You are worth so much more than how Nike has been treating you. Managers here like to manage through fear and intimidation, like to try and convince people that this is the best it can get for them so they should just shut up and be grateful for a job. That's not true. You can do so much better and even if you can't find a new job right away that doesn't mean you won't. The job market fluctuates, you just need to be patient. Praying for all of you.
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When I was there I had to fight twice to address my compensation being (far) below market twice.
The first time I had a great manager who fought for me and two of my peers in the same situation and was ultimately brought up to market.
The second time I had a sr. director that was more interested in empire building and only gave lip service to supporting employees. We had several people below market and were told for over a year that it was in progress with no results. So I am left and am now earning market and in a much better job situation.
Where does the illusion that Nike pays well come from?
@bnu - yes, for directors and above maybe so. Not necessarily for those below those ranks.
The high fliers at Nike are provided sickening packages, compared to the mid-range U and to some extent E bands.
…and some cretins (JD) are offered a $50m bonus in one of the darkest years of modern time.
It is true that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I can only tell you my experience after a decade at Nike. I experienced some really horrifying and unethical management practices. Senior Managers who took credit for everything and disappeared when things got hard. Extreme arrogance from these same managers. Many of whom were fairly untalented but connected leaders and deemed untouchable. I wont even touch on the downright immoral things I saw happen to people. I saw multiple experienced professionals reduced to tears by out of control psychopathic leaders in the Tech organization.
- I make way more money now and realize how underpaid I was at Nike
- I have been promoted twice in the last 4 years
- I am being given opportunities to do more and stretch myself
- I have Managers who actually try to help and dont spend all their time trying to look good and stabbing you in the back
I'm not going to go to the level of @bnu - but I will say the grass is rarely greener on the other side. Nike does have its politics, toxic managers, and terrible people... but I haven't been at a company that doesn't have either one of those. Of the 4 different companies I worked for and I'd say Nike is on par with them.
I think the one thing I don't like about Nike is how aggressive the D&I strategy is. It makes me feel awkward sometimes with a lot of anti-male behavior. I understand the why there is that behavior, but I, myself, try to be as inclusive as possible yet it never feels to be enough.
Regardless, one of the perks I like about Nike is allowing me to have freedom of my working hours. I've never been guilted into saying "You have to work until 7PM or to whenever this work gets done.", however, I am held accountable to my deadlines but I have flexibility on how I meet those deadlines.
Regardless - Nike is just another employer, and I realize people think this company is different than others... but reality is, it isn't. So don't hold it to the standard if you don't want to be disappointed. Sometime they do the right thing like maternity leave, sometimes they don't do the right thing like having another reorg...
My advice - look for what you want with your new employer, obviously people aren't happy and if you aren't happy, leave. I left my previous employers because I wasn't happy. I didn't wait around until some date in hopes to be severanced, I left on my own terms for my own mental sake. Anyway - that's the advice I hope people can take from this forum, but I know its way more fun to be toxic and cr-p all over Nike but reality, it doesn't do anything else other than make yourself unhappy. It's like being in a toxic relationship, you just got to take control and leave, move on to something better for you. Will there be bumps along the way? He-l ya, but at least you control your destiny.
Seriously? If you work at/for WHQ, you potentially make more than most people living in Portland, doing the same job. You can have the traditional, nuclear family that most people crave— every Director (male and female) I’ve worked with here can maintain that lifestyle while calling for “the freedom to let women to work.” in most circumstances, women AND men are required to work to just afford a house, let alone rent, with children nowadays. It’s not a luxury anymore for most families in this city but at Nike, you can have it if you kiss up as a corporate worker, like ANY CORPORATION. Maybe you should take a year off to understand how good you have it since you don’t understand how corporations work and should see how rough it is in the real world of jobs.