I've been here long enough to have seen people on all levels (outside of the ELT, of course) be shown the door. I've seen people shaken to their core because they honestly didn't see it coming. I felt sorry for them but I also had trouble understanding how you can work here for longer than a month and not realize that all of us are disposable. Those are just facts.
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@1pdo - I've been at Nike 20+ years and agree with you. In the '09 RIF we lost a large number of tech folks that definitely did not see it coming. People that lived and breathed their jobs. I was floored by who they let go. With that RIF especially I came to realize that life outside the office is much more important than work life.
I find it amusing when people seem to long for this fictional "good old days" time period at Nike. I've been there for close to fifteen years and unless you can say you talked to every one of the thousands who were laid off like in the '09 RIFF and know for a fact that they were all expected, low performing workers who deserved their termination...then I have a monorail to sell you. The main difference was how the leaders carried out the layoffs with better communication and strategy...not whether or not they considered every last one of us as disposable regardless of performance (non revelation...as long as it wasn't the executives being laid off then we're all fair game to get the axe). That isn't to say many of the new leaders aren't terribly flawed and probably have an inability to feel empathy or understand anyone not at their socioeconomic level. Nike has never been this fictional worker's paradise people make it out to be. The bad news was just sugar coated with better frosting and a cherry on top in the past and now we get it delivered with the souless ambition of a corporate zombie lurching and stumbling through empty platitudes and financial "efficiencies" to bring about increased productivity and profit.
@1ihy: this really did NOT use to be true for Nike. Way back in the day on the rare occasion we had a layoff you pretty much knew if you had a target on your back. With layoffs in recent years however it’s been shown that nobody is safe. Last time around I saw people let go that were really good at their jobs, performing valuable functions and were the LAST people anyone thought would be let go. It really is different these days and the OP’s point is valid. Next time we have a large layoff everyone should have a resume prepared and a ‘Plan B’ in case the data set concludes it’s their turn to have Nike Security escort them out of the building.
Its become the recruiting center for The Hunger Games.
You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're the all singing, all dancing cr-p of the world
Not sure what the point of this post was. This is true for any company, big or small. Some exceptions for public institutions or unionized workforces. Anyone getting a job in today's corporate world should assume they're just another cog in the big money machine. Nike is just another company... No illusions or myths to dispel there.