Nike's HR Chief Says Company Fails to Promote Enough Women, Minorities -- Memo
April 04 2018 - 5:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Germano
Nike Inc.'s top human-resources executive told employees
Wednesday that the sportswear giant "has failed to gain traction"
in hiring and promoting women and minorities, weeks after
complaints of inappropriate workplace behavior led to a leadership
shake-up.
In a memo to staff reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Monique
Matheson wrote that the company wants "to create a culture of true
inclusion. As part of our plan, we need to improve representation
of women and people of color."
"While we've spoken about this many times, and tried different
ways to achieve change, we have failed to gain traction -- and our
hiring and promotion decisions are not changing senior-level
representation as quickly as we have wanted," she wrote.
Ms. Matheson disclosed that 29% of the company's vice presidents
are women, even though the company's global workforce is evenly
split between men and women. In the U.S., 16% of vice presidents
are nonwhite, she wrote. Nike, which has 74,000 employees, has
several hundred vice presidents, according to people familiar with
the matter.
A Nike spokesman had no immediate comment.
Ms. Matheson, a 20-year Nike veteran who was chief talent and
diversity officer before being promoted in July, wrote that the
company would change how it hires and promotes staff. Among the
changes, she wrote, Nike will seek to "remove bias from critical
moments of the hiring process" by enabling blind resume reviews and
eliminating the collection of salary histories.
She also wrote that Nike would begin training next month "to
ensure all managers are clear on expectations -- when and how they
are compelled to act," and start mandatory awareness training for
so-called unconscious bias for all employees.
As they try to diversify their workforces, big businesses are
teaching staffers to recognize that unconscious bias -- an implicit
preference for certain groups -- often influences important
workplace decisions.
Last month, Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker told Nike employees
the company had received complaints of inappropriate workplace
behavior, and that the company would undergo a review of its
human-resources department and leadership teams. In the same memo,
he said Nike Brand President Trevor Edwards would resign his
position immediately and retire in August. Jayme Martin, a vice
president and top lieutenant to Mr. Edwards, was forced out of the
company, people familiar with the matter said.
Messrs. Edwards and Martin haven't responded to requests for
comment.
Current and former Nike employees say culture problems have
persisted at the company for years, and that the human-resources
department has been unhelpful or in some cases disrespectful to
employees seeking to remedy workplace complaints. David Ayre, who
was human-resources chief from 2007 until last summer, was subject
to two internal investigations pertaining to allegations he
fostered a hostile work environment, before his retirement, the
people said.
Mr. Ayre hasn't responded to requests for comment.
In Wednesday's memo, Ms. Matheson promised further discussions
about Nike's culture, focused on "redefining what great leadership
looks like and how we model a culture where all leaders are focused
on empowering our employees."
Ms. Matheson said the company's fiscal 2017 pay data show that
for every $1 earned by men, women globally earned 99.9 cents, and
for every $1 earned by white employees in the U.S., minorities
earned $1. She said the company measured people who undertake the
same work at the same level, experience and performance.
"We've also heard from some of you that this result does not
reflect your personal experience," she wrote, so the company has
started additional pay analysis about specific parts of the
company, which she didn't identify. She said Nike was also studying
the pace of promotions across the workforce, focusing on women and
minorities.
Last year, a group of female employees at Nike began circulating
an informal survey to take stock of what they perceived to be pay
disparity at the company, as well as allegations circulating
internally of inappropriate workplace behavior. The survey came to
the attention of Mr. Parker in recent weeks, according to people
familiar with the matter.
--Joann S. Lublin contributed to this article.
Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 04, 2018 17:00 ET (21:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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