No matter what your answer here is, the number is huge. It's layer upon layer of well paid VPs who contribute to Nike in a marginal way.
I'd say let's start with that layer, eliminate let's say 50% of all VPs and see what happens. I'd bet the numbers would go up.
It's their own fault. VPs upon VPs. 23 year old Directors only a couple years out of college. Senior Directors with 5 years work experience. Nothing will change unless you change the boys club at the top and their network of back scratchers.
i counted over 20 VP's of Finance. [FINANCE!!] ... this is a support function. when i joined over 10 years ago i believe the entire company had 20 VP's. is there a check/balance in Finance as there are when Finance themselves look over every other org's shoulders?
From my understanding all S band moves are done and have been for awhile
VP level got hit hard in June. This week will be Senior Directors, Directors and below.
I think they recognize this - watch that whole layer (VPs/SrDirs/Dirs) get slammed REALLY HARD THIS WEEK!!! They've done it before and they will do it again.
I have no insider info, this is just my gut feeling. I think they (execs) have no options but to do this.
@soo a good reply - kudos. We need a separate thread on this - this is so true and so taboo nowadays:
We continue to price ourselves out of the market. More and more, people can't afford the product. Half the employees I speak with wouldn't even be able to afford the products if it weren't for the discount.
Some VPs are just stellar, role models, visionaries and warriors at the same time. MANY post 2009 hires are not, dead weight IMHO. Times were good, we overhired - it is time to simplify things.
How has leadership not seen this coming? After the '09 layoffs they put themselves in the same position. They started staffing up again to the point of ridiculousness. Now the people that suffer are those actually putting in work. The leaders will remain safe and the ones who were let go were the ones who did things the right way and spoke up about the direction.
Too many new leaders with no regards to the Nike culture now have too much say. Years ago your work spoke for itself but now it's all about playing the game and as long as that is a factor the company will continue to go in the wrong direction. Well that and being totally out of touch with the consumer. We continue to price ourselves out of the market. More and more, people can't afford the product. Half the employees I speak with wouldn't even be able to afford the products if it weren't for the discount.
Not saying that all director roles are of no value. However, there has been a relatively recent proliferation of these types of roles that essentially end up being go-betweens across several groups, with no decision-making authority, making communication less efficient and more difficult. It would be much easier to have those groups work together rather than bringing in another expensive role to further complicate things. I've seen it happen firsthand in several groups.
Yet another day when nothing is being mentioned. Leadership has no idea of the concern or low moral of their teams. All we are being told when we ask is "we know as much as you do"
Just because someone does not have direct reports does not mean their work is not valuable. Many / some with no direct reports are busier than those with multiple direct reports because they have people from different departments areas that they have to coordinate to allow those with direct reports to focus on their jobs.
To your point of “Directors with our direct reports” ...remember Nike is a matrix. So yes, they might not have direct reports in a classical hierarchical sense, though the “direct” cross functional teams, with team members (directly) reporting to someone else in a hierarchical sense.
For all of you still doubting layoffs explain this to me - this thread has 215 views in 45 minutes after posting - that's a lot of anxious people - and you wander why!!!
Can someone run numbers. I don't know who knows this. Let's do a % of VPs, % of Dirs and Sr Dirs (out of total work force)
Don't forget about the layers of "Sr. Directors" and "Directors" under the VPs, many of which have NO direct reports. Need more workers and fewer layers!