Going to end soon?
24 replies (most recent on top)
I was just told by my contract company that I am laid off because of the recent re-org for business reasons. So cold and I could barely understand the person . My manager acted in shock but I feel like they already knew.
@c1 thank you for this. I'm an ETW (GBM) who was let go this round and I've been feeling pretty dehumanized by it. I actually didn't even find out I was laid off from my employer—as often happens in my studio, a coworker alerted me to an "ominous meeting invite" that I was left off of. Only when I asked my employer if I was left off the meeting invite on accident did they say they were going to call me. The last week has been a mindfu-k to say the least.
Lay off the useless directors over in GT, their ETWs can take over. We don't need a political battlefield we need hard working employees.
AFAIK, EY ETW’s cost $200-$250 ph, and hardly accomplish much in terms of impact. That’s Half million dollars for remotely enjoying, when Nike is bleeding. I know many ETW’s are doing 2 jobs on top. They cannot be fired because of corruption at highest levels. There are kickbacks in place for VP’s if they retain contracts. Expensive dinners, perks and such. It’s horrible to see this first hand. While many FTE’s are getting paid 1/4 th of this salary and having to commute to WHQ and pull the weight of ETW’s. There might be exceptional ETW’s, but more than half I have seen, don't add commensurate value for multi year contracts @ Half Mil/ year. This is my honest to god opinion of what is happening in Nike. I have been on both sides to be able to see it. I am not asking for a pay rise for FTE’s but I am asking to convert good ETW’s to FTE’s and bring stability to the firm.
@w9 they will hire and fire FTE and replace with expert consultants / interns. That is their working model. They will go to 1 vendor to many vendors and then back to 1 vendor.. basically, they give contracts and eaders have deep pockets..
Nike should be banned from hiring ETWs, and banned from nearsourcing and outsourcing. If they want a worker, hire them full time. If they want a talented foreigner, bring them to America and pay them a full salary.
It's just a way to abuse labor.
Lots of our neighbors are going to be missing rent and mortgages soon, they're destroying our communities because they think Micheal Jordan is still a hot property.
They hire talented people and have no idea what to do with them, so they toss them aside and look for cheaper warm bodies.
Wonder how many of the C-suite are staring down homelessness right now?
ETW cuts are for Fy26.. sane as what was budgetted for FTE baseline.. now they can start fresh.
This ETW stuff happens EVERY YEAR at this time yet people come to speculate if it will happen. The ETW cuts save FTE jobs. How it’s worked for decades. Of course it will be ongoing the next few months across the company. Always that way.
People don’t take an ETW role for job security.
Funny, that ETW contractors are being given a June, July , Aug end dates while FTE were just thrown out. Of course, severance is a factor - but still do they really think ETW can do cr-p without the FTE groups?
@rn@rn I haven't heard anything like this (I'm in GT)...although I wonder if I will tomorrow (I'm ETW). I guess I won't feel completely "out-of-the-woods" until July 1 (and even then).
Are these decisions being made this week? we were told something vague about "as numbers continue to 'roll in' they are re-assessing things". Isn't the quarter over by now? I don't really understand this. Anyway good luck to all.
All contractors (GT) on my team and adjacent teams have been told their last day will be mid June. It is a sad situation all around.
@ek Thanks for posting. This board's use is dominated by Global Tech so the story is always skewed toward their woes and not Nike on the whole. (case in point people on here didn't even know who JH was). In brand creative no contractors are allowed to be renewed past August 31 due to budget still being tentative. A few have been let go as of June but all are being expected to be renewed through the fiscal. But it's always a game of wait and see. #etwlife
My ETW contract was extended earlier this year until January 2026 but was just told it will now be ending this 13th of June 2025.
I like the spirit of your post @c1...
sort of "hey remember the human side of ETW's".
Don't just focus on the same old trite: "well they are contractors they know they could be cut at any time".
And good callout, these ETW's are typically getting paid much less than FTE's. It's not like some consultant from Bain, PWC, etc. getting paid $300 an hour thing. More like their actual pay (after their company takes a GIANT slice) is lucky to be $20 an hour.
Anyway that's it, remember the humans. And remember it could be you next.
More ETW lay-off's coming in mid-June. My contract had 5 months to go but it was modified to end this month and I am relieved to be leaving. Most of Tech will be outsourced to the Consulting company this year.
Creative ETW that's been on the same assignment since the pandemic...can confirm that a little less than a handful of us will not be having our contracts renewed after being told things were going to renew.
Nike is hurting.
I'm going to be honest - situations for ETWs are sh---y right now. They've always been pretty terrible, and as someone who was formerly an ETW for years before getting with a conversion, I can empathize. But it seems to be particularly bad now. It's really dehumanizing and unnecessarily stressful.
Usually you'll hear from your employers (your agency or whoever you're contracting through). But what your employers will tell you and when solely depends on your department. If your department is really sh---y with communication or leaves things to the last minute, that means your employer won't tell you until the last minute. Does it make your life harder? Yes. Does it make you really stressed? Yes. Do they care? Obviously not.
I don't know why people who make these decisions feel like they can just make them with such little regard for the human in the role. And before someone says, "it's the nature of the ETW role. It's at-will employment"...let's be clear: that doesn't give you a free pass to be an disrespectful a--hole. I know ETWs who have kids and families to support - it's not fair to have them je-ked around with the prospect of an extension of a week only to say "JUST KIDDING."
TBH with this treatment I don't know why (or if) ETWs come back. I was lucky to not have to have gone through this when I was an ETW. We're just burning bridges with really good talent this way.
And before someone comes at me with the "boo contractors su-k" - I'm talking about individual contributors who are ETWs, not consultants. Learn to differentiate the two. (And FWIW I've run into a few incompetent ETWs, but most of the ETWs I've worked with and met have been hard workers who are great at what they do...and FTEs around them just mooch off their work. You know who you are.)
Will the affected ETW's be told to WFH this week, or were the previously let go ETW's told the same? Is that happening or are they told while on campus? Just curious how this will go down.
Got 6 ETWs leaving this Friday on my team. But then also hiring 9 more near shores.
Many were let go last Friday. More to come this coming Friday. Depends on your org.
JS fired all the ETWs in CPI
ETW here, we were told our contracts had been extended and approved a couple weeks ago, then days later told that cuts were coming and we should be prepared. I don't know what or who to believe at this point.
what does this mean? someone in my group, an ETW, was abruptly ended on Friday of last week. before they left they said that their manager mentioned "all ETWs are going to be laid off". is that accurate? seems crazy to me.
Very unfortunate