I worked for just over ten years at a large employer which claimed to be a force for progress in our community while routinely discriminating against women in the workforce. The turnover in employees in the decade since I left is well over one hundred percent calculated in raw numbers. There is not a division or department that has not replaced a substantial majority, if not all, of its members in the last ten years, including the CEO position which has now been filled three times in just 9 years.
The costs of less-than-stellar behavior by management are astronomical. The organization for which I worked spent over $300,000 for each of the three national executive searches. It also paid several large severance packages to be rid of its prior choices. Obviously, the process is flawed, but it has not changed.
Like the situation at Nike, no one comments for fear of litigation. And no one receives anything but fine recommendations for the very same reason. Herein lies one of the problems with Human Resources in the age of litigation over everything. Those who report problems suffer retaliation (and worse): supervisors who dare to make honest evaluations of problem employees can be sued. No one can make a truthful, honest assessment of an employee without pounds of documentation AND a resultant lawsuit anyway. How will a workplace deal with its large issues if there can never be any consequence for abuses? (I do not think they can.)
12
In reply to Ralph and LED:
Thanks, NYT for the Nike article. No more Nike products for me. But seeing the article about those important men starting to plan comebacks elsewhere in today's NYT, I predict that those men who left NIKE will be snapped up elsewhere.
14
Nike has a performance culture like many others. Jack Welch at GE is credited with it. The most successful companies operate as an effective team.
In some companies, there is no team, just elite individual performers who seek to sabotage, bully or fail to support their team members.
Ironically many women formed a team to begin to change the culture at Nike.
The pressure on Nike, beyond emerging competitors targeting fashion over athletics, is that young people are losing interest in athletics. Their free time and interest budget is increasingly directed towards social media, gaming and the like. That pressure resulted in the company failing to manage its corporate culture.
Nike has to stay focused on expanding the personal athletics social culture to thrive.
The company has done that for women, beginning with running in the 1980's. They can do much more. We hope they will.
7
to me the phrase " fear of being ostracized in the industry, or in the Portland community"
These woman felt they could not go to City of Portland or to Oregon various depts to to file a report sex discrimination ? I think Portland needs to look internally . It s one thing to be a misogynistic and another to be a misogynistic lip service hypocrisy. This is a Portlandia Episode
8
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE interview women in the financial services industry. Hundreds of women who reported harassment and subsequent retaliation are now being actively, but quietly pushed out the door...their once flourishing careers now ended. The financial services industry (especially Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citi) tout a zero tolerance policy against harassment and retaliation. But the truth is they have used the #MeToo movement as a PR stunt. They have promoted some women while simultaneously destroying the careers of the women who have reported both harassment and retaliation. Women with stellar performance reviews are now criticized for sudden "performance" issues. HR aggressively attacks the brave women who come forward and then pushes them out the door using mandatory arbitration clauses signed during an employee's on-boarding process to keep the retaliation off the public's radar. Companies will continue to behave this way until we expand the conversation and call them out on it. There is no one better suited to report on this then the NY Times. The women in the financial services industry need a voice. Please help us.
63
Sounds as if the Nike's Human Resources Dept. was Dilbert's version, InHuman Resources.
8
This male privileged attitude runs rampant in Nike and spreads virally around Portland. I’ve never encountered such sexism and male entitlement like I did freelancing for Nike and the many small companies in Portland who exist because of Nike accounts. For such a “progressive” town, chauvinism reigns supreme.
26
I agree with a fellow commenter when he said that we want cultures in our big American firms to be just to all employees. It's easy to believe that women alone were systemically demonized and they are a protected class and deserve immediate support. But I suspect there were men who tried to help, but in some of these frat boy environments, there are LOTS of employees who are disrespected and abused. Women will want that ALL employees are treated with respect, that internal procedures are carefully designed and maintained with integrity, and everyone believe that each has the right to have hard work rewarded. The outcome of the "Me-Too" has to been broad justice.
Let it start at Nike....
13
Blessed are the piece-workers, for they shall inherit the dearth. Are most of them women?
As the disgraced execs depart the company, with, in essence, a golden parachute, ready to begin their early retirements, we are concerned justifiably about harassment & inequities directed at women. These issues, once lessened, will place the focus on corporate greed, which is unisexual.
7
I will never buy another Nike item again. Women (and men) - let your wallet do the talking. I already feel better knowing I have made this stand and if enough people do it Nike will suffer.
13
It's difficult to muster surprise, given this metaphor Nike founder Phil Knight chose to highlight in his 2016 memoir, Shoe Dog (p. 327):
"I opened the final Buttface [Executive Retreat] of 1978 with a rah-rah speech, trying to fire up the troops, but especially myself. 'Gentlemen,' I said, 'our industry is made up of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs! And next year...finally...one of the dwarfs is going to get into Snow White's pants!'
As if the metaphor needed further explanation, I explained that Adidas was Snow White. And our time, I thundered, is coming!"
That a married 40-year old man with children would choose these particular words in a private setting among close male friends and within the social norms of 1978 is regrettable.
That a hugely successful entrepreneur would look back on his life, reflect on his greatest achievements, and choose to publicly highlight this particular anecdote, without a hint of shame, and within modern social norms is just disgusting. When this guy's setting the tone, what do you expect?
52
Frankly I do not see the point of so many readers, especially women, who wrote in response to this Nike story that they will from now on boycott Nike. This story is about one month old, which means that up until March 2018, when Trevor Edwards was made to resign, Nike corporate had finally listened to Nike female managers and other employees and decided to divest itself of the so-called "Friends of Trevor" group, beginning with Edwards himself.
So it seems Nike is doing as much as it can to change its corporate culture from sexist male to something less so and perhaps more inclusive and accepting of the female point of view.
And I may be mistaken but it seems to me that when a company such as Nike decides it believes in "diversity," then that is just code for "hire more blacks" to the exclusion of women and other people of color. For example, if one were to look at images of the Nike managers who have been let go, one will see mostly black males. Perhaps that was Edwards's first mistake -- hiring more black men as bimself, no doubt from outside the United States, as he was, who came with their own cultural and misogynistic baggage that they foisted on primarily American white women.
So good for you, Nike, for finally paying heed to your females managers and employees. But please: Blacks make up about 13% of the American population and Asian Americans make up about half that of blacks. Truly make your advertising images diverse. Add more Hispanics too.
7
it remains to be seen if they are really going implement the change. It is a culture that existed in Nike since "buttface" days of seventies.
To say that they are going to change with their main culprit Mark Parker as CEO of the company remains to be seen. I will follow that with grain of salt in my hands.
It will be like a dictator saying that he will change while getting rid of some lieutenants while he remains in the throne. What type of change will that be.
Mark Parker has been in there for almost 40 years, he has nothing to prove, if anything his "old" blood will be a hindrance to the change. And staying 2 additional years might be the kiss of death for Nike and workplace diversity and harmony.
Bring new blood in, either from outside the company or within the company.
He was there for 12 years as CEO, if did not fix it or did not know about then he is not the person that will get Nike into new territory. Just clean it up!
11
"The obstacles to advancement for women at Nike are not new and, in many ways, common in companies with male-dominated leadership." Which means most companies.
16
The Personnel Dept. is pretty much never a source of help for employees; rather, it's the department that herds worker-sheep for the benefit and ease of the managers. Unfortunately employees have the mistaken impression that HR people will assist them.
I wonder if there could be such a thing as a Women's Union?
21
It would be interesting to hear what @SSLiz Liz Dolan would have to say about the culture at NIKE since she was at the helm of the campaign that inspired women to be vital and take control of their lives.
http://www.comradity.com/practice-what-you-preach/
1
Nike needs to remember that women hold the power of the purse, at least in most households. If the harassment doesn’t stop and the working environment doesn’t improve quickly, they may find themselves the target of a #MeToo backlash.
Women need to remember the tremendous power we can have, if we have the courage and organization to use it. If Nike can’t or won’t change things, I think Adidas is comparable to Nike in most products. We can do this!
Excellent reporting. Please give us periodic updates.
16
Nike isn't as influential in Portland as it used to be...(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/portland-marathon-cancels-race-d.......
1
@Harley Leiber,
What does this linked story have to do with Nike? Not connected at all.
2
Irony, thy name is NYTimes. As I read this on the Times app, I came across a Nike ad embedded in the digital version of the story.
8
Look at their board of directors and upper management. Looks like a men's locker room.
This is not something that makes them "sad": this is Nike.
No wonder they can't make a bra.
26
I worked for a computing behemoth who will never be forced to treat women as equals. It's costly, they grind women down to nubs by belittling, lying, ignoring and harassing. But, unlike at Nike, the women are completely unable to bond together to make change. In my area, there were 2 senior women who could have; they had no interest. The company appoints a succession of women to lead some women in IT focus group; they claim ignorance. I felt guilty that of the women I worked with, I could not stand up and speak to HR, but as this story attests, it would have been useless.
The company is run by "program managers" who hold all power and are overwhelmingly men. The few women PMs are under so much pressure to fit in, they acknowledge the issue, but are powerless to take it on. It's not just women who find the atmosphere unworkable, I've had men thank me for trying to take on the abuse, but of course, you can imagine how successful I was speaking to my manager directly. I made a wonderful target.
So kudos to the women at Nike for standing up and doing something about their lousy prospects. Without taking action, it would just have continued to squander resources. Even so, they have a long road ahead of them, since guys in sports, like men in IT, aren't exactly known for equanimity and good behavior with the opposite sex. That last word seems to just take the entire discussion away from reality.
14
NYT please do follow up and let us know when CEO Parker has resigned/been forced out by the board.
12
They have a long history of human rights abuses and that’s what this is..... Economic boycott is the only way to teach these large corporates who is actually in charge. Who wants my hard earned cash? Adidas? New Balance? Are you listening?
6
Divest from Nike!
JUST DO IT
8
My deepest gratitude to the women - with 2 daughters of my own this is much appreciated.
I'm disappointed in Nike the company that helped build the Higg Index (a powerful platform created by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition for improving material and social sustainability in the apparel industry) - they don't seem to want to meet their internal obligations in the same objective way
7
I stopped buying anything Nike 15 years ago. The xenophobic and racist attitudes displayed in their much celebrated sponsored tournaments for high school students were appalling. Stories of their practices would curl your hair.....
1
Excellent reporting, NYT.
Nike, I will not be buying any Nike products, will encourage the women athletes I know to do the same, and will tell them why.
11
Thx NYT for this excellent, highly illuminating piece. No doubt this article will have real reverberations for Nike as well as across the corporate world. As a woman I've experienced similar working environments, tiresome sexist behavior in the work place coming from men at the top on down, with no one in HR to turn to - like it or leave it. Hopefully those days are coming to an end with articles like this exposing the dirty laundry.
17
Ironic that a shoe company that emphasizes speed and footwear, made women run FASTER - AWAY from the company, and not towards the company!
11
In case there are any Nike executives reading these comments, please know that I will not be buying ANYTHING Nike...nothing.
23
DITTO.
4
I never understood how strip clubs were transformed from raunchy places for perverts (back in the day) to acceptable social venues for men to bring their girlfriends to dine, drink, and socialize.
It degrades all women.
20
Strip clubs never were transformed into socially acceptable venues. Entitled and clueless men like these just WISHED they were ... et voila!
12
The power of the dollar may be most effective here....Women should “Just Say No” to Nike. I know that I will from here on out.
17
Problem is that these incompetent losers continue to get hired by other companies. it's a revolving door with guys at this level. I don't understand why these executives who bring nothing of value are hired in the first place. They get paid big bucks when they arrive and get paid big bucks when they are let go. We really need to cut the parachutes on these lemons.
27
« Exodus » more like cleaning house.
4
Nike's treatment of women in the USA is an echo of the way it has taken advantage of the faceless women in Asia who make the shoes.
23
Excellent article highlighting how the women at Nike had to work outside the system to make a difference in a company whose power was consolidated by unethical men. Unfortunately, because cultural expectations in a company come from above, the safeguards that should be in place through reporting systems can fail. This is happening here in my backyard. The previously great Santa Cruz company, Plantronics, has been in rapid cultural decline since new CEO Joe Burton took over. In only two years, the company has gone from a diverse management team to a completely insular "Friends of Joe", much like the "Friends of Trevor". In the past year, upper management has become almost entirely white and male--they laid off the lesbian woman SVP of Marketing, the black woman SVP of HR, the woman VP of Sales APME and the (only minority in Sales management) latino VP of Global Sales. Reports to HR about racist comments and a hostile work environment go unanswered. The SVP of Sales Jeff Loebacca regularly says "No Tiki, No Laundry" in front of groups with no seeming repercussions. Managers now shout at employees and many have developed stress-related health issues. Upper management seems to not even fear the EEOC, as their most recent layoff targeted 100% older employees. It is sad to see how rapidly a company's culture can decline when unethical leaders create a bubble at the top.
24
Hooray! Three cheers to the women who put their careers on the line to clean up Nike. Also cheers to the President of Nike who cleaned house! Now lest see women in the top management positions.
I hope this revolution in the Sports Industry will spread at all the other MCP companies.
4
THIS is the kind of story women, and the men who supprt them, should be clebrating, not whether some hig-profile star behanved stupidly on a date or after one drink too many at a party. Not that those scenarios cannot turn out to be major problems, but they can often be the confused result of a culture that sends, at best, mixed signals to its young men and women. This Nike situation is big, damaging, indefensible and, I fear, all too common.
7
The women of Nike rebelled,
Complaining the male posture smelled.
Now many a dude
Who talked to them crude
Is wishing he had learned to weld.
9
I think this is only the beginning of massive change coming to Nike. In addition to treating their female employees poorly they have snubbed their wholesale account base that has historically been fiercely loyal. Nike has developed a self-centered and narcissistic culture that has a disdain for their own customers. Before this current regime took over Nike was the gold standard for creating successful relationships and partnerships. Their wholesale customer base revered them and was deeply loyal and dedicated to Nike. This dedication helped them to capture dominate market share and ward off competitors. Now, the law of unintended consequences is kicking in against them. They are no longer humble. They have exploited the inner city youth of America. They have gotten greedy. The CEO, Mark Parker, is a product guy. He is removed from the pulse of foregone culture that made the company great and has replaced it with a zero sum culture that is unbecoming to those that work for, or deal with Nike.
For now, their competitors mimic Nike's management moves. But, sooner or later, their competitors are going to smarten up and exploit the retail space that Nike has dismissively turned its back on. Rather than follow the Nike model, it will be used against them.
73
Nike is like every corporation I've ever worked for in two different industries - one of which being the news media. The U.S. grows males like this like fungus on the forest floor, generation after generation. There are so many that part of the problem absolutely has to be not only bad fathers raising bad sons but bad mothers coddling their little prince and instilling contempt for females.
21
The story of abuse is true, but the failure of leadership is much more broad than this story conveys.
I was at Nike for 10 years in progressively more senior positions reporting to C-level execs, and did not once encounter such overtly sexist behavior or anything approaching it. I believe every woman’s story mentioned here. and the accused you call out don’t surprise me, although my sense is Edwards himself was more clueless than he was sexist. He mentored many women along with men.
But Edwards’ and Parker’s radar for bad behavior amongst their lieutenants was broken not only for women but for men. The toxicity was and is systemic.
HR leader Ayres was the personification of the problem. He was broadly known to be a ruthless opportunist who loved numbers, disliked people, and artfully walled off senior management from feedback to make room for his own positive spin. His presence combined with executive predilection toward obliviousness plus the tension created by a resurgent adidas allowed the horribleness to fester.
There’s certainly a Nike woman’s story to be told. And I applaud those who came forward. But I also know several stories of Nike women abusing other Nike women (and men) just as viciously without consequence. It would be ashame if Nike (and readers) missed this broader point.
Bottom line: Parker was — culturally speaking — asleep at the wheel. He’s a fine man and a decent human being, but he failed this company’s latest test and should go.
128
[[HR leader Ayres was the personification of the problem. He was broadly known to be a ruthless opportunist who loved numbers, disliked people, and artfully walled off senior management from feedback to make room for his own positive spin.]]
I'll point out that this sounds like the Trump White House, but to be fair I'd also have to point out that it sounded like the Clinton campaign.
Anyway, this is what the "Friends Of" culture gets you...one person or a handful of people become a chokepoint for information and people on both sides get starved.
I had a friend who wanted to take on more work but her manager told her to simply do as she was told....meaning no opportunities to shine or advance or make more money.
I told her to do the extra work on her own time and then show the manager what she was capable of. She said that if she did that she would be branded a "troublemaker."
So, she did as she was told, suffered silently for a few more years, and then was laid off...probably an easy decision because her manager could tell higher ups that the worker was "not very productive." Diabolical, isn't it? Stifle a person's desire and career and then can them for "underperforming."
12
[[this group was known as F.O.T., or Friends of Trevor.]]
There are few things as demoralizing or as divisive as allowing a "Friends Of" culture to evolve.
The "Friends" grow increasingly arrogant and insulated and stop hearing reports from workers who are in a position to spot problems of trends. The workers can't get direct access to the top boss, so they report to a middle manager who reports to a "Friend."
Several potential problems there:
1. The middle manager wants into the friend circle and doesn't report the problem or mocks the source of the information.
2. The middle manager hates the friend circle and withholds the information in hopes that the friends fall on their faces.
3. The middle manager does everything right but the "Friend" is afraid of the boss's temper or of being cast out of the group and doesn't act on the information.
4. Workers who feel detached from the decision making process enact orders half heartedly often mocking the orders as they do so.
5. The customer suffers and then they stop giving you their business. I was in a fast food joint the other day where the worker refused to swap one item for another, even if they wanted to charge me more money. Obviously, the worker was told what to do and enforced the rule and I'm sure didn't tell a manager "Hey, the customer wanted XYZ and was prepared to pay more money."
"Friends Of" cultures are toxic for a company. Either treat everyone the same or prepare for an eventual collapse due to corrosion.
12
Yes. I’m experiencing a frighteningly similar situation at my place of employment, which happens to be at a place one might least expect it: a top-tier public research university. Whatever they may tell themselves, the offices set up to protect staff are unable to do so - efforts to protect staff have often been blocked by offices whose primary interests are to protect the faculty. All reports of wrongdoing to HR and other offices on campus were effectively ignored until the staff took it upon themselves to supply a report so dense in its listing of unacceptable behavior that the problem could no longer be ignored. Over 4 months later, while a formal investigation continues, the perpetrator continues working (albeit from home, blessedly) and the staff are still awaiting a resolution.
12
If we ever hope to create a societal culture where the promise and potential of women and girls is realized, then we must persist and continue to keep the enemy of gender equity and inclusion before us.
We have to tell the stories of women whose stars are dimmed along the way; yet who are and can become the leaders that will bring more consciousness, more creativity, more inclusivity to our work places.
What we have now is the early stage of deconstructing the centuries old well-developed and keenly orchestrated environment of marginalization and exclusion for women, especially black women and other women of color. All of our institutions regardless of purpose or mission - public and private - are complicit in this reality in their own way. I am grateful to and for the NYT in telling and spreading.
15
Does anyone know the survey they used at Nike? Same corporate culture at hospital, where >90% employees are female, yet <5% of management are female.
The HR department doesn’t listen to employees, rather protects those in power and the institution itself.
Any information would be hugely beneficial!
3
As a restaurant professional, I and many of my colleges have had to deal with Nike employees enjoying themselves in large-group company dinners. They spend a lot of money and rent out large areas in restaurants around town that operate within slim profit margins. These gatherings have, over the years, gained Nike employees a reputation within the restaurant community for being belligerent, entitled and generally obnoxious guests. Because they spend so much money, some see booking them as a necessary evil. I personally watched as one visibly drunk Nike employee (on such a company outing) repeatedly made comments about how "well hung" the female owner and chef of the restaurant was. It took some effort to get this young man to leave with his college and he really seemed sure that his comments were hilarious. Had he been able to read the room, he would have realized no one was laughing, instead, we were just dealing with him. While I am glad to hear about mandatory management training being implemented at Nike, I hope Nike will take seriously the culture they have created and the depth of effort necessary to address it at every level, not just management levels.
Also, Nike: Next time you decide to go out, act like you've been there- Just do it.
42
Aside from the unfair prejudical behavior toward women, "significant and everyday experiences that left us feeling bullied, uncomfortable and intimidated” are normal in the business environment, They certainly aren't only experienced by or directed at women, or more so. Some companies are worse than others in this regard, but businesses aren't democracies. They run via cutthroat competition and unrestrained ambition by many if not most employees, among all genders.
7
So yet another story of ‘women good’, ‘men bad’. So glad I work for myself!
4
Totally explains why I can't find my shoe anymore. Used to love Nike - grew up in Nike running shoes. Not anymore!
6
Why are Nike products even a thing anymore. Who needs them?
Overpriced nylon, foam and rubber foot gear-wow.
12
I have never dealt with Human Resources without coming away thinking they were Corporate Resources. Why is that?
31
They ARE corporate resources. HR represents the company and is there to protect the company.
21
Absolutely! Back in the day I worked for a Fortune 100 company where the personnel function was called Industrial Relations,which was really more accurate. Human Resources suggest something more humane while in reality HR is there to protect the corporation from the employees. After All, who pays the salaries for HR professionals? And why are many HR senior executives women? HR is a staff function without the power to do much except say no, while line functions, where the significant decisions and power exist, is mostly male.
10
Then maybe they should change their name?
2
The Board of Directors needs to actively engage and resolve this.
10
Bullying and discrimination are never innocent. What this is really all about is what it's always about. There are people who are less talented and less intelligent than they like to believe who want more than by virtue of skill and effort and talent they deserve to have. So in effect by victimizing others they steal. It's endemic and it has to be stamped out to get to the type of society we wish.
23
I feel quite angry reading this, and disinclined to buy any more Nike-branded merchandise for my family of four (including two teens who play sports).
I would like to read a follow-up to this article that investigates the workplace culture at other large companies. Include stats about gender/diversity of upper management. About their record of labor treatment. Can you find out about New Balance, Adidas and other brands? I am done with Nike until I read about a sea change in their disgusting toxic workplace culture, and read about their hiring a female CEO.
I was a teen cross country and track runner in the late 1970s and was very proud to wear Nikes. That goodwill has evaporated.
19
I never bought Nike products because they were one of the premier companies outsourcing their manufacturing overseas to low-wage countries with inferior working conditions. I bought all my athletic footware from Saucony, which was still in the USA. Now, almost everything is made in China; I still buy Saucony, as their shoes are more comfortable for my feet than just about anything else.
5
Men in big companies don't want to behave and treat women equally in the work environment. I would like to see only women CEO's in the business work force. Put all these troubled men in Trumps coal mines for hard labor. I think the women would be better running the government ,business and be more compassionate to the workers and their families. In government they would less likely look for trouble with other countries and follow what the Pope says talk at all costs and save the planet from business polluters.
13
As a professional female and the mother of two teenage daughters I am disgusted by this behavior and will no longer be purchasing Nike products for myself or my daughters (who, by the way go through 3-4 pairs of shoes a year). no better way to show our displeasure with the treatment of females than to hit them where it counts - on the bottom line.
33
Everyone knows that even though both men and women engage in sexual acts, the mere discussion of sex is extremely harmful to the female mind. This even applies if the discussion has nothing to do with the woman in earshot, but the actions of other women, such as those who choose to voluntarily work in a gentlemen's club and earn an above-average income.
The sexual freedom movement of the 1960's and later periods was in error and we should return to Victorian times where women were thought of as delicate creatures unable to be exposed to reality in the fear of harming their fragile sensibilities.
In addition, we should ignore when women discuss sexuality, sometimes in very explicit terms, in such media as "Cosmopolitan," "The View," and various feminist Web sites. After all, it is perfectly acceptable for women to discuss sex because female sex is "clean" while male sex is "dirty."
Men should change the harmless talk between themselves when a woman enters the room because women are not equal to men and cannot handle equality.
Furthermore, if a man has a magazine with a woman wearing a bikini on the front cover, that is bad, very bad. However, if a woman chooses to wear a bikini, that is empowering, so that is very good.
/s
14
You are correct on all counts. That is what the majority of the male population fails to understand.
5
It isn't harmless talk if it's making it difficult for a company to retain talent. It's the workplace! If an adult still has difficulty with the people skills involved in recognizing that not every topic is appropriate in every situation, I'm not sure how to help them. If a man is aware that women are equal to him, he will find topics to discuss in social situations at work that appeal to both men and women. Those are basic social skills.
Finally, yes, people choose the clothes they feel comfortable in based on the social situation they are in. A woman wearing a bikini at the beach is very likely doing so for her own enjoyment of a sunny day, and not for someone's creepy gratification.
19
@LW
"A woman wearing a bikini at the beach is very likely doing so for her own enjoyment of a sunny day, and not for someone's creepy gratification."
A woman wearing a bikini as pictured on a magazine cover is doing so for her own gratification and livelihood. Are you arguing that it is acceptable for a woman to model a bikini, knowing that her picture will appear in popular media, but is unacceptable for men to view this picture?
1
Outstanding job by these women (and some men) in bringing this to light and driving dramatic change. It’s about time.
Now how about exposing age discrimination with the same sense of urgency and effort. Both women and men are victims and I suspect there is award winning journalism for those that are up to the challenge. #graytoo
33
In the 80's and 90's, Nike was synonymous with worker exploitation in the third world who are mostly young women but Nike used their advertising power, army of spin doctors and buying out celebrities to silence their critics to hide problem under the rug as if it is fixed. If women are treating like this in corporate headquarter, can anyone imagine mistreatment of workers in third world are fixed as Nike pretends to be?
Mark Parker used this incident to stay 2 more years in the helm. He was suppose to retire at 2020 but he will stay until 2022 to fix the problem. Well, he is the one that got into this problem or was most likely part of it. If Nike board has any bones then they should act. Mr. Tim Cook do you hear us?
You should speak out like you spoke out against Facebook for perceived injustice or resign to make a point.
Nike should fix the problem from the top and that is Mark Parker. The driver that got the bus into a ditch.
Unless they cut the snake's head, they are not fixing anything.
In meantime, all the ladies should BOYCOTT NIKE.
And all the men who has mother, wife, sister, niece or daughter BOYCOTT NIKE for them.
21
Hopeful Accounts
Case 1: young women in the early stage of her career is repeatedly asked inappropriate questions about her personal life by an man in a hierarchically higher position in the company. He also invites her to diner and pressures her to allow him into her hotel room as well as inviting her to come to his hotel room in the pretext of work. She refuses, and eventually changes her hotel to avoid the ongoing scenario. She does not immediately report the situation to HR, she copes since she is worried about retaliation and does not know if HR is reliable to take the actions they present in policies and employee training materials. Other team members observe some of the incidents. After much encouragement from her colleagues she reports to HR. HR responds by performing the prescribed process for the situation: document the report; conduct interviews with those who observed the behavior as well as with the offending employee. This occurs over a period of 2 weeks; based on the evidence from the report and interviews, HR determines the appropriate response. Due to the confidentially required, I don’t know the exact result; however, I easily observe the offending employee no longer works for the company (the total timeline from HR report to observation of offending employee no longer at the company is less than one month).
10
HR does not work for the employee; it works for the EMPLOYER. If you are harassed/intimidated/bullied/sidelined by an employer, complain, but also get a lawyer to represent you. Your lawyer should be at all of your HR meetings; all of your communication should be written by your lawyer.
8
Hopeful Accounts: on two occasions I have observed a company responding to complaints in an appropriate manner with good outcomes. I recognize this is not yet the norm, as NO other company where I’ve worked responded in this manner. I, like others, have developed coping strategies and behaviors to navigate bad behavior. I offer these accounts to serve as an example of what can be and what does occur in SOME companies with functioning HR departments/policies/procedures. (Hopeful Account Case 1 and 2 posted separately due to post character count restrictions).
I share these experiences (Hopeful Account Case 1 and 2 posted separately due to post character count restrictions) with new employees to enable them to develop confidence in the company’s HR policies and procedures should they have the need to trigger them. I share with NYT readers in the hope that executives and employees have a view into a functional use of (all too often unpracticed) written policies/procedures. A company’s policies and procedures are only as good as the people who put them in action.
5
The larger problem is figuring out what dynamic makes certain workplaces toxic and how to disrupt that. I've seen cliques of women wall off others, both other women and men, who just didn't play their game - like being in junior high. A good, objective supervisor or manager should be watching and aware and shut these things down when they occur at any level for any reason. Unfortunately, they are sometimes the very source of the problem and encourage the behavior.
25
The line between a harmful clique and a strong close-knit group is a real blurry. I suspect some cliques started as the latter and, over time, became the former, Disrupting that transition would be one--but only one--tactic in reducing these problems.
7
About thirty years ago, the "kitchen cabinet" of Nike came to Stanford Business School, as other companies did, to do a Q&A with students. At that point, women's sporting goods had been exploding for a few years, and Nike had completely missed the trend. The execs were ruing it, and openly wondering how they missed it. A female GSB student stood up and said: You're a bunch of guys (and these were guys who really acted as stereotypical, clubby guys), and you have no females in leadership roles. No wonder you missed it.
Her comment was so true, and too bad those guys didn't act on it decades ago.
82
With their unofficial employee survey, the women of Nike accomplished more impactful change than any employee engagement assessment sponsored by their Human Resources or Corporate Strategy departments. It will be a great service to companies everywhere for these brave women to share their survey and process online so that other women may replicate this action within their own workplaces. Please make these tools available to all. A corporate-sponsored effort to gauge workplace harassment and discrimination will not yield honest results for fear of retribution. Companies dedicated to improving opportunities for all employees will not discourage their associates from collecting and reporting this data.
36
I've read that HIRING combined with planned avenues for PROMOTION that are backed by senior executives is the likeliest path to true, and that must include diversity beyond gender. Go visit Nike's bigger neighbor in Hillsboro, Intel Corporation, to see how that is done. Have someone take you into their cafeterias and you'll see men, women and some non-binary people of every color, ethnicity, age, shape and size. I don't know whether perfection has been reached or if flaws remain, but that company has had a plan in place for a long, long time.
15
While it's encouraging that women at Nike and other companies are finally being heard and given the opportunities so long denied them, it's bothersome that the men involved will just resurface somewhere else. It's great for Nike to have these toxic men out. But, some other company somewhere will give them a home. What needs to happen is a real shift in attitude and outlook. Men have to really understand the damage they inflict by refusing to see women as more than targets. This is a sickness in our entire culture. Changing Nike is good for Nike. But, what about the rest of us?
21
"As women — and men — continue to come forward with complaints, Nike has begun a comprehensive review of its human resources operations, making management training mandatory and revising many of its internal reporting procedures."
Let's face it: human resources is not the employee's friend. The HR department is a risk-management operation that protects the bottom line. Squeaky wheels get greased. The message is "go along to get along."
To achieve true reforms, the State of Oregon needs to severely restrict if not prohibit nondisclosure provisions in employment. And if HR and management are not going to protect women from sexual harassment and sexual discrimination in hiring and promotions, then the workforce should unionize.
Oh, and if Nike ignores women's complaints about sexual harassment and discrimination based on sex, then there are scads of ferocious employment lawyers who will take the women seriously and sue the heck out of the company.
35
I've been saying it for years, say no to Nike.
19
This is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen! Good Job Women of NIke!!
Thanks, again, Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for putting yourself on the line to show average people in The United States of America and the world how rampant and unacceptable gender discrmination and sexual harassment are. Thanks ot all the Socially Conscious women and men who are stepping up, speaking out and taking action to change the male power-over model to one of gender-equal power with.
The article says, "Nike has begun a comprehensive review of its human resources operations, making management training mandatory and revising many of its internal reporting procedures."
Baloney. This is just another male-conceived smoke screen to pretend they are doing something about. Promote every woman - and man - who had the courage to fill out the questionairre and promote knowledgable, qualified women right now.
Times UP!
38
not so sure. it seems that NIKE was making significant progress with half the employees being female and approaching half of management being female. should the diversity of a company reflect the diversity of it's marketplace, it's employment base, a judicial apportionment, merit, ownership, or other discretionary measure?
4
I would like to read stats about the diversity of top level management. The current CEO should resign now. Either the toxic culture started from the top or he was willfully obtuse in allowing it to continue for so long.
5
For decades the response to the victims has been: “get another job” #MeToo
29
Gives new meaning to the slogan, “Just do it!”
8
Paragraph 8: "While the #MeToo movement has led to the downfall..." Incorrect. The actions of these men led to their downfall. The courage of these women simply exposed it. Do not confuse those two things. THESE MEN CAUSED THEIR OWN DEMISE.
77
Thank you- the bias is right there in the NYTs.
6
Are you kidding?? A Nike ad in the middle of this story??
9
For "cougar" shoes no less. Talk about Nike having NO clue.
1
As a man, I’m truly disgusted of such behavior. I’ve work with amazing women in my career.
4 out of 6 of my best mentors were women.
I’m incredibly thankful of their support and making me feel I can contribute to the team.
The reported male behavior is grotesque and needs to be eradicated. Any man engaging in this behavior needs to get the memo - STOP!
How would you feel it this was being done to your daughter, sister, or wive?
Nike is a dead company. We need more women to come forward and share their story.
I write this comment with a sad & sinking feeling that many Corporations simply don’t get it nor care about what it does to the workplace environment.
Let’s work even harder in creating a truly safe & supportive world. We are all Human. Let’s respect each other.
27
Count me as a another female boycotting Nike brand. I never liked it much anyway, very mannish styles.
16
I have been loyal to a fault buying Nike's AirMax shoes. This expose certainly gives me pause and the realization that the world is large with many other great options. I cannot support the insidiousness of a male-dominated, femaled denigrated culture. Shame on you Nike!! Shame on your leadership and the HR dept!!! No more NIKE.
12
As far as I am concerned, like other manufacturers if similar footwear, they manufacture almost everything in China, with decreased quality. I will not be spending big bucks for footwear not manufactured in this country. They do not respect US workers nor do they have any loyalty to this Nation, only to the almighty buck.
Hit them where it hurts...do not buy their now cheapened products.
6
And how about the thousands of women even more severely exploited in Third World countries who work for Nike and its ilk and who make the billion dollar profits possible? They are paid next to nothing, work under unhealthy conditions, forced to work many consecutive hours with no extra pay. How about the more advantaged critics of Nike speak in defense of their poor sisters as well as themselves?
13
Any company that exploits people's labor in 3rd world countries is not going to respect their employees in any part of the company. It's not surprising that this disrespect has surfaced at headquarters, and I would bet that there are men who are also marginalized who don't go along with the boys club mentality. How many other large corporations do this? I'm reminded of the recent article on Amazon in NYT as well.
4
Definitely boycotting Nike.
12
They did it.
4
I guess it's not a huge surprise that in a company built on hyping male professional athletes this type of culture and abuse exists. I would like to hear from some of Nike's top women athletes, such as Serena Williams, on how they will work to influence the company to support and promote women equally. In the meantime, I won't be purchasing Nike products.
15
The quality of shoes has been complete garbage past few years from Nike.
Hurley Shorts from Nike deteriorate after few months of use. Clothes lack creativity.
Time to Buy Under Armour stock. They have been gaining traction and their quality of apparel is amazing
4
If culture at Nike was so sexist I doubt they would have hired thousands of women. It would be an all-male fraternity, but clearly it is not.
1
Why doubt? In such an environment women are cheaper, work harder, take less credit, and are more easily controlled. A large number of women in lower positions makes a good business case.
5
It seems the women were there as an audience for all the frat boys. I've worked at just such places. The men are ambitious, sexist sociopaths who will start yelling or berating if challenged in any perceived way. Intimidation and bullying are their main tactic. Teamwork is not part of their vocabulary (although useful alliances may be) The women (and some other men) are cowed, dismissed and marginalized. The "alpha" men get all the perks and advancements and positions of power and the vicious cycle continues. It's not that uncommon actually. Its a horrible work environment and it is a huge waste of talent.
1
That's a silly argument. You are saying gender discrimination doesn't occur in places that hire women? Ridiculous.
2
Well I can’t say I’m surprised. I’m far from Nike’s market but old enough to remember them from the start. Women often seemed missing or used as props in their ads.
3
Don’t buy the shoes, don’t buy the stock.
6
It is disappointing that the author of this article chose to paint of grim picture of Nike’s future financial prospects in the wake of these departures. As successful as Nike has been with this oppressive culture and the now departed “leaders,” why can’t this be seen as an opportunity to reach new heights? More women in leadership positions (at all levels within the organization) is actually a positive that just might translate into better results (financial and otherwise).
5
“The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.”
- Charles de Gaulle
28
A young woman I know just left Under Armour after five years for the same reason: frat-like bro culture, lack of promotions and opportunity to advance, low salaries with grueling workloads, and disrespectful, sexist treatment. Time for all these company cultures (just like at Uber, NBC et al) to be revamped, starting at the top. That means Mr. Parker and Under Armour founders have to go.
19
Note that the Nike HR head came from PepsiCo, which is led by a female CEO who purports to champion women, however, top women are continually passed over for promotions, not supported etc. Worth debunking the myth of female empowerment and promotion at that company as well, NYT. Women "leaders" can be women's worst enemies...
5
It is worth amassing data about all large companies. Stats on diversity company-wide at different management levels, and within the board of directors. Workplace climate surveys, etc. It might be eye-opening.
2
Completely agree that women can be other women’s biggest enemies. There is the larger problem of talent management in this country. Men and women need to be better coached, trained, mentored regarding their behavior at work. We leave too many employees on auto pilot rather than nurturing their human potential. If we believe in dog eat dog, then we’re all dogs.
The men may be leaving - but they are leaving with their pockets lined with gold.
Trevor limps away with a $525,000 payout and almost $9 million worth of unvested stock. Could Nike's view of these execs be any clearer? Why not fine them?
16
Amazing that the “not so great” revenue of their women’s business correlates to Nike’s treatment of women employees.
6
“Just Don’t Buy It”
9
What I find maddening about this and similar stories is the fact that many women made complaints through the proper HR and administrative channels over the years and got nowhere. I worked at an employment law firm in the early 2000s & we filed case after case for gender discrimination/ hostile work environment at the state administrative level (required before a court filing can be made). These cases hardly ever resulted in a finding of discrimination. Maybe 1 in 100. The facts were always similar to those recounted here: vulgar language, not getting promoted, comments on clothing and body parts, expectations for sexual favors on business trips etc. If the law doesn’t consider these actions discriminatory, why would HR or CEOs or upper management? I fear a backlash if this firing by media continues without legal validation.
14
And yet Jayme Martin remains on the Board of Trustees at Creighton University, my alma mater and his for his undergraduate degree. Disgusting. The story is getting zero local coverage. There was mention in a March 16 article in the Omaha World-Herald but it has since been removed. The official word from a university spokesman was that it was a personnel issue and no further comment. I've heard this far too often from Creighton about misbehaving men. Why does this institution choose to cover this up instead of dealing with it head on?
10
I don't know your post is referring to. Can you send a link or explain?
No need to explain who Jayme Martin is... he's in the article. He also just happens to have a local angle from my point of view that the media here is happy to keep out of the press.... or when a story did appear on March 16, it is no longer available. It's more a local story, but any university that chooses to keep a man like this on their Board of Trustees is one you can't take seriously, regardless of whether there is a VP of Diversity and Inclusion now on campus in Omaha or not....
Most people think that Human Resources divisions are there to protect employees. They are not. Their role is to protect the company, mostly from employment litigation concerns. Nike female employees' experience with their HR department is not atypical. Until HR departments are given a more independent status and reporting line, this really won't change much.
13
After reading this article, I see too many denials made by Mr. Parker and Mr. Wilkins, and I have little hope for change at Nike. I will not buy Nike again until they are replaced by women. The lack of stylish, appealing, and comfortable women's wear at the big sport wears companies -- from Nike to Addias, Patagonia to REI -- has been such an issue for decades now. The colors and shapes have been completely unflattering. It seems this may be why, so I will be spending my dollars with more women-friendly companies like Lululemon, Prana and Athleta.
17
The sad part it is these guys are going to work for another company and sometimes they are rewarded. It would be nice to see a stronger message to them. They will be raptors and snakes looking for opportunities to have their next victims.
7
“It has pained me to hear that there are pockets of our company where behaviors inconsistent with our values have prevented some employees from feeling respected and doing their best work,” he said.
Wow - way to marginalize the bad behavior and the toxic effects on a huge segment of the Nike workforce. Of course, the problem is that these women “feel disrespected “. Yuck.
It is this comment that will cause my boycott. This repugnance shows that the CEO isn’t taking the problem seriously moving forward.
22
It’s been at least a dozen years since I’ve purchased any Nike products because they are overpriced, overhyped, and underwhelming, but especially because the company exploits workers in developing countries like Bangladesh and others with near slavery conditions.
Perhaps having a female president or more women higher in the ranks would solve some of the global exploitation but I’m not too sure about that.
28
I haven't bought Nike in over 25 years for the same reasons.
Speak with your purchases!
9
More women executives don't lead to better working conditions for poor women. The factories would be in France and Singapore, not Bangladesh and Vietnam, if Nike and other companies cared about anything but the bottom line.
3
The leadership sets the culture in a business, they tolerate and may participate in these toxic environments and when they do, of course HR has no power to stop it, HR reports to that management.
13
Wondering what Serena Williams, GOAT and my personal hero, thinks about all this. Let's hope for words from her.
14
This sort of thing happening at a company with a well known reputation of overseas sweat shop and child labor abuses?
Gee. There’s a surprise.
44
Nike doesn't own any of the factories that manufacture their products. The conditions in these 'sweat shops' are superior to those in the States and the pay scales conform to local standards.
Really? Can you cite any evidence for this?
Well if any of you are old enough to remember - Nike's early ads were often quite sexist, using women (if at all) as props and ignoring all the fine women athletes that were coming on strong in the early post Title IX days. I decided then and there never to buy from such a brand. Though their ads changed as did their product line, I guess they never really changed.
30
Actually I’m saving a lot of money by boycotting all the toxic companies....which are...well, most of them.
39
To be terminated for talking about strip clubs. That makes perfect sense.
10
Didn't you read the article . They talked about strip clubs at work . They talked about it in spite of the objections of their co-workers . They talked about strip clubs multiple times it in spite of HR being notified . That's in case the dummies couldn't pick up on the women looking out the window and falling silent
Having been in similar situations ,you look away and quit listening and pretend you are somewhere else
2
To be discussing strip clubs at a company event and ignoring the reaction of everyone else- shows great judgment and professionalism
5
Have you ever thought that maybe you shouldn't be talking about strip clubs in a work environment? Especially not one that includes women?
4
The behavior attributed to men at Nike is abhorrent. But, if the financial results of the company slide south as a result of the exodus of Y chromosones, are those who remain willing to be accountable? This is a sportswear company; brand = relationships, plain and simple. It could be that this turns into a an abject lesson about the difference between employees who are object oriented versus employees who are process oriented , where shareholders are on the hook. Are all you PCers willing to take responsibility for that? I doubt it.
4
Yes, but if Nike fails it seems more likely to be an example of a company whose management drove it straight off a cliff not realizing the road had turned sharply.
25
What if all these changes in internal politics actually improve the bottom line? Are all you sexists willing to be held accountable for holding back productivity for all these years? When organizations listen to all the voices instead of a select few, they usually become better, not worse, though I realize this admission will be hard on a lot of men's egos.
39
The people who are leaving screwed up the company's relationship with half the human race and triggered the chain of events that resulted in this revolt. That's strictly on them. Are they going to take responsibility for it? Maybe those who remain can build better relationships with more people.
And shareholders need to be willing to take responsibility for their investments. If they understood the kind of company in which they were investing then they accepted the risk that something like this could happen. If they didn't understand that then maybe they have a legal case against the departing executives. And for those who haven't invested in the company, maybe this is a buying opportunity.
There are plenty of companies that understand that sexist and misogynistic behavior is abhorrent. There are good social and good business reasons to reject it. If Nike can't survive without these men then it was never going to survive with them.
11
Nike HR appears to be worthless.
Nike PR - now with a massive problem, do this:
Donate new sneakers to women's shelters. Right away.
20
You poor, poor Americans, feeling unloved and under appreciated and discriminated against.
And what a cruel slap in the face to the tens of thousands of slave labourers who work, live and die in the concentration camps that are laughably referred to as 'factories'.
I have been to several of them and, trust me, the labourers in these places would gladly cut off their right hand for the chance of being 'discriminated against' in the US.
Yes, Nike should be boycotted, but not for any of the reasons argued here.
Nike and its cohorts are guilty of mass slavery, mass pollution and corruption, and it is a stain on our collective humanity that we (well, you, not I) perpetuate this neo-colonialism by buying their products.
Meanwhile, forgive me for not giving a toss about whingeing, highly paid Americans who lift their 6, 7 & 8 figure salaries on the back of the poor.
31
@Nils: Congratulations on leading a perfectly moral life in every respect. I'm sure Sweden has never done anything even remotely wrong, either. It must be nice to be perfect - and it surely gives you more time to snark.
I wonder what YOU did about the conditions you say you saw in person at those factories?
And I wonder if you own anything at all that was made under those conditions, whether Nike brand or another brand?
10
Sexual harassment and discrimination of a company's white-collar management and employees against women is made no less appalling and problematic by the same company's exploitation and abuse of factory workers.
14
I’m surprised. It took me reading only about 14 comments until I saw that Donald Trump was the reason and the problem. The Left is slipping.
6
Dream on.
9
I’ve been on maternity leave for the last 6 months, and in that relatively short space of time, there has been a shift in the industry I work in (financial services). My old boss was let go from his new employer a couple of months before I went on leave (pre #metoo) because of alleged sexual harassment (in amongst other things). At the time it was a shock because he’d been let go, not the allegations (pretty much everyone who worked with him could cite multiple instances of inappropriate behaviour, like hitting on married woman, sending lewd emails). I caught up with some colleagues last week and since then his boss has been let go for similar reasons, only this time it isn’t a shock.
It’s about time; I’ve been in my profession for over a decade, and in that time I’ve had more senior (male) members of staff ask me to send them pictures of my boobs, had my pushback on a project been dismissed as “the girls not wanting to do any more work” (one of the other “girls” was the COO of that business division), had to deal with staff members downloading porn at work and taking climates to brothels and being passed over for promotion for a male colleague that was made redundant shortly after. It’s time
33
Holy shoot, Lisa! Glad for the much-needed and overdue changes, but what a hideous work climate! Hope it is a much healthier and constructive place to work upon your return.
6
@Lisa
"... taking climates (sic) to brothels..."
In the UK, prostitution is legal, so taking clients to brothels, if that is where they wish to go, is in accordance with the law.
As people all around the world spend more and more time at work, enjoying some recreational activities at work, whether that is playing Foosball, taking a nap, eating gourmet food in the company cafeteria, visiting a fancy restaurant, or engaging with a legal sex worker in private, is seen as a perk that helps attract and retain top talent and important clients.
If you remove the joy and emotional satisfaction that some get from working for or with a particular business, these employees and clients may move on to a different business.
Just because one person finds anything related to sex "icky," does not mean everyone else shares these same beliefs.
1
Haven't bought from Nike in ages, b/c that company has long represented a mindset I do not wish to support. Reading this article saddens me, but does not surprise me.
The men who left Nike will resurface somewhere else, none the wiser, not feeling anything but "done wrong by," and they will be overpaid. They'll bring their toxicity to another company. Men like this usually can't be bothered to grow up.
The number of men who are simply jerks (in the workplace and in everyday life) is depressing. Companies that enable (and even celebrate) that jerk-hood are welcome to exist, but they don't get my $$.
BTW, "Human Resources," both as a concept AND as a department in a company, has been useless for AT LEAST 50 years. It's where smug women get paid to suppress other women. HR is stuck in the "Mad Men" mentality.
45
With the evidence here is certainly seems that Nike fostered a hostile environment against women and some men.
Change and discipline is certainly called for.
However here is what not to do. The predators will be back.
1-Wait 10-20-30 yrs. to do something about it. This type of behavior was outlawed circa 1980 ie don't become a witting or unwitting co dependent or enabler of these predators. Untold numbers of women have complained, sued and won since 1980. I know I saw many in the corporation I worked for.
2-Don't use it as a witch hunt to condemn men for six millions yrs. of existence. Also don't use it as an increase that since women have been abused so long they have to be treated as damaged goods and be giving 50% of everything whether they deserve it or not ie social engineering.
We tried that in the inner cities circa 1970 after the great strides in racial equality and it almost destroyed many major cities.
I know I witnessed it in NYC.
9
Says the male who has never experienced any of the harassment and career roadblocks women and people of color have endured for 6M years.
Let me ask you this. Picture living in a world in which white women have ruled and made all the rules and you're the marginalized white male or person of color trying to get around career and social barriers put up by white women. Picture being passed over for promotions and making less than your white female counterpart. Now what advice would you give?
2
Thank you for your reply Marie. I kind of lived that in my corporation. Many men even some women agreed where I worked that if you were a woman from 1975-today you were guaranteed the best jobs and promotions because you were a woman.
This of course was the direct opposite in my corporation pre 1975.
The bottom line as mentioned in my first post is that everything has changed. The law is on the side of equality. Either sex, don't axe grind, bait and switch, cherry pick, rationalize, intellectualize, discriminate, social engineer, co depend, enable or play the victim.
If you feel you are harassed or discriminated against, file a complaint, sue etc.
Millions of women and some men have done it since 1975.
1
I am a former athletic footwear designer, and "former" is there for good reason. As a woman I felt that in that field the highest position I could attain was senior footwear designer, there were no women I saw in major department roles (kids and women's footwear only maybe), nor were there any in roles like creative director, VP's of any kind. This might have changed by now and this article is very encouraging and I cheer these women on but I assure you this is written from experience at 1 major and 2 less major brands.
There was absolutely a boys club where you were somehow left out of being given tickets to sports events etc where your male counterparts were not. I too attended trade shows where somehow the evening ended at a strip club and felt grossed out by it all. I felt creatively compromised by sales team bullies who were allowed direct access to me to work on ill conceived whims of buyers (also always male). Constant long trips to Asia and across the country meant this job could not be sustained once I had a family.
Ultimately I left the industry but miss the days of putting my headphones on and cranking out some killer designs. If a young woman asked me today if they should go into footwear I'd probably still be discouraging, but this change at Nike tells me that maybe in the future the industry will change enough to be a good place for women.
52
Figures
I haven't bought Nike anything for years.
Small emerging direct to consumer brands use better materials, operate locally and don't bilk us for bloated advertising and overhead.
Let the capitalist system do its efficient work of letting this brand deteriorate to irrelevance but for a few sports
27
Nike is biggest hypocrite in the world.
How is Mark Parker not know about it when he has been with the company for 40 years? And rose through the ranks.
If he did not know about it then he should resign because he is incompetent. The previous CEO Perez came to Nike from the position of CEO of SC Johnson so he can use that excuse but not Mark Parker!
The spokesman said that Mark Parker cannot know about everything that is goes around in the company but this was happening right below his nose at the executive level.
Not in some warehouse or Nike store!!!
Bottom line is that all the ladies should boycott Nike and their hyper expensive women product!!! And teach them a lesson and make point!!
As long as we keep continuously buy their hyper expensive product, they will not change!! As I pointed above, they will try to sweep under the rug and let the storm pass.
BOYCOTT NIKE
40
Smash the patriarchy! Just do it!
33
The shoe fits Donald Trump.
13
I've been a loyal Nike customer since the 70's but now I want to throw all my Nike apparrel away.
20
Just #MeToo It!
But in a world where the boys-who-will-be-boys dismiss bragging about sexual assault by the now-president of this country as Just Locker Room Talk, we still have a long way to go, baby.
38
Some of our fellow workers are jerks and creeps. And some of those workers cross a line, so that employers must intervene forcefully against them, including possible dismissal. But there are others who are just obnoxious and tacky, and we have little choice but to try to minimize our interactions with them.
This article -- and many of the current and past employees it cites -- seems incapable of making this distinction. Consider: A boss spends a meeting bragging? I am shocked, shocked. A co-worker uses a vulgar term to refer to another co-worker? A manager in an email refers to a female employee's breasts? (Once? Twice?). A company is clumsy and/or heartless in laying off employees (is there a gentle way?). Do these employees think that Nike promised them a rose garden? (And even a rose garden has pricks).
Indiscriminately lumping together these petty annoyances with serious wrongs in the workplace has unfortunate consequences. It risks trivializing the serious wrongs, and it raises the question of whether women are tough enough for the inevitable rough and tumble of the work world (or even of marriage?).
Still I guess it has the upside of thinning out the ranks of top management to make room for more "female leadership." You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs.
7
These are not petty annoyances.
10
A manager referring in an email about an employee's breasts is not a minor annoyance. It's completely inappropriate and demeaning, and the person who does that should, at a minimum, be reprimanded immediately. If the behavior continues, that would considered sexual harassment which is against the law.
11
JJ:
I can only think of two possible explanations for your view that the cases I cited are more than petty annoyances.
1. You are lucky enough to have led a very sheltered life. You are the princess who can't sleep because of the pea under her mattress.
2. Like many in the Me-Too movement you are hyping petty annoyances for your own political purposes.
The world is awash in far greater wrongs than these petty annoyances. It is a scandal that the Times has so lost its sense of proportion that this sort of thing is considered first-page material.
1
There is a common thread to be found in all #metoo stories, and it is this:
Human resources or the personnel division is not your friend.
Reporting corporate misdeeds to HR is a short cut to not just ruining your chances for advancement, but your life.
HR exists to protect management. Their “work” in providing confidentiality, impartiality, and enforcement of what few written guidelines against harassmrnt, discrimination, or even physical assault, and even the law, is to discredit the victims and to protect the abusers.
536
This is true only when leadership allows it to be, which is all too often.
Remember, Human Resources isn’t your supervisor. It is a resource for your supervisor and the whole organization.
It’s the supervisor’s job to consistently apply appropriate workplace expectations and apply discipline. HR, done well, provides support. If supervisors are doing their jobs, and that means supervisors all the way up to the CEO, then Human Resources can be effective.
I know. I was a supervisor who was supported by HR in just this way as I did the difficult work of clarifying expectations and imposing discipline. I also watched other supervisors across my organization decide that it wasn’t important or it was too hard to do this. If the leadership up to the CEO accepts this then HR is hobbled.
In the end, as a supervisor, I did work in conjunction with HR that others refused to do. It was hard. It damaged me personally. I don’t regret it. In the end, however, I paid the price however of doing this work on an island (and HR was on that island with me).
It just bugs me when people blame HR. It’s the leadership, people. HR is a reflection of leadership.
8
So, what is the alternative? As a teacher, I had my union to go to with such grievances. Thankfully, I never needed to, but knowing there was a powerful group who would help me if such problems arose was comforting.
Believing HR was ineffective, these women had to resort to taking their own survey. Judy, you say HR serves the interests of management. How can that be flipped? How can HR be designed to serve the interests of truth and fairness? Mandatory surveys designed with employee input and transparent results? Employee delegates at HR meetings when policy or issues are discussed? This is not my field of expertise, but can any HR professionals give us ideas?
12
In my experience, HR is an oxymoron. Welcome to 1984.
15
It’s hard to think the necessary change will happen at the corporate level in America until happens in the white house.
23
I don't understand how any respectable company can condone reimbursing employees for business meetings that take place in strip clubs. One small step in promoting respect for women in the workplace would be to end this practice.
33
Hools, it would also promote respect for the shareholders, the owners of the company.
8
Reading this article, the consumer wants to know “where is the company that treats women fairly and affords upwards trajectory towards advancement?”. The NYT needs to consider a news article regarding this topic.
32
Well heck. The solution isn't more women in charge; the solution is decent people with high ethical standards.
Try finding enough of *those."
As a woman born and always, I've had dreadful female bosses and endured a monstrous all-female workplace; I've experienced the viciousness of female colleagues, just as I've dealt with troglodyte men. And honestly, a crude guy is easier to take than a malicious gal.
Respect for the lives and persons of the ordinary everyday employee is as rare as natural pearls.
41
SCA, discrimination is different than general bad behavior, because it targets a particular group and operates to disadvantage and to control the members of that group. A man who treats a woman badly may not just be a jerk - he may be motivated, at least in part, by hearing his whole life that women are subordinate to men and are on this Earth to meet the needs of men, the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost say so.
10
Unfortunately, SCA, many women who make to management have had to assimilate and "act like a man". Some truly think/behave that way but most do not.
Many women are afraid to help make change and will put up with anything. They do not want other women to rock the boat. This is another thing that must change. Stay home and bake cookies and tend to babies if you wish but have the courage to support other women who do not envision that singular role for themselves.
4
Well no, CMR: We can parse words, but less powerful people are targeted by more powerful people, or by people who seek to become powerful by marginalizing others in any way they can. If you are in any way a little bit different from the others--whoever "the others" may be, you will become prey.
When women support other women and refrain from seeing them as dangerous rivals for whatever the resource in question may be--promotion, extra time off, flexible hours, etc. etc.--men will not be able to get away with abuse. This holds true in every sphere of life.
1
The "Peter Principle" survives.
5
How ironic that this happened in the most "progressive" and liberal of American cities, Portland.
10
What kind shoes did they wear as they were leaving?
4
Judging by Mr. Wilkins' robotic and laughably cookie-cutter responses to the allegations of misconduct and discrimination, I'm not hopeful Nike will replace the bad boys' club with any women in meaningful leadership positions. He sounds like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Meantime, the voices we should most have heard, those of Ms. Ross, Neuburger and Hoyt-Pack deliberately stayed mute. "Ms. Ross declined to comment for this article. Ms. Hoyt-Pack and Ms. Neuburger did not respond to messages seeking comment." Why? As long as women who had the courage to leave a toxic workplace don't have the courage to share their experiences with other women in public, workplace discrimination will continue to be swept under the rug. Ladies, we need your voices to counter the hypocritical and canned responses by male spokemen like Mr. Wilkins.
Excellent reporting by the NYT - these articles make me appreciate my subscription.
20
What severance packages did these departed men get? I will bet millions.
25
I contracted there for a while and it was the most toxic job I've ever had, EVER! I was bullied by my boss, treated like an outcast by some. My integrity with expense reports was tested, alcohol, which is permitted while working and these are just a few things I was subjected to in the 3 months I was there! I would never work there again!
26
Nike is typical of corporate America in that it's human resources function considers these violations acceptable "management style".
14
In my 42 years in business, if there is one thing I have learned it's that a fish stinks from the top. For years the executive suite of Nike most likely aided and abetted this odious culture. It's truly sad how long this went on.
31
Nike pioneered using cheap labor in Asia starting with Japan, Korea then China while abusing the workers who are mostly young women with exposure to chemical, low wages, hostile work environment and long hours. It is well documented.
We thought that they were treating women fair in the corporate headquarters at least but it just turned out that that is not the case. In the meantime, they act like as if they are champions of women's cause but all they want to do is try peddle their ultra expensive shoes and apparel made by workers in the third world. Mark Parker says that he wants to clean up but then he is one who said that he will bring 10000 jobs to US in 2015 but as of today, he has done nothing. So he doesn't have too much credibility. If they really want to clean up then they should start from the top. Mark Parker should be gone. In mean time BOYCOTT NIKE!!
23
Some accusation here are disturbing; nobody should be physically or sexually threatened at work. Some are dubious. "Sexist and dismiss comments?" What does that even mean? Running to HR because someone said something offensive or dismissive is no way to build trust and earn respect. The workplace is competitive. Men will not simply role over in deference -- especially at more senior levels. They'll defensively disengage. It's already happening. #metoo sponsoring assertiveness training would be empowering. Better than waiting for men to become woke. We're slow.
5
Stephen, men are responsible for their behavior, period. It’s not a female coworker’s job to teach a man how to behave. And the article is referring to comments directed at women for being women. How do you know what not to say? Would you want a woman you love treated the same way?
19
American society should be upset about is when we read& hear of these offenses towards living breathing human beings, human beings that give life and then we ignore it.
For instance, a male friend that I believe is empathetic and we've even spoken about it yet he still uses Uber and won't even try to use other options such as Lyft or even the public bus. And then I show him articles of how over treats females from the drivers to Administration to even as passengers. He doesn't care.
As a society are we choosing to not go to Ambassador Hotel, Comfort Inn, DoubleTree bcuz it has been exposed how they allow the maids 2b raped& sexually harassed by paid guests? Or what about whole cruise ship industry for decades passengers and employees have been raped and they have no recourse because they say there is no jurisdiction out at sea. But yet American society lines up with their family and friends and reunions every month to take a cruise.
last year in November 2017 when all this me too was starting I started asking everywhere I grocery shop, Subway sandwich shop, to PetSmart and Petco stores. And I asked the manager do you equally pay your female employees as well as your mails. It all the mail managers cuz I couldn't find a female one, would say they do. And then I would seek and find a female employee (only 35% of the time I could find female employee on the floor) And I would ask in front of manager -are you being treated fairly? Paid equally? etc. JUST DO IT!
4
When I reported my supervisor for sexual harassment to upper management (all men), they were said they were aghast, and sent him packing. And then sent me packing. Problem solved!
17
I hope you filed a charge with the EEOC.
2
This issue of buried harassment of women at Nike goes back decades. Dig deeper. There's more... much more.
20
Nike's HR exec Monique Matheson announced “we need to improve representation of women and people of color.” But that got me wondering how many of the Departing Six male executives were People of Color. I tracked down the names of the Six male executives in the "Portland Business Journal:"
https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2018/04/18/exclusive-with-4-ex...
Judging from online photos, it appears that two are white, one South Asian, and three black.
Ironic, isn't it?
9
Well, that’s it for me. No more Nike!
9
Speaking of support for Very bad behavior, isn't Nike the outfit that initially bailed on Kobe Bryant's monolithic endorsement for a few months following his arrest for sexual assault?
And didn't this same marvelous company revive their endorsement?
Say it ain't so!!
6
Have you looked at the facts of the Kobe Bryant situation? If not, maybe you should.
1
If the comments by Nike's spokesperson are an indication of the company's commitment to end the sexual harassment of its employees, then all I can say is that it's clear they have a LONG way to go.
9
How to kill two birds with one stone:
Thiswell-orhestrated dog and pony show was concocted by Nike to pivot to the ever expanding women's market. It also helps Nike clear out a bunch of dead wood like Martin and Edwards, whose over-blown compensation was always considered obscene.
don't be surprised to see women moved into their slots, while Parker takes a well un-deserved victory lap.
9
I agree that spurning Nike products in the short term is a reasonable response to their protracted bad behavior. However, longer term, once women have begun exerting their leadership in product design and marketing, the public needs to take another look at their products. We don't want to punish Nike once they've begun rectifying their sins of the past.
2
Very simple. Me, my family will not buy Nike. Many other good options. No need for our $ to help a rotten corporate culture reach $50B. Top executives are paid millions in salary and stock, so no excuses. Just do it.
27
The big question is: where was or where is the Board of Directors of Nike? Are they asleep or just plain incompetent?
It is clear that this situation at Nike has greatly diminished the value of the Nike Brand, and thus the company. Moreover, for a company like Nike to move forward in a very competitive marketplace and increase Brand appeal to woman it needs to attract, retain, train, and cultivate woman leadership at the senior executive level.
An astute Board of Directors should be asking management (as part of an annual review of company strategy) the questions I mentioned above. To the outside observer it appears that the Board did not answer these questions and thus allowed aberrant behavior to fester and blossom at Nike. The end result was bad for all stakeholders especially shareholders.
This is NOT the first time that Nike has faltered with respect to its corporate mission and ethics. Thank back to the situation of Phil Knight when he was CEO and how he allowed child labor to be used by Nike subcontractors in Asia.
Shame on the Board for frankly being asleep. A good board would have pushed management and never allowed Company employees to be treated this way. It's time for large institutional shareholders such as CALPERS to step in and demand change at the Board level and to find new executive leadership for NIke.
It may take a shareholders' derivative lawsuit or activist hedge fund investor like Danny Loeb to accomplish this.
12
Nike's claim is that the "bad boy" behavior was largely confined to a cohort of senior executives and then, in the same breath, they're telling us that Mr. Parker, the CEO, cannot be aware of all of the actions of its 74,000 employees.
They might want to look into a crisis manager who can help them keep their story straight. If the abuse was confined to senior managers, and that's dubious given what's noted in the article, then Mr. Parker would know those people very well - and should have known their issues with women.
And if it wasn't confined to those executives then Parker is out of touch with the culture of his company, which seems true on its face. Last, NYT - HR departments are the enemy of women and all whistleblowers - and HR is largely run by women! Some focus on this would be very helpful to all those suffering from workplace abuse.
24
Isn't he inflating his challenge with that number ? Parker and his cohorts were/are responsible for setting and maintaining a healthy corporate culture at the Portland campus. If all is well there, then the choices and behaviors of other branches of the company should fall in line via trainings, fidelity to mission, etc.
4
Once again, we learn that a human resources department exists to protect management from legitmate complaints brought by employees. Such departments lull employees into a false sense of security, then turn against them in support of the perpetrators.
36
So true. HR departments are there to protect the corporation, not the employees.
14
The Washington Huskies will have a new look come 2019.
The University of Washington announced Tuesday, April 10 that it has agreed to a 10-year apparel deal with Adidas, ending a 20-year alliance with Nike.
(from multiple news media reports)
Based on what this article says, I am pleased that this happened (although--sadly--I don't believe Nike's treatment of its women employees had anything to do with it; it's all about the money). I hope that German companies treat their women employees at all levels better than Nike appears to treat theirs.
12
Wish I could respond they do, but my experience with observing the treatment of German women in business is hair raising, worse than U.S. companies. Many factors play a role-while there are many women in politics and media, the pay gap in business is the second highest in the E.U. after GB and the presence of females on Boards of Directors scarce. Women make up a single-digit fraction of business CEOs. During a recent attempt at a German Masters program, I was confronted with working-scenario examples such as: "Imagine you're a secretary making coffee for your boss." Worse, in Germany male managers who openly declare that they only want to hire women as part-time employees, because they don't "need the money as badly as men" aren't even considered chauvinists and there is no diversity manager to tell them to shut up or ship out. - :) So, Adidas, please lead by example and join the revolution and create meaningful leadership positions for females who more than deserve them.
16
So much for the millions spent on brand-building. I won't be buying Nike products in the future.
Thanks for the reporting NYT.
34
I’ve been a runner ever since I enlisted in the army 25 years ago. I’ve only ever bought Nike Air shoes because they were the best for my narrow feet. I’m perfectly prepared to sacrifice some comfort until Nike shows significant improvement in the way it treats its female employees.
33
It sure looks like a lot of the departed executives were Diverse: such as Trevor Edwards, Daniel Tawiah, and Antoine Andrews (who was in charge of Diversity & Inclusion, ironically enough).
It would be interesting to read an analysis of the demographics of the men who have been MeTooed. We are treated to recurrent disquisitions on the iniquities of Straight White Gentile Male Privilege, but it seems as if those bogeymen have been statistically underrepresented in these scandals.
3
Branding and recognition.. NIKE built it and it has stayed. Not to mention their atrocious overseas record for deplorable working conditions.
The bottom line is huge, corporate giants like NIKE, Apple, Pepsi, Exxon, et al. They view the American consumer as sheep .. as long as we are sheared .. they could care less.
16
I haven't bought a Nike product in years, and if given something I regift it if I can't return it to the giver. And I share WHY to the giver.
There has been buzz about this behavior at Nike for years. Many of us weekend runners & athletes in the business world knew, didn't support the brand, and that's possibly one small reason their women's division sales were smaller than they "should" have been.
If I knew, living in Austin, Texas -- surely the powers that be in Oregon knew, too. They're lying if they say they weren't aware.
I was in sales at BMW North America. I was a stock broker at PaineWebber, too. Sexual harassment is rife at both, too. Let's just face it - it's everywhere. Until we get women at the top of businesses it's not going to change.
I still have my original Title IX t-shirt that I got as a young teen when Title IX (Title 9) passed. It's so sad to see how little has changed.
Susan- Expat in Ireland.
55
Where was Nike’s board of directors in overseeing this problem? MIA. Interesting that there is only one woman on Nike’s board. Perhaps if there were more women there would be more emphasis on cultural issues. Nike’s shameful conduct will hurt shareholder value if women boycott its products and talented female executives leave.
27
I agree only a single woman on the board reflects badly on the corporate culture. It isn't however, currently a board's responsibility to oversee the day to day workings of the company--the CEO, COO, and senior executives are tasked with that role. Look at the case of Uber. The board didn't make inquiries into the founder's conduct until it became a public scandal. And then they moved like molasses. Perhaps board's should be more proactive and investigate the level of female participation, diversity, etc. As of now, it's not that they're MIA, they're not engaged at that level.
1
Many times a more effective approach than complaining about a problem is to demonstrate how to solve the problem. Currently, women make up about 57% of college students and have comprised the majority of college students since 1979, so there is no shortage of educated females. In the last 25 years or so, many successful companies have been founded, such as Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Tesla, SpaceX, and Google. However, most of the highly successful companies founded in the last few decades have been created by men.
It is long past time for women to create successful companies and demonstrate their abilities to design, produce, lead, market, and administer a product or service that is desirable by a large percentage of the population. Women should create that proverbial shining city on the hill that educates and inspires others and becomes something that others are enthusiastic to emulate.
In the end, not only is success the best revenge, but if women can successfully incorporate all of the positive attributes in a company that many state they desire, they will create a model that others are more apt to follow.
12
Women still lack access to capital needed to start companies. Check out the percentage of venture capital flowing to women. As soon as that equalizes, you’ll see fantastic enterprises.
61
Thanks Suzzie for stating the obvious that ET seems oblivious to.
8
I grew up in Eugene, at the University of Oregon, where my father taught and where I later graduated. Track coach Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, was a former neighbor and family friend.
No more Nike for me.
27
Over the years I have heard many stories from Nike employees. As a Portland Psychologist I was privy to the inside story of sexual harassment, and marginalization of women employees. I suppose it makes sense that it takes a well educated and determined group of women to get things changed at Nike.
63
I agree with many of the comments. Ladies— we buy a TON of stuff. STOP buying Nike until 50% of the executives are women and the company proves that it has purged offenders!
111
I for one do not buy anything Nike. But at the same token, I hope the other althetic companies take in consideration who they have on board, and repsect them in thier job,etc.
4
In some work places it is beyond men and women, women harass women too. And men. Not to mention other minority groups like LGBT. It does not get unnoticed if the higher levels and the bureaucratic processes make it difficult and pointless to file the complaint. A zero tolerance policy that is enforced needs to be in place, setting boundaries and behavior accepted. No exceptions. We still want to keep the camaraderie but in a manner that is not demeaning, and conducive to bigger problems to colleagues. Also, colleagues should warn other colleagues when a line was crossed, as a matter of self awareness, as many staff members do think without realizing it is inappropriately and even a crime in sone places. But problems are raised out rather than hidden. If top executives need to leave so be it. There is plenty of talented capable people in line! Nobody is essential and healthy. Life goes on in an environment that everyones enjoy spending most of our time with colleagues.
6
Big irony in this article:
Nike, for all its sexism, has women in 38% of its Director positions and 29% of its VP positions. I suspect that this compares favorably to many other leading U.S. businesses.
On which women's athletic shoes I will buy: I won't necessarily eschew Nike, but I will be less inclined to purchase its shoes until the company's endemic sexism is addressed.
18
And do those stats reflect the gender split in business schools? No.
21
If Trevor Edwards management style was to have “friends”, he was still responsible for the corporate problems they weren’t telling him about.
And I don’t know anyone who thinks HR is there for the employee.
27
I am frustrated with all of the "HR protects the company not the employees" comments. Good HR protects the company by disciplining and letting go employees who misbehave... they are the huge liability to the company, not the employees who speak up about it. I've worked in HR for 10 years now and I've never seen any company I've worked at stand behind and protect a predator. Quite the opposite. Maybe I'm just lucky as to where I have worked but I hate these blanket statements made about HR on every article.
28
You might be correct, but I had worked for 5 major corporations over the past 30 years ( you would recognize their names and brands) and each of their HR departments had events and made choices that demonstrated they were there to protect the interests of the corporation and not their employees.
Also, each had “information” and “ awareness” programs which associates had to routinely complete. It was plainly evident that these were there to offer cover for the corporation when something happened that violated policy.
You were lucky, many of my associates were not so lucky.
12
Not all HR, but two companies where I have worked had HR personnel who (1) chose to look the other way, in a case of inappropriate sexual harassment of other women; the perpetrator was eventually let go when the offenses could no longer be ignored as just he said/she said; and (2) decided that, to use your term, I was the one misbehaving because I disagreed with my manager’s incompetent handling of my work (specifically, she forbade the people she supervised from talking to each other or anyone else). I was shocked to be fired for the first time in my life.
What is clear is that there is one rule - it’s to obey management- or else you are being insubordinate.
In the context of Nike and #meToo, where the offenders are at the highest levels of management, and the complaints often fall in the he said/she said, there is little hope to be heard and given justice, and all the reasons to be shown the door.
10
I think you have been lucky. HR works for the board and executive suite.
1
Bad behavior shouldn't be tolerated just because an executive makes money for the firm. It's great that Nike is fixing things. Meanwhile, let's not forget all the good things that Nike has done for PDX.
6
I like to work out and buy a steady supply of athletic clothes and shoes. After hearing what really goes on at Nike for women, I will stop buying Nike.
But my next question is...what brand do I buy instead? What brand of athletic clothing/shoes is work-friendly to both genders?
Would that be Adidas? I wish there was a list of companies who had confirmed "people-friendly" work cultures, so I could know who to support.
Thanks!
39
Good question. But while we all wait to find out the answer, let's start by NOT buying Nike !
4
Brooks? I've heard good things about them. REI (I've worked there and they are very women-friendly). Lands' End.
Unfortunately, LL Bean is owned by someone who supports Trump.
For shoes: New Balance. Hoka One One. Lots of cushioning and support.
3
Check out a company called Title Nine. It's a sportswear company started by women athletes.
7
I live 1-mile from the Nike "campus" in Beaverton, oregon. The bucolic, tranquil park-like picture of "the campus" shown in the beginning of this piece is total past history- like much else in this 'sneaker wave' corporation. For the past 3-years, continued and ever-changing expansion and build outs of structures have razed most of what is pictured, and totally re-defined the whole compound. It has created broken streets and other inconveniences and annoyances to the local community.
Amazing to ponder what mere colored canvas and rubber started, and the subsequent fallout to women referenced in the article, and to hordes of cheap, compromised laborers half-way around the globe, making billions for these misogynistic profiteers.
60
Nike acknowledging the problem openly (to staff) and their executives committing to the change shows leadership which all too many other institutions refuse to take. It takes grit and courage to take responsibility for mistakes and Nike is at least doing it. Let us be honest among ourselves, we have very little going on in this country where national leaders are taking any accountability for their actions! For a female consumer to hear Nike's commitment towards women and taking drastic actions to foster inclusiveness is a step in the right direction. Remember, People are inspired by the why of the company. Nike has a history of confronting problems and fixing them-improving labor conditions in factories, making kids physically active, empowering athletes of all abilities to defy barriers, working on transforming the lives of girls in various countries for better through Girl effect, and so on. Here's to hoping that the changes at Nike are thorough, and will spread to other companies leading to more inclusive corporate and social culture.
9
RLS-- I like the hopefulness of your comment. The departures (whether by choice or pressure from within the company) of those negative role models signal a willingness to change the way the management team operates and thus, the treatment of all colleagues throughout the company.
3
Hey, Nike. I hope I'm just one of thousands who boycott your products.
69
Why is the CEO Mark Parker still employed? He’s been the chief executive for 12 years. He owns this shameful culture. His reference to “pockets of the company” ignores the pervasive and systemic sexism and bias in Nike. If he didn’t know, did he ever ask? When he held meetings in rooms full of men, it didn’t catch his attention? Did someone forget to give him an org chart? Has he not asked for diversity metrics? Doing the right thing now only because you fear the #MeToo backlash is unacceptable.
139
Looks like I'll buy other brands until Nike cleans up their act!
26
I work in the shoe industry. The shoe business is a Men’s club for decades. Specially the women’s shoe business.
31
Unfortunately, most businesses/industries are men only clubs.
31
This article pretty much explains how Nike managed to come up with a tennis dress for Wimbledon 2016 which closely resembled a very short, revealing nightgown. Not only that, but it was totally unsuitable for the sport for which it was supposedly designed. No wonder most of the women rebelled when presented with such a ridiculous option.
Sometimes you just have to shake your head at the short sightedness of companies who think alienating half of the world’s population is the way to succeed in business.
And yes, I’ll continue to avoid purchasing Nike products.
206
That tennis dress was designed by women and also one of their best sellers. A good example of women in charge and doing their job well.
They probably were taking lessons from the CEO of Lululemon. He said that their yoga pants should only be worn by thin women and that they didn't make any over a certain size. The fact that their yoga pants are practically transparent when worn didn't help their sales either. These so called leaders forget how competitive retail is and after insulting their clientele are surprised that many of them shop at Target for yoga clothes and athleisure wear.
3
I am totally boycotting Nike.
Not putting one more cent in that company.
Thank you NYT one more time, for a deep and thorough article.
53
I'm a woman who works out 5 days a week and buys a lot of athletic wear. What woman buys from Nike? Except at an off price outlet. They are clueless about what women want and now we know why.
148
The schools of Business Management has got a new subject 'Management of women employees in business'. Is there any report about the suppression of male employee in a company dominated by women?
We hope that the successor to Mr.Trump would a Ms or Mrs.President of the USA.
14
Power is a potent intoxicant. Couple that power with little female diversity at the top, the boys will be boys. They should have been more circumspect about their actions. Second sight does not help after the fact. Colloquially, it is easier to work in a men’s club than maintaining appearances working with women. Adjustments must be made. Some people can and will. Others fly the coop.
4
Just as a FYI, while I'm sure men discussing strip clubs is belittling to women, it's also belittling to men who choose not to spend their time in strip clubs. I can certainly take a pass on the whole "bro" thing.
205
Human Resources is just another name for company snitch. Happens in New York all the time.
49
I have no idea where this thinking came about. Where in the God's name is there fair play. I look at it this way, you have 2 positions & if the most qualified to the job are women. Then women get the job. I know this if my wife worked in that atmosphere and she came home to me crying. I would go there and rip the guy's head off of his shoulders for doing something to make my wife cry.
7
Speak up Serena and all the other women athletes who endorse Nike. This is the last time I buy Nike tennis clothing - my go to favorite tennis attire for nearly 20 years. I am moving onto wearing women run athletic brands. I hope K Swiss doesn’t have a bunch of misogynistic men at the helm.
45
Wow. This is really surprising.
Not.
Having worked at both major corporations and small companies, I know this problem is rampant. Like the time at a regional meeting for a premier overnight service when the Regional Manager “hosted” a porno in his hotel room, part of the suite where our cocktail party was being held.
I wonder why so few women were managers there...
44
I worked on campus as a contractor for a number of years. Nothing about this article surprises me. That company is a dysfunctional cesspool.
91
Just do it. But please get consent first.
6
Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Ayres should both be fired. Nike should burn down Human Resources and start over with women in charge and see how the men like that.
33
Actually, it's Mike Parker who needs to be fired. When the problem is isolated, fire the department manager. When it's rampant, it's the CEO's fault.
23
A woman, no, that’s not only discrimination of the kind being fought, but like Trump’s withdrawn decision to appoint ‘a doctor’ his favorite doctor, to run a nationwide complex of hospitals of various sorts, outpatient clinics covering a multitude of issues and diseases, all returning the promise to military draftees and volunteers that their bodies and minds would be cared for.
In both cases, one needs a competent professional administrator, one capable of running either a personnel department addressing employee needs of a large company,, including its troubled outsourced or directly operated overseas manufacturing operation, where the big worry is that someone may eventually create humane standards for companies based in the US or with a major share of its sales in the US, that workers will receive decent treatment.
Gee, that might even lead to decent manufacturing industry jobs again.
Making Chinese and Indian manufacturers, and some US ones as well, the ones still operating sweatshops in the NY metro area live up to US standards - for products that shouldn’t cost consumers much more if companies reduce profits from obscene to simply gigantic.
The head if Nike Personnel, like the head of the VA’s appearance doesn’t matter, the ability, desire, competence, experience and ‘nads to get the job done count, whether they be XX or XY.
1
Any organization that labels the employer-employee relations department as “human resources” or any of the other names that make workers sound like interchangeable parts kept in a warehouse until needed is in trouble already.
Employees are not the slaves that an owner or his sons are allowed to take advantage of.
If you’ve got too much letterhead, cross off part of a word and make it Human Relations at least - though some see only one kind of relation as relevant, and they need to be smacked hard.
2
I hope the female athletes that Nike sponsors speak up on this matter,
52
Maybe the male athletes should too.
2
Sadly it is highly unlikely the training and other changes taking place at Nike won't matter in the end. The issue at the vast majority of companies is HR. HR is not there to support employees (with the sole exception of leadership) despite them preaching the opposite. I've been working at my employer for 2 decades and only once saw an HR support an employee in a terrible working environment. This HR Manager advocated for the employee to change supervisors and succeeded. She tried helping others and a year later and the Partners fired the HR Manager for no reason. Meanwhile, the Partners protected a valuable employee (i.e. he made them a lot of money) not once but twice as the firm faced sexual harassment charges from his subordinates (and settled two of two lawsuits). They finally cut him loose after he made a fatal error - sexually harassing a lawyer. Bottom line is HR doesn't give a hoot about anyone who isn't leadership. There isn't any true confidentiality so heads roll once the boss hears of complaints.
51
Certainly true in law firms, particularly is the person bullying, harassing, abusing is a rainmaker or protected by a rainmaker.
18
HR departments are mostly just shills for management. I once worked at a very liberal university and was treated horrifically by a co-worker, who made up lies about me to my boss. I went to HR, they said they couldn't help me.
13
The problem is in the Board of Directors. HR is constructed reflecting the values of the company.
2
Just added Nike to the list of companies that I boycott. Women have tons of power with their spending choices.
57
I am an elderly white man and was passed over for promotion due to my age. Am I eligible for the MeToo movement?
8
Maybe not MeToo since you are not talking about harassment.
But age discrimination is illegal.
17
As an elderly white man, you probably remember a time 30 or 40 years ago when you had opportunities that a lot of women did not. In the early 1980s, how many women were CEOs, surgeons, district attorneys, judges, astronauts, and politicians?
Oh, wait - I forgot. Women don’t take demanding jobs because they can’t hack it, and they’d rather have children and stay at home instead of devoting their lives to their careers. Silly me!
16
It depends, Carl. Was sexual harassment or assault involved? Then yes.
8
I had no idea that Nikes was such a pit. Good for the women who had the fortitude to pursue management to demand changes.
Is anyone else floored by the deep antagonism toward women that keeps emerging across the spectrum of US industries?
I do not believe that most men are misogynistic - my experience is the opposite. But it looks as if those who are exercise too much influence wherever they crop up.
One change that is necessary to change these ( truly) hostile environments - other MEN have to call out their 'brothers' for sexist remarks and behavior. Going along to get along should have a limit.
Ignoring racist remarks implies that the listener shares the speakers racism. Allowing comments or behaviors demeaning to women appears to be condoning sexism. Speak up. If you don't the discriminatory behaviors grow in strength. At Nike, they had apparently come to epitomize the company.
There's no need to waste your breath arguing with louts that their ideas are wrong. Get their attention by letting them know that you find their views unacceptable.
And maybe, that you have heard it's a good idea to write a memo to yourself so that you keep the date straight.
43
How is this going to solve problems for women, and men, in a factory in Vietnam.
4
Would ignoring blatant sexism at home somehow help workers in Vietnam?
1
cheryl:
And where have I posited that Nike should ignore these problems at Nike HQ?
For starters, familiarize yourself with the concept of a strawman argument. And that's not a good argument construction, if you don't follow.
Think of it this way, there are Nike factories in Asia chasing really low wages and little regulation. They employ tens of thousands of people, many of whom are women. (You can look into sex problems in 3rd world sweatshops--albeit Vietnam is ostensibly communist so there may be some rules on the books about those kinds of things, unlike Pakistan.)
Whereas this Nike HQ employs nowhere near as many people, and the women, and men, working there, outside of prototyping labs (which I'm sure are very clean and ventilated, while no one is expected to produce 500 pairs an hour) don't have do deal the dangers of benzene based solvents and industrial presses and molds that can readily rip your arm off.
And where is HR throughout all this nonsense? Sounds like they are being the all too frequent ineffectual department that we see in company after company. Too many HR Leaders are either complicit with this type of behavior or simply powerless to do what needs to be done. Companies should just do away with Human Resources if they aren’t going to take it seriously. Think of what Nike is going through with this major exodus and hit on its reputation: that’s costly. The HUMAN aspect of the workforce is much more important than companies acknowledge ( through their behavior, that is, not their mission statement).
20
HR functions to protect the corporation, not the employees.
86
As noted by previous reply, HR is there to protect the employer. Heaven help the employee that goes to HR for support. HR's first move is to close ranks, gather management and discredit the "complainer".
65
I have been an employment lawyer for 18 years and spent years in an HR department. I am distressed but not surprised by the myriad reports in the last year of failed HR practices/ departments. Sadly, it has been my experience that too many HR professionals fail to recognize that it is their responsibility to ensure that harassment/discrimination policies are enforced. Failing to take this role seriously not only leads to expensive litigation and settlements, but, more importantly, leads to the erosion of the company’s culture.
It seemed to me that all levels of HR often chose to ingratiate themselves to their business partners (so that they felt successful and/or safe because they were liked) rather than understanding the big picture value of having a workforce where employees feel empowered to do their jobs in a safe environment and doing the hard work of HR.
It is time for the C-suite to require HR to be more than sycophants.
77
When the C-suite gets on board, the HR department will follow.
12
I grew up in Beaverton near Nike headquarters and worked temp jobs at Nike headquarters during summers in high school and college. I enjoyed my time there with the perks of a running track, free food, discounted clothing, etc. Sadly these perks are just a facade luring in people to work for low wages as temporary employees with little chance of advancement. Uncle Phil (as Oregon Duck fans lovingly call him) is a proud Oregonian and I enjoyed reading his biography “Shoe Dog,” but I’m glad you are shining a light on the toxic Silicon Valley bro-culture which dominates corporate culture even in liberal Portlandia enclaves like Nike in Beaverton.
53
Another area neglected is older women. Those over 60 - 70 are active. Many comptive runners still run or walk. They find Nike unable to provide shoes and other gear for them. What Nike does not understand is these women, like me, do not feel old. We have the funds to purchase items, but will only do so if they are made for them. Reminds me of my early days of running when there was zero interest in providing athletic gear for women. I had to buy men’s running shoes and singlets; doesn’t take much imagination how ill served I was then, as now!
113
And it's a growing demographic as women Boomers age healthily by staying active and athletic.
4
Similar in hockey. Many of the women I play with started at 35+ because there weren't opportunities to play when we were younger. Women play right into their 60s and 70s, just like the men beer leagues. When I went shopping for gear, there were racks of shoulder pads, but only 3 in the whole store designed to fit women, a S, a M and a L. (Men's are long enough in the chest, but too big in the shoulders; youth sizes fit in the shoulders but are too short to cover the girls and abdomen.) My hockey gear is a mish mash of men's and youth sizes, with a couple of items specifically sized for adult women.
2
If I was you, I wanna be ME TOO
Okay there are sexists, and sexualized work place problems, at Nike HQ in Oregon.
Now about the women working at a Nike factory in Vietnam...
17
Yep, let's talk about something else.
8
It starts at the top!!
5
Sisyphus:
"Yep, let's talk about something else."
No, we can talk about both, as long as it also includes terrible working conditions for workers of both sexes in that Nike factory in Vietnam.
6
The women at Puma could and should do this.
12
Anyone in this country who believes Human Resources isthere to be helpful is naive or delusional or both. That includes the people who work in such departments. HR is there ONLY to protect the company. Talk to the EEOC talk to a labor attorney, evenntalk to your clergyman. But do not waste time or breath ruining your career by speaking to HR.
53
If this is happening at corporate, imagine what goes on in the Vietnamese sweatshops...
23
So when are workers, women AND men, going to realize the value of unions?? This is why unions were created (long before any of us were born)...and the reason so many politicans and businesses hate them.
132
This answers my longstanding question of why Nike
always had a sparse women's line.
39
As a Portlander, it's well known locally that Nike is toxic. They recruit heavily from a few fraternities at University of Oregon, where the bro culture is hard to miss. Those bros find cushy spots at Nike where they design crop top workout shirts for women that 90% of women would never buy. That's the core problem at Nike: it's suburban campus led and staffed with bros can't attract qualified females; and those bros design ghastly workout wear for women that women won't buy.
292
If no one's buying their goods, they'll go broke. Problem solved.
6
Just don't. Don't buy Nike.
48
No more Nike products will ever be purchased by my family. You are "out-a-here!"
25
Perhaps these executives who departed were simply misbehaving because they felt underpaid. For example, according to salary.com, Trevor Edwards' total annual compensation was only $4,986,332 a year at the time of his departure. When you're paid peanuts, every day's a circus!
23
Won't be spending any money on Nike products, that's for sure.
25
Don't buy their products until they clean up their act.
20
I prefer New Balance. I find it a better fitting shoe/last
21
I love New Balance.
6
If there is one good thing this presidency has done is to promote the #MeToo movement. Certain behaviors are unacceptable. Now companies need to rehab people from both sides to ensure a positive outcome for society.
12
Wake up, Nike. The future (consumer) is female.
24
This article holds no surprises to anyone who read Phil Knight’s memoir “Shoe Dog”. In it the Nike founder describes the culture he instilled as favoring the man’s man regardless of his qualifications to actually do the job. Any resulting success was offered as proof of his management genius. He even went so far as putting one guy in charge of apparel who he realized only afterwards had the worst style in the company. Reading it I the impression that crude manners, heavy drinking and recklessness were more likely rewarded than skills and talent.
33
Sexism.
Not "gender discrimination."
Not "gender inequality."
Sexism.
Women are not discriminated against because of the "gender" we "identify with" [sic]. We're discriminated against for the sex that most people can tell we are.
50
I worked at Nike as a Sr Director from 2013 - 2015. It’s beyond refreshing to see that all of this has finally come out. Many of the individuals mentioned in the article I worked closely with, and the “boys club” was quite apparent.
It’s a shame so many amazing and talented people had to take a backseat to the cliches, the small circles, etc. The off hour parties, team offsites were littered with sexism, drugs, alcohol, with plenty of goals in putting the women on the team in very vulnerable positions.
I’ll always value my time and experience gained at Nike, and it’s amazing to see such a movement finally happening.
87
You knew all of this and stayed for two years? And did nothing?
6
So you worked at Nike Joe and agree a boys club existed. Did you speak out again it? Or like most men remain silent for fear of your own career ambitions being derailed?
3
From your name I could guess you are male: if so, bravo for sharing and for leaving that company instead participating in a sick culture. If you are female, thank you for this corroboration.
4
One of the few advantages of being an elementary teacher is that I never had to endure this type of assault. I did, however, put up with a lousy salary and a job in which I had to put in around $1000 of my own money each year to buy materials so that I could teach. I experienced stress and exhaustion but it wasn't caused by sexually bad behavior from my colleagues or principals. Maybe that's because most elementary teachers are women.
Here's to the individual fall of men who believe they can do whatever they want. It's time for women to speak out about their abuse and for companies to listen and get rid of these monsters. This is about abuse of power.
39
The pressure on Elementary educators to behave impeccably at all times cannot be understated. If the cliques at corporations like Nike were held to those standards, it would be a much better business world.
3
what a beautiful headquarters campus for a company that pays its manufacturing workforce subsistence wages. rotten to the core.
15
The head of HR should have been the first to get the axe. When I worked for a very big bank in NYC back in the 1980s, they routinely fired anyoñe who disrespected women and they did it fast. I can remember vividly when a man (not an employee) complained to HR that his wife (the employee) came home every night often in tears regaling him with stories of what her male boss had said to her. HR took the husband's complaints very seriously, launched an immediate investigation, found that the male boss had a track record of abusing women who reported to him, and the boss was fired within 48 hours. Trust me: that sent a message. Even though the boss was at the SVP level, he was gone. Word of that gets around and it's the best preventive there is. It sounds like the HR department at Nike was filled with chickens.
46
HR reflects the views of top management.
11
HR answers to the big boss -- this all starts at the top!
14
And it took her husband calling to get action?!!
15
Women who run organizations do at least as bad a job of recruiting and retaining men as men who run organizations do with women.
Over 80% of the psychological profession is now women. Men are routinely harassed and hounded out of careers in psychology. Same in university administration. Same in magazine editorial leadership.
And women in these fields cover up their abuses and the media does not hold them to account.
Women are not angels. They are just as prone to abuse power as men. Feminists who really cared about equality, rather than naked power, would speak up.
14
As a woman, I assure you women are not angels. Women are just as likely to harass others - usually other women. The best bosses I've ever had were men simply because they left emotion at the door. When a mistake happened the focus was on fixing it, learning from it and moving forward. They didn't yell and berate anyone. All but two women I've worked for were undermining, conniving, way too emotional, focused on making the person who made a mistake feel terrible instead of focusing on fixing the problem.
9
I'd be interested in hearing some examples of harassment by women execs in the fields mentioned...news coverage, lawsuits etc.?
9
Why is everyone so surprised? I have refused to buy or wear Nike products as long as they continued to employ rapists and adulterers to promote their products and kept Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods on their payroll. This kind of behavior has always been out there for everyone to see.
24
Good old Phil Knight; built an empire based on sexual discrimination and abuse of foreign workers(let's not forget about this ongoing issue). He' was and still is more concerned about making a buck and not disturbing the long traditional process by which he made his billions. He's worship like a god here in Oregon, in particularly in the sports and political world. Gets whatever tax breaks he wants(a little lobbying never hurt). Manipulates the U.S. Track and Field officials so much that he's gotten what he's wanted: U.S. Track and Field championships held on a regular basis and now the 2021 IAAF World Track and Filed Championships in Eugene Oregon, an investigation on how Eugene got the championships is underway, very possible corruption was involved. Why uncle Phil has never been held accountable like Harvey Weinstein and others is obvious- he's a cash cow for Oregon. We can't upset the cow or send her out to pasture now can we? This is strictly my opinion, after observing the Oregon sports world over the last 25 years.
8
Nothing is 'insular' and 'confined' about a group of high-level executives. They run the place! They set the example, create and sustain the culture, and make both the important and the symbolic decisions and actions. If its found at the top, it has poisoned the entire organization.
24
Nike’s horrible culture, discrimination, and how poorly they handled layoffs has been written about in many Internet forums over the past few years. This should have come up as part of their social listening about their brand, as well as what was going to HR.
Having read about Nike from employees, I switched to buying most of my athletic gear from New Balance.
Companies really need to smarten up and take all reporting of harassment, discrimination, and ethics violations away from HR. There needs to be a separate group that reports to an externally, such as internal audit reporting to the audit committee.
27
Having worked there for many years I am glad to hear that this finally out in the open.
The authors should also have addressed the discrimination against minorities and how one gets promoted ~ not because of meritocracy but based on ‘sponsors’ or ‘friends of - -‘!
They need to reward performance and not favorites!
29
The HR dept needs a thorough change too. This Nike story is all too common in organizations. I'm glad these women were finally heard. But I'm sure Nike lost many creative and dynamic women due to a toxic work environment.
Diversity and equality in the workplace is essential. And above all Respect.
27
I've worked at tech companies near the Nike campus for years (in fact, I can make out the buildings of one of my old company in the photo). There's always been a smug attitude around nike-sters as if they owned the entire block/neighborhood.
Of course, back when I moved to the area, they were deep in their off-shore labor controversy.
There have always been stories of employees with swoosh tattoos, a level of tribalism I've always found abhorrent.
Years ago, at a large two day relay event (Hood to Coast), Nike was giving away free bandanas, a white cotton square with a two inch black swoosh. The label claimed it was a "garment specifically engineered for the demands of athletics" (paraphrased). It was a bandanna!
This March, after this issue gained press, they had a sculpture (with 3 foot high block letters) erected in front of one of their buildings they lease (own?) on the business campus where I now work that said "BE ON THE OFFENSE ALWAYS" A pretty tone-deaf statement considering...
(photo posted in the comments here http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2018/03/nike_sheds_second_t....
None of this surprises me.
23
Yes, smug attitude, not only of them thinking they owned the block but they actually owned the State Legislature, governor, track and field and Oregon college football officials, even High school sports programs across the state. Nike and Uncle Phil actually OWN the state. Look at their so-called request for a different tax structure(tax breaks) from the State of Oregon. They got it within months. Nike and Intel need to be jettisoned to the moon.
19
Change in the office workplace will come when men start watching their behavior because they want to keep their jobs now that the tables have turned and women are no longer willing to remain silent to protect their own jobs.
33
"Change in the office workplace will come when men start watching their behavior because they want to" ... PERIOD !
13
@kenneth: If you're waiting for those types to change, forget it. It won't happen. You can curtail their behavior by punishing them when they get caught, and you can try to prevent them from obtaining power to begin with, but they will still be there, and they will still want to do it. Let down your guard and they'll be back doing what they've always done.
8
Agreed.
So don't let down your guard.
But the "change" will come only when men realize it's the right thing to do.
So don't stop advocating.
4
How many "Nike"'s are out there? I suspect lots from all the women I speak with on this subject. Just randomly pick a company, legislature, firehouse, police station, courthouse, military division...and investigate. Perhaps women should form a national union with female leadership to seize some power.
69
should form a national union with female leadership
You've been nominated. Are you ready to undertake the job, or are you waiting for someone else to work it out?
3
And randomly pick a company where almost all the products are made in 3rd World factories - just for perspective - of the autocrats will let you.
4
If discrimination is what you want to fight, you don’t start with an organization that shuts out half the potential workforce, and a good many of us guys who would work right alongside our sisters, wives, mothers.
The very second you say these lives matter/these don’t, you are as evil as the ones you are fighting against.
You want One Big Union? go back to the IWW, blackballed and murdered as “anarchists” but still around. Union leaders discriminate? Vote them out. It’s long past time more AFL-CIO locals had women at the top.
Trouble is, when you’ve got mine workers supporting Trump, and the guy responsible for the most-recent safety-procedure-caused mine explosion running for US Senate on the Republican line!
Everybody can be part of the solution, just by going to the polls and voting against the party formerly of wealth, now of wealth and hate.
9
Human resources department should call themselves Harass Resources, for most of them in companies dont care about the employees.
23
In all companies, Human Resources works for the company, not the employees. No one should be surprised when nothing happens or there is a meaningless slap on the wrist. That said women need to go to HR anyway and make their complaint is documented. And request written verification. And tell their coworkers.
60
Nike is so yesterday, like Facebook. So my son and daughter both say.
16
Countries that shoot 12-year-olds with exploding bullets are pretty "yesterday", too.
4
$36 billion a year of "yesterday"
1
Nike is losing the youth buyer while Adidas is picking them up quickly
4
I have not seen any comments holding HR accountable for burying these complaints . Time and Time again, Human Resources works for the corporation not the employee. Employees do not have an advocate or an viable avenue for such complaints and fear reprisal which is why change has been so slow. I am 60 and am so disappointed in the lack of progress and so tired from facing all these type of problems in my career life.
123
It's why unions exist, to protect the employee's interest.
70
Couldn't agree more! I too am 60 and heard all about the pipeline we were supposed to be popping out the other end of any day now... that was almost 40 years ago....not much has changed!
18
That's why people need to talk to an independent employment lawyer before they talk to HR. I've been saying this for years (a member of my synagogue is an employment lawyer who works for corporations and that's where I learned that piece of information).
3
This company dumbs loads of toxic manufacturing chemicals into the ocean in places with lax environmental rules, and employs people who are essentially slaves to produce clothes and shoes for low pay, while they take an extreme markup as a celebrity brand. There's no moral high ground to be had, for anyone taking the paycheck and working there. I would consider it a huge gift to be able to see Nike fail within my lifetime.
60
The author sounds like she's keeping score in a tournament.
8
I often wonder if these men have daughters or wives who come home from work complaining about their day and the sexist co workers and their antics. Do they get appropriately outraged or dismiss them as “hysterical”.
115
Pretty heinous behavior, but unfortunately, not at all surprising.
29
I'll be watching for follow-up reports about the workplace atmosphere at Nike before I buy my next pair of running shoes. Wish this had been published about a month ago. This type of behavior must stop.
48
Nike has always been an inferior brand to me at the prices I could pay (ie: non-celebrity). This news seals the deal for good. Much better brands for my money and feet have been Merrill, New Balance, and even Adidas. Just say nix to the swatch.
56
A more recent and no less famous athlete than Michael Jordan, who was sited by one commenter, is Tiger Woods. Throughout most of his amazing career, Woods has been firmly in the Nike camp, playing with Nike clubs and balls, wearing Nike apparel, all the while raking in tens of minutes of dollars courtesy of his benefactor from Oregon. And just like Jordan, I can’t recall him ever taking a stand in favor of the oppressed work force that churned out the actual products that enriched himself and those at the top of the Nike pyramid. It’s the rare world class athlete who has the courage and social conscience to speak out about injustice.
34
Because, Woods, like Jordan, doesn't care about anyone other than himself. Nike not only treated women badly, they (i) also parked much of their profits offshore to evade US corporate taxes and (ii) outsourced to the lowest, worst treated workers to manufacture their products. Never yet bought a Nike product - oops, once bought a Nike sweatband - and won't buy them in the future.
9
You mean APPLE.
Good for them. This nonsense should have stopped decades ago. You want your company to be successful? Tap the talent of all your people and you're not going to do that by treating one class of people differently than another.
35
I am impressed by the women at Nike. Those are the people who have organizational skills obviously to lead. The fact that it took that sort of organization at Nike, shows that the CEO should go. Further any organization that tries to use non-disclosure argreemenys to keep people from speaking out about their own civil rights should not be purchased from. This use of non disclosure has a chilling effect on the women at Nike to use perfectly legal redress. This is Nike telling women to shut up. A way to protect their Weinstein company like culture.
102
Instead of having a class action suit, where I think all the women should have done, would have put this in the forefrunt of the behavior of the inner circle NIKE embodied. Unfortunately the men are leaving one by one and with it thier and of nice exodus reward. It's is sickening that this continues and nothing is done. HR should be also named in the class action suit. I hope Adidas, Puma, Sacouny, Reebok and other famous althetic shoes companies see this and improve on how they treat thier women employees regardless of rank and title. Nike maybe got lucky for now, (but then again maybe not.) The days of sexiem, machismo, discriminatory remarks and actions are hitting the courts, but at a snail pace, but getting there. The good thing is the men leaving Nike for thier 'job discrimination and bad behavior,' is now known to the public= names and faces. Unfortunately, for the women, they had to leave a job they probably enjoyed, but at the end of the day, the men made it miserable, and bc of such, the women had no choice but to leave. And in order for their story to be told, it unfortunatley had to be known after they left. I do hope that the women who left and get together a get 'Class action suit,' going. Bc the men leaving are getting their money at the end.
9
Class actions take a long time and are usually settled with limited benefit to the plaintiffs.
9
I understand what class action suits are. And I do know that they take an long time to gather, defendants, lawyers, etc. It's was just in thought. Men in corporations will continue to act like adolescents and know that they can get away with it.
3
Human Resources is not your friend.
207
So true. They are there to mitigate legal actions and lawsuits. Employee protection does not come first.
4
Indeed, they are there to protect the company. And onboard and off board you when you come and leave a company. They are not arbitrators.
4
Agreed! HR is there to protect the company not you!
Go talk to an employment lawyer first and then to HR. Make sure they know you have retained the services of an employment lawyer and be careful what you agree to.
5
So we can add sexual harassment to Nike's sins of Chinese sweatshops. Want to effect change, boycott Nike.
30
Roger Federer, Simone Biles, Tiger Woods, Kevin Durant, Lebron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Serena Williams .... any comment ?
53
No more Nike for me. Boycott!!!!!
30
Girlcott!!!!!!
Let's create a new language for women's rights: girlcott: women standing up against male dominated industries which discriminate against women.
8
Awesome idea. Girlcott Nike!!!
#Girlcott!!
When women speak up suddenly they are laid off - this is a pattern. It is up there with men are strong bosses and women are witches with a b. What the #metoo movement and the last year and a half have shown is that very little (if anything) has really changed in our society for women in the last 40 years. We have just given lip service to it.
Until the Equal Rights Amendment is passed and ratified there will not be true equality.
91
ERA now...definitely where MeToo movement needs to be headed.
11
A small insular group of senior leaders cut off from what was really happening at the company. I am sure they justified any feedback to themselves from a narrow and self-serving perspective. Cut off from a feedback loop, disconnected from the culture, and working as an "elite" leadership team of "friends" with group think. Where was the Board of Directors? Where was Ethics and Compliance as and independent arm of the Board? Not only did it impact the women but it hurt business strategy and company performance. A value lesson in how not to run a company.
24
This doesn't surprise me. Nike has been a boys club since its founding. But maybe this shakeup in leadership will finally lift the quality of its products. I haven't bought Nike anything in years because the quality of its shoes and apparel fell drastically over the past decade.
36
Thank you, NYT, for this article.
It's helpful to know what brand to avoid when I shop for summer and athletic gear.
102
Interesting the head of diversity left. So much for diversity.
15
A sign they saw the sign and knew they had to show a change, or otherwise they were retaining the same rotten standards. Who expects a failure to perform well while under retraining? Not this 60 year old. He can comeback when he's learned his job.
2
Clearly, if there is going to be a change, it's up to the customers.
Not sure how many women have been supporting Nike when shopping but perhaps if this could help many us learn to take our wallets to Nike's competitors.
40
I stopped buying Nike when they decided to keep Michael Vik AFTER he swung dogs against a wall and did his ten minutes of "jail time" -- I will continue to vite with my dollar.
61
I rejected them when I found out the shwoosh artist got 35 bucks, and that's all folks! Not one cent from me! Way to underpay a woman, Nike!
14
Bet/cha they went with their pensions intact
33
Since '90's, I have stop promoting Nike and Michael Jordan sneakers and products. I have sent a letter to their headquaters regarding work related abuses in other countries where products were made which included low wages payments, work related abuse and terrible child working conditions in these poor countries. They just brushed off. As an excuse, they continuously have used the economic deregulation that was lead to a huge increase in the globalization of the economy in which the scale of global corporate activity was ramping up in these countries. Nike took advantage of that by looking the other way. In other words, Nike's company and products has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime and arbitrary abuse. This company lack of accountability and disrespect for any human work place rights has been unbelievably shameful for years!!
27
I used to wonder what Nike would do if Jordan had threatened to drop his endorsement if Nike did not start making shoes in the US e.g., Chicago, NC, etc.)? At the time (the mid-1990s) it might have made a difference. But even asking his fans about that was tantamount to criticizing Zeus...
5
All of these women need to sue the Head of Human Resources for abuse, neglect and turning a blind eye. That might move the needle slightly.
And all of these males who think they're such hot stuff ought to go visit their mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers and female cousins and tell them about their behavior.
40
Remember, this is the same corporation who continued to sponsor Ben Roethlisberger in 2010 after the NFL suspended him for likely true sexual assaults.
35
Every time I see one of these articles, I get closer to the conclusion that males behaving badly is the symptom but not the disease. The disease is leadership, and how people come to obtain positions of power and leadership.
Maybe people will stop harassing women. It's certainly getting harder to get away with it. That is good. It will be help ease the symptoms and make life better for women all around. But we can do even better than that.
We give far too much status, money, power, and social deference to our leaders, and this causes the wrong sort of people to become leaders. Leadership is a job description, and people who do it well should be well compensated, but the differentials between leaders and others are an order of magnitude too large. And the way many or our leaders have been treating their subordinates, especially women, is evidence per se. that we are not doing it right.
If #MeToo helps us clean up our leadership methods, it will have done society an even greater service.
290
very well said.
3
Excuse me, this article is about men behaving badly, not leaders behaving badly. It's about men, not "people", harassing women.
Attempts to gender-neutralize the ussues of sexual harassment and violence, as if women offended just as often as men, make me sick.
19
I didn't "attempt" anything of the sort. It seems self-evident that the article was about men who were leaders, so that is the issue I addressed. But you do bring up an interesting point that I have wondered about. What is it about men that leads them to harass women and virtually never vice-versa? Peel back the layers of that fact and you'll probably find power and leadership issues lurking there.
9
Add to the list the female graphic designer who invented the Nike swoosh in the late 70s--and was paid about $35 for the company to possess her intellectual property ---now is one if not the most recognizable brands on the planet. I wonder how much male graphic designers were paid for their corporate work at the time.
240
It has been reported that Phil Knight gave the artist Carolyn Davidson 500 shares of Nike in 1983. If it’s true and she held on to them, she would have 32,000 shares (due to stock splits) with a value in excess of $2.25 million. Also, she was a student at PSU when she created the design and agreed upon the price.
8
The men who left were probably the outrageous sexual predators. The were smart to leave, before a public examination of their behavior made it difficult for them to find jobs elsewhere.
17
Many executives left Nike after a sexism survey was given to the CEO. Their departure is described in your headline as an "exodus" - painting them as fleeing heroes with high-minded reactions. Thank goodness these poor fellows escaped the evils of cranky women who annoyingly demanded equal opportunities and a non-hostile work environment.
54
Agree. Some of the recently "departed" men were escorted out by security (perhaps even law enforcement) officers, others were abruptly sent packing without severance, payola, stock options. The NYT reporters need to dig deeper into the facts around departures to date, and those to come.
186
And let’s hope the boys network doesn’t kick into overdrive, allowing these, “good” “misunderstood” guys a “second chance” plum position at another top company.
7
Don't worry about them, Charlie Rose will be interviewing them on his new show any day now. The good news for Charlie is that there is clearly no shortage of interview subjects.
Nothing here about the sweat-shop labor practices that Nike is notorious for world-wide?
Surely in any article about inequality and unfair labor practices THAT'S relevant?
Will the women mentioned in this article do anything about THAT terrible state of affairs at Nike? Do they even care?
Sorry to say, but this absolute media obsession with casting every story in male vs female terms is seriously distorting coverage of news. And ignoring serious abuses of low-paid workers by CEOs and upper management of both genders.
24
This article didn’t “cast” this story in terms of men vs. women. It is quite literally about women at Nike taking a stand against a toxic environment.
I can’t understand how some people seem to view the current reckoning about sexual harassment as “politically motivated” but fail to see silence as equally, if not more, politically motivated.
Brava to these women. Speaking up is never easy.
323
The logical holes in your argument are pretty big.
What if I commented, "Why have the activists and journalists who publicized Nike's notorious manufacturing practices said nothing about Nike's treatment of its female workers in the US?" Does that somehow invalidate the former problem?
This article shows that the women at Nike had NO real control over the company. So how are they going to change business practices?
And maybe if the execs had cared about diversity at home they'd have cared about fairness overseas?
24
I too will no longer be buying any Nike products which were overpriced and not always the best quality anyway especially the shoes. Thank you NYTimes for the push to do the right thing and not to Just Do IT anymore. Good bye Nike!
46
Ny Times coverage and it's focus on MeToo is getting really old, really fast. You'd think that the greatest threat facing women on planet earth is male co-workers who, surprise surprise, act like men. And the coverage itself is so laden with biased, slanted value judgments that is the furthest thing from objective reporting I've ever seen. Add to that there is just tons of statements that are clearly broad over-generalizations that the authors would have very difficult time substantiating with any credibility, and walk away with the impression that this is all propaganda for a particular, and indiosyncratic, take on the feminism.
9
It's the livelihood and wages of 1/2 the population that are being suppressed, see the evidence cited in the article, it's pretty clear. Maybe when things equalize a bit more the NYT can let up, until then I'm not a fan of women being excluded from male corporate culture or paid less than their male co workers. It's un-American.
208
If you’re tired of sexual harassment in the media, imagine the exhaustion of women who have spent their lives navigating it.
607
"Male co-workers who act like men"? Are you saying all men abuse, harass, threaten and denigrate their female co-workers? Is that how you understand what is to be a man? I am going to give benefit of a doubt to your parents that they didn't impart that to you but really, tell me where you picked up that wisdom?
94
HR needs to be run by an outside entity. If they are evaluated on how many issues that don't surface or those that do are dealt with expeditiously (buy off the complainer with a nondisclosure agreement) this will continue. The issues are always oversight and accountability. Obviously there are neither at Nike. Send those cretins packing - there are many qualified men and women who aren't jerks more than willing to do their jobs.
46
Agree. Damage control is real. HR is part of the problem. Yes, there are many good people still there who have integrity and who have done, and will keep doing, the right thing. Sadly, many of those people have left Nike over the past few years as the cancer spread. FYI, not just a few "pockets." More like invasive, pervasive, and sustained.
25
HR departments exist to protect the company and upper management. If you are a rank-and-file employee and you think HR works for you, you are sorely mistaken. I recently counseled a friend to back-up all her evidence concerning a sexual harassment case offline, before talking to her HR department. You want to preserve all your evidence before you even talk to HR - again, unless you are upper management, they do not work for you.
76
I can get a cotton tee shirt at jc penny for six dollars. I can also go to "sports" store for scientifically designed polyester tee shirt costing sixty dollars. The cotton tee shirt is more comfortable when it's hot and the fibers don't damage the environment.
I care about executive thieves who exploit third world workers and become millionaires and billionaires in the process as much as I care about crooks in prison. Not very much.
24
Sadly, none of this is surprising.
30
Remember: President Obama, who was otherwise mostly sane, wanted to help this corporation with the vile TPP, and even spoke to them at their headquarters. Even HuffPost found that strange. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/obama-to-visit-nike-to-pr_b_...
Remember also that the lush headquarters, evidently in no way reflective of enlightened treatment of women, is even less reflective of an enlightened work environment for actual Nike sneaker makers—to say nothing of good pay.
Want to boycott Nike? Just Do It.
Want to help Nike mistreat sneaker makers and women? Support the TPP.
11
There are so many stories here. Certainly not least is the answer to why women do not have more capital -- they do not receive promotions to positions that receive stock and generous remuneration. Secondly, the company was never all that it could be, because the ideas and expertise of women was not being utilized.
Let's see how it works out over the next couple of years as women are allowed to rise to the top.
29
>>Nike forcefully disputed the notion that women were not involved in the creative and marketing operations, noting that a female executive leads its women’s division.
I see that self-awareness is in short supply at Nike.
80
It's the classic "I'm not racist, I got a black friend!"—or in this case, "I'm not racist, I got a black employee who takes all the orders for other black people!"
/facepalm
11
Think of all the talented and experienced women Nike sent packing, just because they would not conform to the "Mad Men" rules of the last century. The best marketing plan they could have had to advance in the women's market would be to let women do the advancing.
78
The Nike HQ is literally "in" Beaverton, Oregon, without paying any taxes to that city! They did it by having the city of Beaverton redistricted so it does not include the Nike campus. The state of Oregon is afraid to do anything about this, lest Nike pick up its toys and play elsewhere.
312
Nike corporate HQ is not “in” Beaverton. This story goes way back about 10 years. The city tried to annex it by declaring all the roads around it in the city. They found the audit trail of this careful plan in city records, a state law was passed, a mayor lost his job, and for about 30 years the company is off the hook for city property taxes.
10
Behaving badly and lack of scruples comes in many flavors whether poor treatment of women or other people or the community (not supporting it) and goes with the territory of weak leadership.
23
not quite...
the Nike HQ was eventually moved to and more permanently established in unincorporated Washington County...
as the 'nearby' city of Beaverton "grew",
it attempted several times to annex the Nike properties into its city limits...
Nike, naturally, disapproved of this action as it did not provide much direct benefit to Nike, per the company...
ultimately, in a hutzpah fit,
Nike actually had the Oregon legislature called together in an out-of-sequence "special-session" to pass a separate, unique law that 'forever' memorialized Nike's stance to remain in an unincorporated status within the County.
and, YES, to your point:
there is always the "threat" that Nike will take its 'ball' and go play elsewhere...
as is frequently heard within the state,
past and present:
"whatever Uncle Phil wants,
Phil gets".
such is the status of international corporations to continue to overwhelm "the-people" in the 21st century.
6
I would have liked to hear Michael Jordan, just once over all of those years of raking in millions of dollars, advocate for the workers who make the shoes and clothes with his image on them and who make far less in a year than he makes in a minute from the company. I would have liked to hear him say something like, "if your family is struggling to put food on the table and pay the rent, don't bug your hard-working mom for $150 shoes." He has been the most visible example, but there are many more who should be having a little trouble sleeping over the Devil's bargains they have made. I won't buy their products, but they are not the only company that is all about social Darwinism, exploitation and the glorification of extreme wealth for a few at the expense of all others. Maybe it's time to stop using sports and winning as the dominant metaphor for US and world business and start looking at cooperation, compassion and kindness.
326
We'll need a different President if we are to follow your suggestion.
12
Jordan is alleged to have said, “Republicans buy shoes, too,” which says everything.
26
my sentiments exactly, well stated David.
haen't bought Nike products for years just for these reasons.
8
While I have twice had to disabuse my co-workers that girls DID NOT make the coffee, I managed to retire without experiencing anything like this. I can only attribute my good fortune to the fact that my first real job was in a union shop, and that my second one was a major municipality with a robust Civil Service System. I was always paid what my male co-workers made and I assure you that the independent grievance procedures made even the most annoying supervisor (or co-worker) think twice about harassment.
I think rebuilding strong unions would go a long way to solving this problem.
(Please note, I said strong, not some tiny little company controlled pretense of a union.)
554
That’s why the men who worked organized the unions in the first place: respect and money. Competition globally has destroyed the ability of the American worker to gain either one of these things from their employers for the past 20 years. Frustration and anger from workers has led to people like Reagan and Trump talking up workers on one hand and gleefully firing them on the other. American workers will only get what they need when they wake up to the baloney they’ve been fed by Republicans. If you want steak, vote for a Democrat.
12
When I was in grad school in the early 80's the guys in our lab voted (8 to 2) that the "girls" should bring snacks each week. There were 2 of us (hence the 2 no votes). We warned the men that they probably would not like anything we made, and that stopped it cold.
11
Big brother watching? Once upon a time it was suggested that classroom situations be taped -- and now we want cameras on policemen... Just thinking, how would these guys behave if they knew they were on candid camera -- public instead of supposedly private.
And the women as well. We are often unconscioius of what we are doing...
6
“The obstacles to advancement for women at Nike are not new and, in many ways, common in companies with male-dominated leadership. “
Ummmm... what huge percent of US companies have male dominated leadership? I’d love to see an article discussing this and the differences a male dominated company has vs a female one. Although, Martha Stewart and Arriania Huffington companies’ cultures are rumored to be toxic and that this toxicity flows from the top.
Having worked for women, they can be vicious when the culture looks the other way.
The fundamental treatment of employees and citizens of the US needs a reboot from our mean spirited Prez on down and in every area of society.
26
The times did just do an article about that. Search "Men named John."
4
Nice beginning...NY Times needs to keep it up as regular feature--I dream!
4
and Marissa Mayer's reign of terror and entitlement
I don’t know where to start. Maybe the concept of “Human Relations” might possibly be the most archaic system known to man made up of individuals with concrete ties to the employers that PAY them so is a complaint going anywhere? No it’s not. This article said this 15x. Replace “Nike” with any other global brand name and the same disgusting stories apply. The orgs that are going to change this systematic behavior are going to be the ones to rely solely on outside, nonbias counsel (paid for by? Yea, I know) for as long we are reporting bosses to their subordinates, forget it. To think an anonymous survey was probably the nail. Good riddance.
11
That's terrific, particularly because of who Nike is. I don't mean the shoe company, I mean the original Nike herself. Goddess of winged victory, it'd be great symbolism for the recent movement of emancipation of women.
http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Nike.html
20
I love this idea, Dan.
5
Hopefully NYT might consider some follow up to this story on what happens to these executives. Does corporate culture just seamlessly snatch them up to reinstall in other senior, high paying corporate positions? Or does corporate culture acknowledge these people have in fact compromised ethical and legal standards and are are no longer fit to immediately serve in comparable positions elsewhere?
Sadly, it appears that these guys are just being hired on elsewhere with little penalty beyond embarrassment, or effect to their perceived value. Please NYT, show us what really happens next!
688
This is a fantastic comment. NYT can feel all righteous and do-good about writing this article, but if it really wants to make a difference, it will follow these men. It will report on their next high paying jobs and their demeanor in those jobs and who suffers from them taking those jobs. Then, it will start investigating lots of other companies to root out this behavior because Nike is not an isolated case. I commend the NYT for this but it has to really commit to the cause and keep after these miscreants.
408
Also, were any women hired for the high jobs vacated by the failed males? I doubt it.
43
Agree, and would add, why is TE still on the payroll? What kind of advice could he possibly offer Mr Parker?
28
I stopped buying NIKE merchandise a long time ago; the brand was just not cool anymore, all over the place like you-know-what, and sorta "threadbare".
Adidas is cool now, at a certain level; but I've graduated to Patagonia and Arc'Teryx, at the next higher level of expensiveness and cool factor.
4
The fact that you care about what is cool shows exactly what is wrong with people today.
13
No more Nike for me and my family. What a disgrace. Justdotherightthing for once. Wouldn’t that be a welcome motto?
35
I've refused to buy anything Nike since the 1990's, when it was discovered that part of their sweatshop labor was children, and that all of their laborers were making peanut wages compared the their company executives and superstar athletes. Supposedly they improved the conditions, but only after they were caught.
216
Me as well, I'll never forget the CEO in an interview on prime time TV saying that Nike had to take their factories to Asia because Americans didn't want to work. Never paid a penny for anything Nike since.
28
And at least some of Nike's early running shoes were made in the US such as the Nike Cortez, the Boston (I think that was the name). The former was an were exact copies of the Onitsuka Tiger Cortez. Blue Ribbon Sports (which became Nike) was the distributor of the Onitsuka line in the US. I preferred the Tiger Cortez but was happy to see the US made Nike version. Why Nike moved production away from the US was never explained by Nike at the time, but many suspected greed to be the answer. Of course Knight later came up with the excuse you (notfooled) mention - thats for the reminder of that!
One of Phil Knights "contributions" was the destruction of the US sports shoe manufacturing industry.
A little known story about Nike was that they used to make sports shoes for the European market at a factory at the Borovo, Croatia (then Yugoslavia) factory (in Borovo Naselje). During the very high inflation days of the mid to late 1980s, workers struck over wages, wanting an increase which at least matched inflation. The fall of the Dinar in relation to the dollar was about the same rate. Nike decided to cancel its contract, claiming "quality" problems. Converse continued to make its European athletic shoes in the same factory, apparently not having the "quality" problems Nike claimed to have. One more reason I, as a native Oregonian, decided Knight's and Nike's word was worth less than a warm bucket of spit (as my grandmother used to say).
18
I have also avoided Nike products for many years. Unfortunately even New Balance, whose shoes were (at least) made in the USA, has now gone the 3rd world route except for a few models.
4
As an athletic wear junkie, this one hurts but I won't be buying any more Nike. Women may have little power inside the Nike Corporation but they have tremendous power at the cash register.
632
Right on! There are so many other athletic goods options available that it doesn't make sense to support a company that disregards women.
3
Hoka One One is a wonderful fair trade brand that has now diversified into all types of shoes. www.deckers.com.
3
Another athletic wear junkie who will stop buying Nike. I'm returning a pair of Nike shoes I haven't worn yet. They're Air Force 1s that say "FORCE IS FEMALE" on the back so I can't possibly wear them now.
8
Really, NYT. Change is “afoot “ at Nike?
12
thanks, we're fixing.
4
Nike messed up. I've been to the strip club with co-workers, but they were stupid to organize the event at work. And yes, sometimes women went.
5
Of course they went. They went because they would have been labeled as "shrill" or "humorless" or "not team players" if they hadn't gone.
70
Why should women be socially stigmatized for not wanting to watch women strip? Women know what women look like, and most women don't want to learn how to pole dance. This is so ridiculous, there are no words to describe it. Other than infantile?
17
Yeah, bye! Adios! Arrivederci!Auf wiedersehen! Good riddance, and stay out.
13
This looks like another company I will boycott with my wallet.
316
Dear Li W,
I'd advise being sure why and when you boycott Nike. If women are gaining equality in top management and so on, then boycotting the company would hurt those women, and punish the company for catching up with the leading edge of moral business behavior.
7
My guess is that it will take longer for NIKE to fix the situation than it will to feel the pain of a boycott. With Washington as the fox in the chicken coop, the public will hopefully learn that the marketplace is possibly more powerful than the vote to effect change.
10
I stopped buying Nike years ago as a result of the reports of conditions in their overseas factories. To me those stories said Nike's leadership lacked moral scruples, so this article does not surprise me at all. Corporations, like people, are often consistent, and if evil they should be avoided. There are so many other choices-- why buy Nike?
1
And your reporters and reader were surprised by this because...? This kind of behavior is simply business as usual in far too many, perhaps even most, tech companies, entertainment companies, and sporting goods companies. Until the amorphous body known as "the general public" punishes these creeps by stripping them of their revenues nothing is going to change.
159
When businessmen are in charge, then the mindset that the bottom line is well, the bottom line becomes the driving force in their culture and way of doing things.
If we were to put "nurture the human spirit" as a company goal, how far down the list would it be? What about be the best possible corporate citizen of our community, our state, our country, and the Earth itself? How far down the list would those goals be?
Once business becomes the center of the universe, then money becomes too important and we see what happens to half the population (women) in these environments.
No news here.
14
Interesting that the head of diversity and inclusion got fired. Clearly the Frat Boys installed an ally in that post, to make sure nothing ever became of complaints.
I applaud Mark Parker, the CEO, for taking this situation seriously and engaging in such an aggressive housecleaning. Obviously he saw the connection between the boorish behavior and their struggling women's department.
The article didn't mention it, so I will: An environment that is hostile to women will be absolutely toxic for gay men and lesbians.
At the risk of stereotyping, if you want to design clothes for female athletes that are highly functional and make them look fabulous, you are going to need a few of each! Nike needs a creative collaboration between people like Billie Jean King and Tom Ford to jump start their women's wear line, but they'll never get it as long as Frat Boys are in charge.
168
Please don’t try and repurpose this for some other groups. This is a about women and not gay men. There are plenty of women-hostile environments where gay men can and do thrive—don’t buy assumption that the hostility would be worse (“absolutely toxic”) for gay men. This type of uninformed ”my pain is worse” victimization battle is not helpful in actually getting women (regardless of sexual orientation) help in corporates America.
36
JoJo's right. Peter Thiel is one notorious example of a virulent gay misogynist. I won't even mention the name of that clown in the pearls.
9
Actually, I’ve found gay men to be awful to women in the workplace. Uniformly.
12
Their sneakers are not of the best quality and overpriced! Yet, you go into the sporting good stores and they monopolize the shelves! Better quality sneakers like K-Swiss, New Balance, and Saucony are often hard to find!
39
But worth looking for....
New Balance are made in the USA.
21
NB USED to be entirely made in the USA, but I don't think that's the case any longer. I've seen some in stores in recent times that were marked as made elsewhere. (But most ARE still made in the USA, I believe)
Sadly, nobody -- or not enough people -- seemed to care enough about NB's exclusively "made in the USA" labor practices to buy them instead of Nike.
And, even more to the point, NB's prices were essentially the same as sneakers made in low-wage sweatshops. Thereby also giving the lie to the claim that exploiting cheap overseas labor is the "only way to make a profit"!
Remember when made in the USA was a pervasive sales and marketing tool? And NOT in a jingoistic way--simply pointing out that products were made by our friends, neighbors, and fellow voters.
8
And now AllBirds! They are really great - cool - and as environmentally clean as possible at this point! I already own 3 pairs!
6
So ironic: Nike was the goddess of victory.
189
It was also a missile in the late '50s.
2
Apparently the men and women at Nike had different interpretations of the company motto “Just Do It.” Bravo to the women!
22
I feel like throwing all my Nike gear in the trash. Running in their shoes now will feel to me like running over the backs of other women.
134
well you've bought it and you didn't know. I wouldn't waste it, but I don't think you need to beat yourself up for not knowing and buying unintentionally. Future choices? you'll be better informed!
9
Patricia- what a startling and timely image! Women need to be mindful of how they treat other women. If we vote with our feet, vote at the polls, we also influence with our behavior towards one another. We are role models!
2
So incredibly hard to believe that any company, much less one the size of Nike, could operate in that manner. What the heck is wrong with these people?
Someone mentioned the demeaning of women in general. Leaving strength out of the equation how can someone actually believe women could not have the capacity to lead and/or innovate in any industry. Do so many males actually believe they're that good?
I don't get it... is it possible management and/or fellow male employees could actually be that stupid? I cannot imagine how so many people, male obviously, could treat others in this manner. To ignore complaints and/or advancement opportunities? What a sad state of affairs.
Apparently many men are truly challenged when it comes to treating women equally.
46
It is the weak men who prey on others perceived as being "weak".
6
I am just as appalled as you..
3
Where have you BEEN?
Did you just crawl out from under a rock?
2
I can't help but imagine most of the high ranking Nike supervisors featured here as ex-jocks, frat boys, or drunk sports fans leering at cheerleaders or waitresses. Maybe these guys have some advanced degrees but, as a matter of attitude, they're the same.
Just more spoiled, entitled, obnoxious men that grow out of the kind that are all too familiar to anyone who's gone to American high schools and colleges and seen the "cool guys" on campus act towards girls and women.
100
Spoiled, entitled, leering, obnoxious ex-jocks and frat-boys. That sounds about right. Given their HR Department's incompetence, how many other women working at Nike experience gender discrimination and sexual harassment yet are too afraid to speak out in such a toxic environment?
12
Will it ever end? I've spent my entire career winning awards, being paid half of what the men make in my field and rising to the middle. My work creates jobs for thousands of people yet I must now deal with a lack of respect, less money in my pension and ageism to boot. It must stop.
733
The real question is whether this new "awareness" will last. Usually it doesn't.
If gender equality gets written into the company policies, it can be part of the culture or ignored. A strong HR department is mandatory here. Sounds like this one needs cleaning out.
40
A strong HR department is useless there. The culture needs to change and that’s not HR’s job. HR exists to protect the company, not the employee.
10
I am so tired. I was the first woman to get a PhD in engineering at my university 44 years ago, and am still working as an engineer. I thought by now we would have achieved some sort of egalitarian workplace. I feel a fool for my optimism.
650
I graduated in CS in 1984 and I feel like the corporate world has backslid since then. I had thought that the whole dot-com bust of 2000-01 put a damper on computer science for women, but maybe it’s more than that.
12
“Still working as an engineer?” What are the options? I ask this because 30 years after getting my EE degree, I am still working as an engineer. And that was always my plan. Go into management? No, thanks, that’s a death sentence. I’ll keep working as an engineer as long as there are circuits that need to be designed!
That said: I seriously do understand what you are saying, which is that alternate career paths, meaning into management, were not available to you because of your gender. Or, because of the insecure reaction too many men have if they are faced with having a woman as a supervisor. I am sorry but I have no good solutions to the problem (a situation which is painful for an engineer to admit).
16
I am an engineer mid career. This still exists in government mind you.... in NYS. I am exhausted too.
18
My daughter Amanda Shebiel was sited in your article. I witnessed the mental, physical, and psychological stress she experienced and endured. I have never been prouder of my daughter to stand up and tell her story.
This has to stop!
919
Tell Amanda not to stop, not to let down her guard, not to compromise. She has my admiration.
30
Please thank your daughter for her strength. We have no doubt this journey has taken a toll on her emotionally, physically & financially. That very real glass ceiling now has one more deep crack because of Amanda Shebiel.
31
A strong mom fosters a strong daughter. We're proud of both of you!! Tell Amanda we're cheering her and her like-minded colleagues on in their future success. Speaking up has never been more important.
14