Leaving Nike was the best decision I've made in my life. I did not realize I was in depression working in such a company where employees don't do any actual work. I was at Nike for 5 years and left soul s**king Oregon and Nike. Much happier, lost 30 pounds in a year, my health markers are healthier.
My friends who work there have been trying to get a job for 3 years. That's what nike does to you - make you unfit for jobs outside!
@1ng so many teams like said team. Protecting people and not making business decisions that are best for the company is exactly why our business is in the toilet. Let’s hire ETWs for our fake work when as an FTE (and Leader) you know that there isn’t even enough work for half of your team to stay busy. It’s an embarrassment. Shame on that leader. don’t give said team ANYTHING and you will naturally dissolve a team that adds no real value to Nike. THAT would be Nike actually doing the right thing. Sad but true. #resilience
@1ng are you referring to resilience/ business continuity? If so, you’re right. They are the biggest joke/grifters of all.
I wonder about the mental health of people posting on a Nike layoff forum about how great leaving nike was...years ago. I don't think it gives the message you intend
@1ne We have teams whose sole responsibility is nothing more than redundancy. If that isn’t irresponsible, I don’t know what is. That said team isn’t an expert in anything. I know
a leader with one of those fake teams. When everyone around said leader can see through the shenanigans it becomes a joke. Don’t ask that team for ANYTHING and see how long they survive.
Nike's leaders are mostly ding dongs who know very little about the tools, teams, or process. It isn't "good leadership" to simply say on repeat over and over again how you "just wanna make sure" that something is a certain way.
AKA: "I just wanna make sure that my totally naive and unrealistic expectations for how this process should work is met above everything else because I'm too d-mb to learn about this or have a real opinion."
To Nike leaders, that statement above is supposedly the secret sauce to being a good delegator and leader. It isn't. And it's stunning how nobody is empowered to hold this behavior to account. They do it over and over again, and we wonder why projects are always delayed, overbudget, and ki-ling the morale of the teams working on it.
@aa figuratively speaking they might “pay” more in cash but your mental health and overall health are being impacted daily. Is it actually worth it?
The most important characteristic in leadership is humility. If you aren’t humble, you aren’t listening to anyone else. You think you know everything and your ego is too big.
If you have no integrity, no humility and you aren’t an inspiration - you are NOT a leader. You are simply someone’s favorite. It’s just a matter of everyone seeing through you and losing all respect for you.
I left Nike for the 3 stripes about 4 years ago, after being at Nike for about 4 years, and I’m glad I left when I did.
I’m an expert in my field which is the reason I was hired externally. I thought I’d be surrounded by other industry experts. Wrong. Aside from a couple of people that eventually left for the same reason I did, I was surrounded by people who were just there for a long time with no actual experience, aside from their experience at Nike, which was not real experience.
Any suggestion of change or innovation- shut down. Any critical analysis of their substandard procedures/ processes- chastised. Any dissent against leadership- punished. I swear it was like being gaslit.
I left and I wouldn’t go back to that fu--ing place unless it was a C level job, and my first task would be to burn the place down and start from scratch.
@aa I mean relative to the talent. My boss asked how we felt about the psp & stock and my bootlicker peers said that they were happy have jobs and bonus and stock were nice extras. F' them, I am not happy with the sh---y results so I'm leaving.
@dc yes relative to the talent.
It’s just pathetic! The mental health of our employees matters. We have toxic and abusive leaders that get away with things for now. Once people start speaking up I believe there will be change. Not in this lifetime with the way that HR operates. Always remember that they aren’t protecting you. They are protecting the company and the unethical leaders. Just a matter of time and they will have employees suing the company for the impact of their negligence. Don’t be silent. Speak up.
I resigned from Nike after 2 years. I have a PhD and my job at Nike was just attending baseless repetitive meetings for touchbase with corporate managers and any idea I had would be shut down so quickly often by a higher up that barely had a college degree! I was so scared I lose my skills, forget how to code, etc so I left. I got a remote job, pays twice Nike, and has just a handful of meetings every six month! Leaving Nike was the best decision I made. I may regret a lot of things but leaving Nike is NOT one of them.
@aa Nike overpaying? They were always notorious for lowballing you but making it up with amazing perks and benefits. Once they got rid of those it became a lot easier to leave.
I remember my first job interviews after working at Nike for over 4 years. It was a harsh reminder of how you join Nike with certain skills and experience, but over time your job basically becomes "how to work at Nike and not get laid off". Unsurprisingly, this does not translate to many companies outside the berm. It would be different if a job at Nike meant a long career there, but we all know that is no longer the case. It took me a long time to begin believing in my self again, as well as not being paranoid about my co-workers and managers.
It’s a job. A paycheck. A means to an end. If work is your identity, then too bad. Save your money aggressively. Don’t buy so much cr-p on swoosh or company store. Don’t fall for the marketing hype. Do you really need 20 pairs of sneakers?
THERE IS A FINISH LINE.
Nike offers Oregon’s only bigboy careers. Intel’s office is a mini Mumbai even worse than Nike. Otherwise you work for a hospital, university, or a service job paid by their employees’ salaries. There’s next to nothing pulling dollars into the region.
Oregon is an economic desert kept afloat by people squeezed out of our more expensive neighbors north and south. The grass is greener and everyone is mentally healthier on the other side.
Agree with OP - you don't realize how far behind you become competitively, Nike drains your talent slowly due to the circus that it is. Since hard work isn't recognized to advancing your career, but playing politics is, coupled with goal-setting and year-end reviews being a joke, the work culture is largely lethargic. I too left Nike and couldn't be happier. I make more, I drive more impactful work, I have more autonomy, less hierarchy, there is less wasted time in the work week from an overload of meetings and touchbases to fill higher-ups schedules because they don't know how to do actual desk-work (the inefficiency of Nike is staggering once you get elsewhere), but I also work harder and strain my mind more - very much healthy stress. The faster pace and amount of work I own is more rewarding; personal growth is critical to overall happiness. Two types of people I guess, so if complacency and somewhat 'cheating your paycheck' are more your thing (or you've already come to the realization you couldn't land a job outside the berm even if you tried), enjoy Nike. The shine of working at Nike is so tarnished once you leave.
The reason people don’t leave is because Nike overpays and it’s actually really nice compared to other jobs on the market. You live with the miserable times and extra pounds because the money is amazing.