Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

Agree, if you’re a director with no direct reports, you definitely need to go or you need to become an IC who ACTUALLY does work.

Many teams are small (<15) and have an SD, a director, manager and maybe a few engineers/designers. Most of the middle management adds to the bureaucracy and can be let go. Make Nike Agile (not the scrum agile but the real sport one) Again! Bring the sport mindset back and remove the middle bureaucracy.

Problem with all of the layoffs is they were anchored purely in cost savings vs actually organizing us to succeed. Take a page from amazons play book- eliminate middle managers and increase leadership span to 8+. Have leaders who actually DO work vs presenting other people’s work.

If you're a director with no reports you gotta go.

When I started at Nike, mid-career, I was surprised by how many people referred to Nike as a ‘family.’ Sure, in the bygone era of the bu-----e meetings (as detailed in Shoe Dog) it must have felt like a family. It imagine it felt like a family to anyone who decided to get a Swoosh tattoo, or to folks who started their career at Nike and have never worked anywhere else. To the rest of us, Nike is a corporation, not a family. And as was pointed out, corporations have obligations first and foremost to shareholders.

@mg+1jr8206tj Your last sentence really hits. Over the years I’ve seen people dismissed who were the last employees I thought Nike would ever terminate. I once had a manager I jokingly called “Mr. Nike” because he was the epitome of superstar employees here. Until he got let go. After that I fully understood I shouldn’t ever get too comfortable working here.

Remember everyone, it’s always about meeting EPS and dividend targets. Nike will do whatever is necessary to keep those numbers up.

If these tariffs stay in place for even more than a few weeks Nike’s revenue will fall more than forecast. If a recession occurs, assuming we aren’t already in one, that revenue hit will be compounded by an exhausted consumer base.

In a nutshell Nike can’t absorb these huge market disruptions while still employing some 70,000+ people as if nothing has happened. This has to be juxtaposed with the fact that layoffs are broadly horrible for companies in terms of morale, retaining institutional knowledge, and productivity.

I’m of the opinion that the last layoff mostly didn’t target the right people and didn’t go deep enough. Nike is no longer a growth company but is still staffed as if it was. It will likely need to be a smaller and more nimble company in the years ahead and yes, regrettably that means trimming deep, consolidating functions and roles, and figuring out what roles are “must haves” vs. “nice to haves”. Often those roles aren’t what people might think.

This metaphorical bandaid will need to be ripped off before or shortly after Nike determines that EPS or dividend payouts are starting to approach critical levels. I have no insight into exactly what those levels are but I do know that as a corporate governance matter creating shareholder value is the end-all-be-all for triggering these difficult decisions.

As always employees should remember that Nike is not a family. It’s more like a sports team where your services may or may not be needed next season. The best anyone can do is stay at the top of their game while making peace with the fact that even the best athletes are eventually shown the door.

We’ve had a lot of natural attrition since the last layoff and haven’t brought back all those roles. We’re about 6% down below our normal levels for corporate. Doesn’t mean we won’t restructure or have a few cuts, but right now… another mass layoff isn’t in the cards… assuming there isn’t any massive macro situation

I’d imagine that senior leadership will see how Trump’s tariffs/trade-war and resulting economic impacts shake out before making any drastic organizational-wide changes. These are crazy and uncertain times. The market had a 8% rally today on fake reports that Trump was going to pause on tariffs for 90-days, only to come crumbling down again when the White House denied the reports.

They could/should start scenario planning and enact a hiring freeze, if there isn’t one already.

I agree with you OP but don’t think this will happen in the very near term. I’d be looking for a new round of layoffs starting in late 2025 and into 2026.

@ag+1jr8206tj

Looks like those directors and senior directors took a break from doing nothing to down vote you :)

But yes, No ICs should be RIFd until there’s been a thorough purging of middle management deadweight. And that should happen regardless of whether or not there’s an economic down turn.

Why does this always have to come down to people posting about DEI? Sure, maybe we’ve hired some of the wrong people but ultimately we have too many people who do nothing but hid beautiful presentation decks that they didn’t create. There are so many useless, senior directors and directors at this company. How about we start there?

Time to get rid of all the DEI hires.

It’s about 80 days until the next earnings call. Plenty of time to plan for yet another “restructuring charge off”

“Fiscal Year 2024: In December 2023, Nike unveiled a cost-cutting plan targeting $2 billion in savings over three years. This plan involved pre-tax restructuring charges of approximately $400 million to $450 million, mainly related to employee severance costs.”

Since that time we’ve rehired a ton of people. Did we really save any money?
Are we better off? Not even close.