Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

Look, the important thing is that CEO Mark Parker received a 48% raise. Cutting 1500 employees, not paying female athletes, and having a toxic work culture with ageism, gender inequality, and bullying are small prices to pay for this.

In Beaverton, if you have a European accent, you can get away with below average performance as a leader for a long time. When I think of all of my worst leaders= accent.

Feel free to ask your manager or HR contact what percentage of the company is actually participating in the CFE process. As the 3107 career planning was being rolled out with some managers a few years back there was an admission from HR that well below 50% of the company was even being managed through the CFE process which has always been a subjective and flexible way of placing you exactly where the financial agenda wants you. As a Manager I've gone to bat for highly successful employees to receive that rating and truth is we were all at the mercy of HR’s agendas. Once you’re outside the process for awhile you’ll see what a terrible attempt at managing talent they are making, good luck navigating to those of you still in the mix.

What happens when you get written up but there is no plan? That is what happened to me. Then the retaliation happened after the alert line. If someone wants you gone then you will be gone.

LL Cool In over a decade with Nike managing people I never saw an annual performance overturned. I did see many action plans and developed some myself for employees. Perhaps by the next year they would be back to successful but the damage is done. Maybe a lateral move but forward progression is unlikely for years after an “I” rating. It is the kiss of death.

This is not accurate. I left Nike last years after 15 years. It is true E and S bands get inconsistent ratings due to political reasons not performance U bands it is usually performance. However if you can bring it back through the plan they give you and be successful and follow up with an exceed You are fine. The problem is if you don't finish your plan successfully then you will be let go or debanded as a choice. However it is true if they think you are not a fit and Coachable you will be gone. I had a great 11 years and a not so great 3 years and left due to all the changes and new VP GM's in N America.

It is probably too late for a lot of whistleblowers but this is good news: https://oregonlitigationattorney.com/nike-case-employers-cannot-launder-bias-of-supervisor-through-an-independent-person-who-fires-employee/

2 years ago to the day I was let go in the reduction of force of 2017. It was a purge of people mostly over 40 or political hit jobs, mixed in with some poor performers. Since I left, the job that Nike “eliminated” when I was let go has been occupied by 4 people in 2 years. The department I left completely unstable, leadership absent physically spiritually and mentally. Completely incapable. Employees scrambling over each other to get her to notice them at any cost. Including their pride, civility, and often their friendships with colleagues as sacrificial lambs to prove they bleed Nike orange. I am just playing the game they tell themselves as their spiritual self is absorbed into the hive mind.

I am now down in Cupertino. Everyone warned me about the hours here, the toxic culture. Sure we work hard, but it is a joy to come in to people that aren’t broken by a system and forgotten both who they are and their humanity. Many friends of mine remain back in Beaverton. I can count on one finger how many of them are truly happy there. Drinking the koolaid they are, but miserable, sullen, disengaged as well.

If you are a whistleblower at Nike you are going to be fxcked. Nike posts “if you see something, say something”. Don’t do it. Don’t. If you do say something, have lots of Asrtoglide at the ready, because the truth hurts!

I was likely labeled a whistleblower. I worked for someone that was completely incompetent. Eventually I had to go to that persons boss and urge them to assist. I also had to go to HR. This process was repeated 5 times.

Go see VP x 5
Go see HRBP x 5

Promises of “you are safe”, “ your boss is on an action plan”, and “ we will move you as fast as we can to another leader as you have had several highly successful cfe ratings”. None of it amounted to a hill of beans when they called me in to lay me off. The 2 people that voiced their concern, acknowledgement, and protection where the ones directly across the table from me unable to make eye contact.

Nike broke down and still isn’t fixed.

Nike was a great place to work in the 80’s through the early 2000’s. The work was hard, fast, challenging but the rewards were there too. People worked to get things done. As the company grew, it became increasingly more competitive internally. The daily spirit became to cozy up to the boss and manage up. The people below you were not worth sharing an elevator with. “It’s bad for my image to be seen with them.”

It was a sure sign of a rudderless ship when Nike came out with its maxims, trying to guide people back to the origins of the company. The words were there, but the feeling was trampled as people scrambled up the ladder with their noses where no noses should go.

As Nike further matured, the emphasis was on hiring Harvard MBA’s and the like. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that degree, but it isn’t the end all. It doesn’t create leaders. It does not guarantee great performance in an actual work environment. The portfolio got out of balance with these folks. The power point presentations became ever more elaborate but not ever more substantial. Getting results and achieving goals was less important than who you hung out with. Abusive leaders were rewarded and rewarded again. Nike had enough money blast through mistakes. The best outside companies were hired, abused, paid handsomely.

As far as getting an “inconsistent” rating goes, it is absolutely a set up for future elimination. When cuts come, employees are pooled and ranked against criteria such as ratings. “Inconsistents” are shown the door quickly. I have seen managers rate team members as “successful”, have this rating approved by the department director, give the rating to the employee and then be told to change it to “inconsistent”. That helped her meet the bell curve for her department. It’s lack of leadership, courage, integrity or personal responsibility. It’s BS.

Hopefully the purge that took place in 2018 isn’t over. There is a lot more scum on top of the pond…