By Sara Germano 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (April 5, 2018).

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 05, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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