How Nike’s Toxic Workplace Hurt Its Bottom Line
Nike’s toxic workplace culture not only hurt the women at the company, but also its customers.
Over the weekend, the New York Times offered a searing look at Nike’s workplace culture, which many women at the company described as toxic. For many female employees, sexual harassment and discrimination was part of everyday life at the office.
According to the more than 50 current and former employees interviewed, Nike was a place where male bosses felt comfortable discussing the merits of Portland and Los Angeles strip clubs in a van full of female colleagues. It was a place where women who reported sexual harassment were invited to discuss the incident with their human resources representative in an outdoor cafe, where others could hear the conversation. It was a place where female employees say they were passed over for promotions, and where women occupied only 38% of positions at the director level and 29% of VP roles, even though they made up half the workforce.
