Building and Investing In Our Teams

We are focused on cultivating and advocating for an equitable playing field for athletes with disabilities—which accounts for one in five people in the world today. In 2021, NIKE developed an accessibility strategy that aims to increase representation of people with disabilities at NIKE. To support our commitments, NIKE will elevate employee experience through a more flexible, accessible and equitable working environment for employees with disabilities. Increase awareness—while destigmatizing the word “disability” by expanding and promoting learning and development opportunities. Foster a culture of belonging and inclusion for athletes with disabilities. Pursue bold and innovative ideas that align with NIKE’s strategic goals to establish us as an industry leader in disability inclusion. We’re also increasing awareness through learning and development opportunities and resourcing our global teams. For example, recently, the NikeUNITED Ability Network expanded to EMEA to support a culture of belonging and inclusion with athletes who are disabled and create awareness and educate employees.

Through partnerships with University of Southern California and Northwestern University, we’re rolling holistic diversity and inclusion curriculum out across NIKE, Inc. The USC pilot began in 2021. To date, more than 350 leaders from NikeUNITED and ConverseUNITED have participated, and the goal is that the entire organization will join in by late 2022. Currently, Nike VPs participate in Northwestern’s inclusive leadership training, and they’re also participated in unconscious bias awareness training. Alongside NIKE, Inc. HR, our VPs go through intensive training on how to effectively use diversity and inclusion data to advance representation. 

Employees are also offered professional development opportunities through programs like Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility (HACR), Advancing Women Executives (AWE) and Stanford LGBTQIA+ Leadership Development, NIKE, Inc. so that they can grow in their careers.

In conjunction with the University of Memphis, Lane Four provides equitable, accessible education to Nike’s distribution center and Air MI employees. Lane Four goes beyond standard corporate tuition reimbursement programs—NIKE pays the University of Memphis directly. The benefits include Prep Academy with an earned admission track (no entry tests or GPA requirements), no out-of-pocket tuition costs, a laptop loaner program and 24/7 tutoring. Since the program’s launch in December 2020, 130 employees have enrolled to complete their first bachelor’s degree.

Nike is creating pathways for retail employees to move into corporate opportunities through the NIKE Athlete Experience (NAX) initiative. Retails employees can gain experience through several distinctive career development programs. The Retail Experience Program (REP) is a four-month collaboration between retail and Nike Tech and Digital employees. The Track Stretch Program is six months of exploring different career paths and specializations at the corporate level.  First-line teammates are provided a curated list of open corporate roles on the external NIKE careers site so they can easily find and apply for open roles that match their interests.

Around the globe, all Nike employees and their eligible dependents have access to 20 free sessions of counseling a year. To further bolster our employees’ mental health, in 2021 we subsidized up to $1800 in childcare costs, provided free financial coaching, worked with the Crisis Text Line to open its services to employees, and our corporate offices were closed every Friday in July and for a full week in August.

Across the company, employee-formed and -managed networks exist to connect teammates and allies around shared experiences. These networks span the globe and NIKE, Inc. teams to provide resources, promote cultural awareness and help strengthen our commitment to diversity and inclusion. NikeUNITED includes: Ability Network, Ascend Network & Friends, Black Employee Network & Friends, Latino & Friends Network, NIKE, Inc. Military Veterans & Friends, Native American Network & Friends, PRIDE Network and Women of NIKE, Inc. & Friends. ConverseUNITED includes: Converse Mosaic Network, Converse Pride Network, Women of Converse, Converse Military Veterans, and Converse Abilities Network.