill a small business. Too much risk in that it can literally ruin my livelihood. Put my family on the street.

People often forget how fragile small businesses are. How I do it out of love for it, because I could make much more working for a big company, while being more secure as well. So as a small business owner I am very risk adverse. I am not opposed to 80 work weeks if it takes a while to find a good employee.

Often people just assume it's greed, or any number of things. But for small businesses it's just survival, as the current situation is quite hostile to us.

I think that is very important context for what I said.

EDIT: For context, a 10% drop in sales from bad publicity, and my business fails. It's gone within a year.

EDIT2: Something happened to the quoted post. For context that post asked "what risk" I was referring to in my last post.

 

[Oofta]

WotC - [Updated!] Hasbro Laying Off 1,100 Employees

Just announced, Hasbro will be laying off an additional 1,100 employees after laying off 800 earlier this year. Some will be laid off this week, some over the coming months. People affected so far include Mike Mearls, Dan Dillon, Amy Dallen, and others. CEO Chris Cocks commented that “headwinds...

www.enworld.org

Context is crucial. WotC is not some vague unknown in a vacuum. Tito left a company that laid off 1,100 employees from a proven money-making arm of the company in the last few weeks of the 4th Quarter.

Layoffs on this scale at this time of year don't randomly happen just because. They're the result of the board of directors trying to increase the profit margin at the year end in order to hit various metrics to please the shareholders.

And that's just one example of what Hasbro and WotC have recently done in an attempt to exert more profit and more control to the detriment of their employees and customers.

Maybe the employee culture is -magical- inside the place, I dunno. Ask one of the 1,100 people who no longer work there so the Q4 numbers looked a little rosier. Some of them have spoken out about it quite loudly.

S'truth. I might be projecting. I'll own it.

Will you also acknowledge that I might be basing my opinion on a wider trend along the way?

I acknowledge that you claim he said something that he did not.

 

[Steampunkette]

I acknowledge that you claim he said something that he did not.

Oh, no. I don't claim he said something he didn't.

I claim there's a reasonable assertion of his motivation based on recent events. That one can divine his reasons by using context, rather than taking his words to mean "I don't want my job to be working for a corporation selling stuff."

Which is -also- something he didn't say.

 

[DinoInDisguise]

If we’re just supposed to accept the fact that “for-profit businesses want to generate profit”, then there’s no room to criticize them for any profit-seeking behaviours at all. That’s BS. “Businesses will be businesses” is as much of a cop-out excuse for bad corporate behaviour as “boy will be boys” is for bad children’s behaviour.

Sometimes the conversation comes off as if the issue is uniquely WotC. I was just pointing out it's not. I have a financial interest in people hating big corporations. But hate them all equally.