Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

we all subsidize wd&c's existence. they have to keep moving people out of buildings every couple of years to justify its existence. it's like the bathroom attendant who expects to be paid when they give you a paper towel you could've pulled out yourself. most of the work is outsourced and done by jll and cbre anyway

@cni+1bvhs2oh - bet that was one stinky office. Original poster - LOVE YOU. Spot on!!!!

@1yjt+1bvhs2oh exactly right! Lockers, nothing personal, no soul, wandering around to find a place to sit, pack it up and lug it around every time there’s a meeting, no privacy, no focus

Check out Joshua Fluke's posts about Big Corporate "Infantilization" of their Employees. As if giving you playground equipment like kindergarten or other such non-sense is enough to make up for Nike's toxic workplace

Thats how you get bullsh** like VP's making 350k plus stock options and their own office telling you how exciting it is to be treated like you are 5 years old...or I mean "‘enhanced opportunities for collaboration, fitness, fun & freedom’

Enjoy being a grown adult placing you belongings in random lockers and looking for a nook to do your work from with 200 other people...sort of like high school..or maybe prison

agree not many collaborate in a open office because you don't want to disturb everyone. Hands down the best work experience I have had is when our team of 8 engineers took over a large conference room for 6 months (Team Room) by far the best collaboration and concentration time I have ever experienced in any work environment.

You can thank Nike IT for Freestyle.

Freestyle office space is one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen Nike make. The entire idea is based on several false assumptions:

• Most people don’t perform work that requires long periods of intense concentration and focus, which is impossible in a circus like open office. Personally I find it extremely difficult to get work done with all the distractions.

• It increases collaboration. Google “open offices, collaboration”. EVERY piece of academic and corporate research shows that not only do open offices NOT increase collaboration, open offices do the opposite! The researchers themselves were surprised at how much open floor plans DECREASE collaboration.

• It’s good for employee productivity and morale. Nope. Here too the research is clear and unambiguous. Both productivity and morale drop in open office settings.

But what angers me most is the lying and duplicity around Freestyle. Nike, why do you assume your employees are stupid? Why do you keep telling us how great open offices are when most people know they are terrible? Do you think that helps management’s credibility? If you don’t know the correct answer to that question you probably shouldn’t be in management to begin with.

And the ever present million dollar question for leadership: if open offices are so great how come YOU are still sitting in an office with a door? Hmm??? Oh I see…YOU do important work that requires some privacy, confidentiality, some ability to concentrate and focus, etc. But yeah none of us peons need any of those things to do our work. Nope. Not one bit.

And Nike wonders why its employees are so cynical and demoralized these days? It’s very simple. In so many areas Nike’s leadership doesn’t practice what they preach. It constantly chips away at leadership’s credibility but they either don’t know or they don’t seem to care. Since I know Nike’s leaders aren’t dummies I’m inclined to believe the latter.

I’ll shut up about open offices when I start seeing VP’s and above departing their hallowed door-enhanced offices for Freestyle space like everyone else. Until then I’ll watch as leadership continues to create memes of itself while simultaneously wondering why employees don’t find that leadership to be credible.

Maybe after we tackle Freestyle hypocrisy we can move on to conversations about “equality” and “doing the right thing” while Nike leadership continues to award itself with compensation levels that only decades ago would have been considered obscene and highly immoral.

Tired of being a guinea pig for WDC

+1

Yup. Freestyle work spaces and Nike leadership’s attitude towards it can be aptly summed up here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7VuvXihcw0

When I worked in retail design, this was unheard of. Most of the designers had workstations, directors and project managers had macbooks and EVERYONE had their designated (or partially shared) cubicles where you could decorate, visit, or become reclusive however you pleased since the department respected the need for designers to have a supportive environment to the process of design. I felt that this was the superior way to work and now that I work in an open space office, I miss it a lot. Whatever @OP and many others are experiencing sounds like what you'd have to deal with in a hospital, without the meaningful purpose.

Aside from that, I personally don't know ANYONE that has died from Covid and I have a large older portion of family that have all shared the virus-- one of them being 78 and had cancer who made it out without issue! If you're young (not 80+), not already suffering from some chronic illness or obese, and taking precautions as you would any disease, your chances of getting Covid AND dying are significantly lowered.. like very rare.
By all means though, leave. Someone else will fill your position.

Freestyle was and is nothing more than a WDC branding tool. It’s a WDC platform that PR via ES created in 2015 / 16 to help substantiate the orgs existence, create purpose and bloated HC. This in turn spawned “Transition Management”, another joke of an excuse to add HC and build an empire. NA Leadership signed-up for the investment but of course never gave up their private offices. Some geos excitedly embraced while the rank & file hated it. CG further advanced this nonsense, even sponsoring videos hyping the false love narrative. Freestyle sounds great in theory - and is a typical nike innovation story (or tries to be, but fails). In reality it is an expensive concept relying on custom build outs, a ton of crafted furniture, laced with extensive and pricey graphics (to ensure a “cool” image and “fun” interiors). But at the end of the day, a vast number of employees dislike it, but are forced to drink the kool aid and accept. Like COVID, though, maybe this will ultimately be exterminated and put to rest. Reminds me of the campus expansion. Cool idea (on paper), but ultimately a HUGE waste of resources.

I live close to campus but if we don't have assigned desks to be near my team members every day...might as well stay home.

So many people will quit .. smart companies are allowing people to be remote. Freestyle and the parking are a joke. Oh and the commute .. what a waste!