Unsealed Nike employee surveys described a 'boys' club' culture where women were called 'honey' and 'females couldn't possibly play in the sandbox'
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- Insider on Tuesday first reported on unsealed employee surveys that rocked the company in 2018.
- Nike in 2018 attributed inappropriate behavior to an "insular group of high-level managers."
- The surveys described sweeping problems, including "normalized negative ... sexist behavior."
In 2018, allegations of a "boys' club" culture rocked Nike.
On Tuesday, Insider first reported on the never-before-seen employee surveys that played a key role in bringing the allegations to light and prompting Nike's ongoing work to become more inclusive.
Ten of the surveys are now in the public record, after a successful court challenge by Insider, in partnership with the Oregonian and Portland Business Journal.
The surveys, written by female Nike employees in 2018, detail graphic allegations such as witnessing a male executive receiving oral sex from a lower-ranking employee, "sloppy drunk" men putting their arms around coworkers on business trips, and workplace affairs. And they describe a pressure-cooker environment where women felt they were treated as inferior and called "bitch," "honey," and "girls." In several multi-page surveys, female employees said the behavior contributed to an "overarching" theme of "normalized negative, manipulative and sexist behavior" at the company.
"When I received this questionnaire, I asked several of my female coworkers what they thought of working at Nike," one female employee wrote in a survey. "I asked how fairly they were treated based on performance vs gender. All unanimously talked about the 'the Boys Club' of Nike. A giant men's sports team, where favoritism prevails and females couldn't possibly play in the sandbox."
Another survey described a meeting where an executive pounded his fists and screamed "to the point spit was coming out of his mouth" in front of 10 employees.
"The network of men hold unwritten rules that define insider vs outsiders," the survey respondent wrote in two pages of typed, detailed concerns. "They get to decide who is successful and who is not. Females at this company have felt very little power to change a culture and environment that has been and continues to be disrespectful to women. Even women are disrespectful to women without consequence. This company must lay a new foundation and it must start at the highest level of the organization."
In 2018, in response to questions from The New York Times, which reported on Nike's culture, Nike attributed inappropriate behavior at the company to an "insular group of high-level managers, in pockets of the organization," who "protected each other and looked the other way."
An attorney for plaintiffs in an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against Nike said the surveys show problematic behavior at the company wasn't isolated.
"It wasn't limited to one vertical or one department," Laura Salerno Owens, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said. "And it wasn't limited to one manager. This was a common experience throughout the company."
Nike declined to answer written questions from Insider about the surveys, including whether it stood by its earlier characterization of the behavior being limited to an "insular group of high-level managers."
The company has since taken a series of steps to become more inclusive, including pay adjustments, changing its hiring process, overhauling its compensation system, and disclosing more information about the demographics of its workforce.
Read the full Insider story.
Do you work at Nike or have insight to share? Contact reporter Matthew Kish via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-971-319-3830) or email (mkish@insider.com). Check out Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
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Thursday, December 22, 2022
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