By Sara Germano and Joann S. Lublin
Inside the Tiger Woods Center at Nike Inc. headquarters,
hundreds of employees gathered on March 20 to hear a message from
top executives: We need to change.
The event, part of an initiative to encourage men to be better
allies for their female co-workers, happened five days after a
leadership shake-up that came about after employees shared concerns
about representation of women in the company's top ranks, women's
pay and a culture some former employees have described as a boys
club.
Among the panelists was Elliott Hill, a 30-year Nike veteran who
had been promoted in the shuffle to president of consumer and
marketplace. He told the crowd about his Texas upbringing by a
single mother, according to one person in attendance.
"I'm not here because of the brand or because of the athletes or
because of the product," Mr. Hill said, according to the person.
"I'm here because of the people." He and Michael Spillane, another
top Nike executive, told the group that the company needed to
create a better environment for its employees.
Nike, maker of the world's best-selling sportswear, built its
global empire through deft marketing that made competitiveness
cool. Interviews with current and former employees say culture
problems have persisted at the company for years. Some Nike
veterans say when they tried to seek help for issues related to the
work environment, they found human resources leaders unhelpful or
in some cases disrespectful.
Nike says it is conducting a review of its human resources
department and instituting mandatory manager training.
"When we discover issues, we take action. We are laser-focused
on making Nike a more inclusive culture and accelerating diverse
representation within our leadership teams," Chief Executive Mark
Parker said in a statement.
Mr. Parker in a staff memo earlier in March said the company
received complaints of inappropriate behavior. In the memo, he also
said Trevor Edwards, who had been widely considered the next CEO,
was resigning his position immediately and would remain at the
company until August. Additionally, Jayme Martin, a charismatic
deputy of Mr. Edwards, left the company. Mr. Edwards and Mr. Martin
didn't respond to requests for comment.
Overseeing Nike's human-resources and employee-relations
departments is an executive vice president who reports directly to
the CEO. Nike hired David Ayre from PepsiCo Inc. for the position
in 2007.
Several years ago, Nike conducted an investigation into
complaints that Mr. Ayre was demeaning and condescending to others,
according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Ayre didn't
respond to requests for comment.
Subsequently, Mr. Ayre agreed to seek counseling and meet with
fellow executives to ask how he could improve, the people said.
According to one person, he also then told a large group of
colleagues, "My behavior has to change."
Mr. Edwards, whose position was Nike brand president, wielded
control over all product categories and geographies as well as
brand management. Being a close pal of Mr. Edwards was one way that
helped men rise through the organization, people familiar with the
matter say; some say they felt women weren't promoted as frequently
and were subject to a more rigorous vetting process when they were
promoted. Some people coined a catch phrase -- "FOT" or "friend of
Trevor," according to former employees.
"If someone was rising quickly, it was likely they were FOT,"
said a former employee in Nike+, a digital sports division that Mr.
Edwards spearheaded.
Former employees say culture problems have existed at Nike for
years. In September 2002, the global sports-marketing team had
several days of meetings in Bradenton, Fla., and on the last night,
after dinner, a bus carrying the group of several dozen employees
pulled up to a strip club, said two people who were present.
Loredana Ranza, who worked in the group at the time, said only
four people didn't enter the strip club -- the three women on the
trip, including herself, plus one male colleague.
"At the end of the day, you need to survive. You don't say,
'This is bad, ' you just think it, and you try to work around it,"
said Ms. Ranza, who left Nike in 2008 and later worked at rival
Puma SE. She filed a lawsuit in 2016, currently pending in the
Netherlands, where Nike's European offices are based, alleging
gender and age discrimination. Nike didn't comment on the case.
After a Nike designer, Marc Dolce, left to work for rival Adidas
AG, two Nike vice presidents, Brian Zappitello and Dirk-Jan van
Hameren, left vulgar, disparaging comments on his Instagram post of
a new Adidas sneaker design in 2016. Current and former employees
said they were disappointed Nike didn't openly condemn the
comments. Both executives remain at Nike; in January Mr. van
Hameren was promoted to chief marketing officer. Neither responded
to requests for comment.
Last year, Nike received a complaint that Mr. Ayre was creating
a hostile work environment, which triggered a second investigation
into the HR chief, according to people familiar with the
matter.
In July, Mr. Parker held an annual leadership team meeting at a
resort in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where he informed Mr. Ayre he
could no longer stay, one person said.
The next day, Nike announced Mr. Ayre's retirement and the
promotion of Monique Matheson, a 19-year Nike veteran and former
chief talent and diversity officer, to replace him.
Around the same time, women at Nike who were frustrated with the
culture felt it was time to do some homework. After watching
several female leaders depart, they drew up a survey to circulate
quietly among staff. They wanted to gather information about pay
equity and allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior, people
familiar with the survey said.
The survey came to the attention of Mr. Parker in recent weeks,
these people said. Soon after, the company started an internal
investigation that led to the management shake-up in March.
Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com and Joann S.
Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 31, 2018 11:41 ET (15:41 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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