Nike is in the middle of Founder’s Week and JDI Day is right around the corner. Now leadership wants to talk about inflection points, comebacks, legacy, courage, effort, and getting back to what made Nike great. I get the history. I get the speech. I get what they are trying to do. But from the floor, it hits different.
It is hard to hear “we are going to be fine” when the people making the biggest decisions still have titles, stock, bonuses, protection, and seats at the table. Regular teammates are the ones wondering what is next. We are wondering if raises are coming, what PSP will look like, and if we are really safe or just still here for now.
People keep saying, “At least you didn’t get laid off.” I understand what they mean, and I am not trying to minimize what teammates who were laid off are going through. Losing a job is serious. It affects families, bills, insurance, and peace of mind. But at the same time, it is hard to act like everything is okay for the people who remain.
From what I understand, some teammates who were laid off were kept on the books for a while, some received severance, and in many cases there was COBRA or some kind of transition support. That still does not make being laid off easy, but at least there was a next step. For the people still here, there has not been much clear communication. No real talk about PSP. No clear talk about raises. No clear talk about long-term stability. We are just expected to keep showing up, keep producing, keep adjusting, and be grateful because we were not cut. That does not feel like security. It feels like being minimized.
The floor has been doing the work. Teammates across all shifts have been doing the work. Production teams, support teams, trainers, technicians, leads, and everybody keeping things moving have been doing the work. People are running lines, hitting numbers, solving problems, training others, covering gaps, answering questions, fixing issues, and keeping product moving while trying to understand decisions we had no voice in.
So when leadership talks about fixing what needs fixing, I agree. But accountability should not stop at the floor. The people closest to the work should not always be the ones left carrying the weight from decisions made above us.
The timing of all this feels strange. Founder’s Week is happening. JDI Day is coming. Big speeches. Big messages. Big legacy talk. Meanwhile, a lot of regular teammates are sitting with uncertainty. People show up to these events because they want to belong. They want to believe in the company. They want to be part of something bigger. I respect that. But I also think some people do not fully see how much weight is being carried by the people with the least power.
I do not need more inspiration right now. I need real communication. I need transparency. I need leadership to explain what is actually being fixed and show that they understand the weight this puts on everyday teammates, not just the brand, the stock price, or the comeback story.
Nike talks about doing the work. The floor has been doing the work. All shifts have been doing the work. Now leadership needs to do the harder work too. Be transparent. Be accountable. Explain the plan. Stop acting like people should be quiet just because they survived the last round.
The comeback cannot just be a message from the top. It has to show up in how people are treated.