Nike’s own #MeToo movement is seeing departure of many male executives

Staff outings that ended at strip clubs, a supervisor who bragged about condoms in his bag, a boss who tried to forcibly kiss a subordinate and another who referred to people using a vulgar term for women’s genitals are just a handful of stories of gender discrimination that have come out in the open.

By: Express Web Desk

New Delhi | April 29, 2018 03:10 PM IST

5 min read

While the #MeToo movement has outed the names of several people in power, a similar churning is happening at Nike, showing how pressure from employees is forcing even major firms to quickly take notice and act upon workplace issues. A group of women employees have shed light on the alleged widespread abuse of power and sexual harassment prevailing at the sports behemoth’s Beaverton headquarters.

Women employees who spoke to The New York Times have brought to light how they were made to feel marginalised in meeting and were looked over during promotions. Staff outings that ended at strip clubs, a supervisor who bragged about condoms in his bag, a boss who tried to forcibly kiss a subordinate and another who referred to people using a vulgar term for women’s genitals are just a handful of stories of gender discrimination that have come out in the open. What’s more alarming is that such complaints were allegedly hushed up by Nike’s human resources team.

[bc_video video_id=”5776905249001″ account_id=”5757251836001″ player_id=”ByU0hpZif”]

The NYT reported that the group of women clandestinely surveyed their female peers, inquiring whether they had been the victim of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Their findings set off an upheaval in the company’s executive and many have resigned or said they were planning to leave, including Trevor Edwards, president of the Nike brand, who was tipped to be the leading candidate to succeed chief executive Mark Parker, and Jayme Martin, who oversaw much of Nike’s global business. Others who have departed include the head of diversity and inclusion, a vice president in footwear and a senior director for Nike’s basketball division, NYT reported.

Following the outrage, Nike has begun a review of its human resources operations and has made management training mandatory and revising many of its internal reporting procedures. NYT quoted Francessa Krane, who worked at Nike for five years before resigning in 2016, as saying that she was tired of watching men getting promoted ahead of better-qualified women. “I came to the realization that I, as a female, would not grow in that company,” Krane said.

Some women opined that the workplace atmosphere at Nike was demeaning to women, while some said the weakness in women’s products in part reflected a lack of female leadership and an environment that favoured male voices. An employee said her boss threw his car keys at her and called her a “stupid bitch.” Even after reporting the matter to the HR department, she said her boss continued to be her supervisor.

With a market value of about $112 billion and annual revenues of around $36 billion, Nike is a global behemoth in the athletic market, where its dominance went largely unchallenged for several decades. According to internal research, women number nearly half the company’s workforce but occupy just 38 per cent of posts of director or higher and 29 per cent of vice presidents. While Nike officials have maintained that women’s category was a crucial part of its revenue growth, former employees said it was not given the budget it needed.

Story continues below this ad

Over time, many women developed a deep scepticism of Nike’s human resources services, even to the extent that some avoided the department altogether. Those who did seek help said they got frustrated. “I was looking for help and they just totally shut it down, like ‘you’re the problem’,” said Marie Yates, a former retail designer. A senior manager who mentioned a female employee’s breasts in an email was not terminated, but rather given a verbal warning, NYT quoted a former staff member as saying.

Paige Azavedo recalls her first meeting in 2014 with her new boss, Daniel Tawiah, then a senior director for Nike’s digital brand in North America. She expected they would discuss digital marketing plans. Instead, she was surprised when he talked mostly about himself and how Edwards had nominated him for a fast-track career programme. Multiple women, including Azavedo, said they had reported about Tawiah to human resources for berating them in front of their peers, sometimes to the point of tears. However, he was promoted to vice president last year. This month, he was among those who abruptly departed.

When asked about the matter, Nike said the problems were being confined to “an insular group of high-level managers” who “protected each other and looked the other way”. “That is not something we are going to tolerate,” said a spokesman, KeJuan Wilkins.

From the homepage