To say that things have not been good at Nike is an understatement, yes. It all started to look even worst when lay-offs started in the middle of a pandemic, yes. Nike's culture seems to have been an a downward slope for years now and it does seem like a cut-throat culture where employees are no longer valued. It is all about Wall Street and Shareholders; yes. However, is there a function or domain at Nike be it business or technology that things may seem different? I mean, is there an area where leaders care about the employees and the employees care about each other as well as the leaders? I am so depressed working for Nike Tech that I start dreading it the moment my wake-up alarm goes off in the morning. Just truly carious and want to learn from your experiences if you are willing to share.
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It's going to be a classic mob style bust out, only drawn out to make it seem less fishy and to give all the c-level's cronies a chance to drain the war chest. I've literally seen this happen at other companies that have reached peak money-minting status for Wall St. Just watch, soon you will see the conveyer belt of Sr. Leaders coming into Nike and leaving with millions for just pretending to do work for a year or so. Product will become stale and the brand will end up in the c-apper, but the people responsible will be long gone and a lot richer.
I am sure I will get shot down for this, but just putting it out there... in almost 20 years of service, domestic and abroad, I will say it has mostly been very good. I have only had fair managers, and very few bad experiences in general. I don’t think I am the only one...
I am saddened to see the cultural change, even during my relatively short tenure. I am disappointed to see the divide between the amazing people creating the items Nike sells, and the ELT. But I also know that others similarly sized and successful companies are much the same.
CDA is an interesting theory, being executed at a truly terrible time. It could’ve and should’ve been handled very differently. The ELT should be ashamed of themselves for putting the employees through this. They need to remember one thing: without the worker bees, they are nothing. Without the worlds finest designers sketching the next big thing, and the teams coming together to take it from paper to product, Nike will fade away. The share price will tank, and the c-suite will be out of work... (likely with 8 figure compensation packages...)
It doesn’t need to be like this. Have some balls ELT, let’s make this place mad fun again. Let’s reward hardworking team members. Let’s show our gratitude to high performing long-term employees (rather than let them go because they are “expensive”). If we can pay our CEO $50m in a forking global pandemic / economic p–pstorm then we can afford to pay a fair salary for experience and commitment.
Just Do It.
@ecr, good advice and perspective. I really despise that 12 month waiting period between roles. Hang in there everyone until something better happens or until you make something better happen.
I think people (including myself) have really high expectations about being an employee at Nike. Dreamed about it for years! They do a very good job of selling the brand :-). And it turns out Nike is just like any other enormous global company.
Much like they say.."never meet your heroes"
Like any job in a large company it is about your manager and co-workers. Move around until you find a group that you like to work for.
I have been thinking about this same thing for a while already. No...it is all bad and if it not it will be, soon. Time to leave ASAP.