The Human Resources head at Adidas, Karen Parkin has recently stepped down from her role after criticism from employees of what they see as the company’s failure to diversify its workforce.
Her decision to resign from the office comes after a group of Black employees called for an investigation over her handling of racism at the company which she had described last year as “noise” only discussed in America. The employees are also pressing the company to create an anonymous public channel to submit any problems about racism.
The German shoemaker said that Parkin was leaving the company after being associated for 23 years in a “mutual agreement” with the supervisory board effective June 30. On an interim basis, company Chief Executive Officer Kasper Rorsted will be taking over her role.
“I am deeply committed to our goals of creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable company, “ Parkin, also a board member, said in a statement. “While we have made progress in many areas, there is much more work to be done. However, it has become clear to me that to unify the organization it would be better for me to retire and pave the way for change.”
The demands from Black employees were reported by The Wall Street Journal in mid- June. However, the company’s official statement had no mention of the letter sent by the 83 employees.
Rebuffing the criticism, Adidas said that Parkin had apologised for the comments and was working with a coalition on global diversity and inclusion commitments. At the time, Parkin issued a statement saying she had not made clear the company’s stance against discrimination at a meeting at the Reebok brand in Boston last year when she made a comment about concern about racism being “noise”.
Igor Landau, Chairman of Adidas AG’s supervisory board, said in a statement that Parkin’s decision to leave the company reflects her belief that a new HR leader will “best drive forward the pace of change that Adidas needs at this time.”
Parkin first joined Adidas in 1997 as Sales Director for Adidas UK. Since that, she has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at the company across customer service, business development, supply chain and human resources, culminating in heading up global human resources division over the past 5 1/2 years. She was appointed to the Adidas executive board in 2017. She became the first woman to join the company’s top leadership since 1993.
Adidas CEO Rorsted said on Tuesday: “Going forward, I remain focused on working with my executive board colleagues and our leadership team to continue our momentum in Human Resources and to build a more diverse and inclusive Adidas.”
After consultation with Black employees, Adidas earlier this month pledged to invest $20 million in the Black community in the United States and make sure that at least 30% of all new U.S. jobs are filled with Black and Latino people.
Adidas partners with many prominent Black athletes and celebrities and its sneakers and tracksuits have been part of hip hop culture and style since Run-D.M.C. started wearing them in the 1980s.
Adidas employs about 59,000 people around the world.
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