"Nike is a toxic workplace for women" (Glassdoor)

I worked at NIKE full-time (Former Employee - Anonymous Employee)

Pros

Gym access, decent food, quiet rooms

Cons

It seems it's #TimesUp and #MeToo at Nike this week, with the "retirement" of the brand president and firing of another VP. I don't know what went down, but the fact that the company is now going to open up an anonymous hotline for complaints and is promising some soul-searching about the culture there indicates to me that upper management is aware of a company-wide issue -- one that's pervasive, systemic, and stretches far beyond the C-Suite.

Good. It's about time.

Nike HQ is toxic for women. It has been for a long time. And not in the ways that are easily identifiable -- not everyone is getting Matt Lauer'ed or brushing off lewd comments at an office happy hour. It's far more insidious than that-- and it's not just the entitled, overpaid white men who are responsible.

Here are some ways the environment is toxic for women:

Getting ignored, marginalized or talked over when trying to present in a meeting. (The standard-issue white male Senior Director will be checking his phone, trust me).

Toxic.

Leaving early to pick up a sick baby at daycare, feeling the resentment of the rest of your team (particularly childless women) following you out the door.

Toxic.

Being passed over for promotions as a woman, doomed to tread water in middle-manager-land forever, because you've been deemed either too aggressive or not committed enough because you leave early to pick up said sick baby (see above).

Toxic.

Checking your email at 3 a.m. because you're up and dealing with a kid with an ear infection, only to discover a brusque, frustrated note from your boss sent at 11:53 pm asking why you haven't turned in a project yet.

Toxic.

Standing around at an office function, watching the lads and bros (all Senior Directors) shmooze with the VP as you stand off with the other women (managers, "specialists") and wait your turn to try and make an impression on said VP (white, male, usually British) and hope he remembers your name.

Toxic.

Look - some of this probably sounds like standard corporate-America griping, and perhaps it is. But having worked for other Fortune 500 companies, I can tell you that the environment at Nike is unique. Politics, backstabbing, strict adherence to hierarchical, patriarchal norms, and frat-boy/lad culture all conspire to make it a fairly awful place for women, particularly moms. The only women I know who ever made it up the ranks (a double-edged sword, as the job will then consume your every waking moment) are the ones who acted like men to get there -- swaggering about, doling out sports-talk, ingratiating themselves with the right people while stepping on others to get up the ladder, and routinely placing work as the highest priority over family time and/or anything else.

Of all the painful circumstances of working there, the woman-on-woman warfare was the worst. Women at Nike HQ are forced to squabble, scheme and bully each other to fight for position and influence at a company that gives out precious little of either.

Toxic.

I'll leave it at that. #TimesUp, Nike, and not a moment too soon.

Advice to Management

The leaders at the top who have been at Nike for more than 10 years need to retire and move on. Nothing will change if the entitled rich people who benefit so much from this toxic culture aren’t shown the door. Time for some fresh thinking from younger generations who understand what it takes to build a corporate culture for the modern age.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-NIKE-RVW19736239.htm (03.17.18)

Comment! It's anonymous!

13 replies (most recent on top)

The toxic workplace does not just apply to women. I can say that technology is more Toxic than ever for both men and women. I wish ES would do something about it. It’s filled with new outside hires making excuses why culture/people don’t matter. At the same time they bring their prior companie’s nasty culture with them and force it on everyone. Their excuse is Nike is bigger and the past doesn’t apply to today because of x.

@7oef I’ve always been perplexed by the credibility given to ex-Gap people. It’s been over 20 years since that company did well, yet now they’ve all come to Nike to over-focus on short-term measures at the expense of the long-term health of the business and brand. I don’t get it......yet they are many of the ones that climbed the ladder quickly.

I left on my own accord before the 2017 layoffs. As a senior woman, I found the last 3 years of my decades at the brand toxic, hostile and detrimental to my health. My reporting structure was menacing, diminishing cutthroat and negatively biased if you were over 40, US, female and if you had been at the company for more than 10 years and had not worked for the Gap, Banana, etc. (labeled old-school). Never mind results, quantifiable and significant. Senior executives robotically executed and ruled to the vertical retailer-like dictatorship of female top exec. (now not there). I got out to save my soul. Still cheering for the brand and employees still there.

Older employees and by that I mean age and years of service are frowned on. I’ve been called an oldster at Nike. If you are no at a senior position after so many years you’re considered a failure. Managers not leaders come in and try to find ways to get rid of you. They get the chance to hurt your reputation by talking with other senior managers so you are stuck and no place to go. During the mean time no matter what you do it’s never enough. HR and ER are of little value and take to much time to investigate. People forget Nike is global so not only are the issues you are reading about here are happening g at WHQ but are worse at some of the other locations.

No place is ever perfect but normally you can work through it. But Nike has lost some very good leaders and people and some who are leading the so callled change are still in place. It’s been going on and tolerated so some with dirty hands were and still are part of the problem.

Good luck and I hope it improves.

Don't you want a thumbs up on this website? So many of these posts need the thumbs up and then maybe others would realize how many people agree with all of this.

@Su1Z8VI-2osc

I’ve had the same experience of condescending reactions to my ideas in meetings, followed by the same naysayer repeating my idea as their own.

And PLENTY of times the naysayer was a Nike Exec woman.

Face it, it’s a Cool Kids Club and women are just as much a part of it as the men are.

Agree it’s as toxic as the Love Canal.

And, would add that many women (sadly) sleep their way up the corporate ladders. UGLY but true that some women are part of the problem.

Agree it’s as toxic as the Live Canal.

And, would add that many women (sadly) sleep their way up the corporate ladders. UGLY but true that some women are part of the problem.

That's the Fed Ex chop, and in my experience, senior women and men at Nike are equally adept at it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgypWuFqauk

Great leaders, regardless of gender, provide opportunities for their team members to shine. Don't see enough of this at Nike.

PS - the original Glassdoor poster could only find 3 pros about Nike?!

Who else has the meetings where you present an idea, are immediately dismissed by the men on your team on that idea, only to have them re-present the idea as their own 5 minutes later and all pat each other on the back of what a great idea that was.

Kudos to calling out the issues facing working moms. Experienced it myself, and heard similar stories from countless others, before I’d had enough and left. If you want/need to take care of your family rather than stay out partying late into the night, good luck to you.... Finding a senior woman at Nike without children, or a stay-at-home spouse, is challenging.

Well said. Now imagine you are a women over 45 in this environment. Or for that matter a man over 45 in this environment. NIKE model is built on getting rid of these types.

Such a sad but spot on post. Seen it myself. Thought it was terrible when I was let go but I can't imagine being there now. Once you get out of it you can't begin to understand how you stayed there.

So many people have had terrible experiences.

Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

"Nike is a toxic workplace for women" (Glassdoor)

13 replies (most recent on top)

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