The move comes after a sweeping review of internal practices and conduct.
Nike said on Monday it would raise wages for about 7,500 employees, just weeks after the sportswear giant concluded a sweeping investigation into workplace behavior that resulted in the departure of a number of top executives.
About 10 percent of its employees across all levels and geographies will receive pay adjustments, a Nike spokeswoman told Reuters.
The changes are the latest example of efforts by Nike management to address concerns about pay equity and reshape the company’s culture, following complaints of inappropriate workplace behavior and an executive purge this past spring.
The adjustments will begin in August and will be annualized over the balance of the fiscal year, which began June 1.
The goal is changing the internal practices and culture
Nike is just the latest major corporation to look at its internal practices and culture amid a heightened awareness of gender and other forms of workplace discrimination in recent years. Google, Microsoft and Walmart are among other household names that have been forced to publicly, and sometimes embarrassingly, address such cases.
The purge has been widely portrayed as Nike’s #MeToo moment, yet in a detailed investigation for The Oregonian, reporter Jeff Manning, who has followed the case closely, claims that the dismissals also represented a dramatic boardroom power play within the company.
Whatever the reason (and there are likely various), in a world of #MeToo and leaked memos, leading corporations–especially those which market their products and services towards socially conscious consumers–are increasingly having to reassess their internal cultures and make them more equitable and transparent.
Companies will surely need to adjust to this new reality, or risk potentially damaging blows to their reputations.
Nike has about 74,400 employees worldwide, according to a regulatory filing. Mid-level managers at its Portland headquarters are paid about $40,000 to $120,000 a year, according to job search and review website Glassdoor.
