Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

Nike has turned into Netflix. Without the honesty of Netflix.

When you start at Netflix they famously tell you on your FIRST day, “Don’t get too comfortable and don’t think you’re going to have a long career here. Most of you will be gone in 5 years.”

They really aren’t trying to be jerks at Netflix. On the contrary they’re just being brutally honest. They tell people straight up that Netflix is always evolving, that needs and roles change, and that most people eventually take their foot off the accelerator at some point and are then quickly replaced with fresh blood. They almost take it as a point of pride that there are very few Netflix employees who have been there more than 10 years.

Nike is changing into this same type of employer but without the cajones to actually tell employees. If you’ve never heard about Netflix’s cutthroat employment atmosphere there are some good YouTube videos on it. Watch it and ask yourself if it reminds you of what Nike is turning into.

I believe this is the most misleading post here. I believe no smart, straight thinking Nike employee should be relaxed now. Before JD is greeted away with a big fat check and huge number of vested shares, he will continue to do harm within the organization. That is why he was brought in, MP or PK would not even consider doing all this by themselves losing face with the crowd. Easy option is to bring someone like JD, push for digital, rearrange workforce to support that, get rid of lots and lots of good employees together with the bad ones. Then they will just bring a friendly internal face in front of you to lead you for the following 10 years. Nike is a horrible place to have a career at, it is a great employer to have on your CV, IMO leave now.

"I think everyone who works at Nike knows at least one person whose absence wouldn’t make even the slightest difference. When you think about it that’s a lot of people."

Unfortunately, many of those people aren't the ones getting laid off. But they do serve a purpose - you need a barricade of mo--ns between you and people who want things from you, or for you to make a decision.

A long time ago, in a not so faraway land there was once a company called "Digital Equipment Corporation," second largest computer company in the world next to IBM. They got fat and happy and the CEO said "We'll never lay ANYONE off," but alas they fell on hard times due to bad leadership and started and kept laying people off...except the management. When the employees finally thought no one else could be let go because it would certainly impact the customer and bottom line, they let more go. Eventually operations became more of a mess then before and Compaq bought them out, then HP.

Moral of the story, when greedy, uninspired leaders continue to focus on themselves and not the good of the company...the company will lose. Nike has entered a phase of very greedy leadership.

OP: you say that just weeks after Nike deleted 300+ employees. Not because of any legal requirements or because of financial issues but because Nike has a policy those employees didn’t want to follow. If you think Nike can’t afford to layoff even one more employee I think someone forgot to tell that to Nike.

Aside from that at any large company you can always get rid of the bottom performing 10% and no one will even notice. The hard part is correctly identifying that 10%. I think everyone who works at Nike knows at least one person whose absence wouldn’t make even the slightest difference. When you think about it that’s a lot of people.

Finally, laying someone off doesn’t have to mean getting rid of their role. You can outsource their role to cheaper external labor or just hire a younger or less experienced person for a fraction of the cost. IMO Nike increasingly doesn’t value institutional knowledge. I thought the last layoff drove that point home pretty well.

Nike has75K employees. They could reduce that headcount and still function fine.

You forgot the magic number: H1-B