\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1258511119-e1713121166944.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Nike<\/a> CEO John Donahoe is the latest corporate boss to weigh in on working from home or working in person, and his verdict is clear: ambitious product innovation suffered when employees were remote.<\/p>\n In an interview with CNBC<\/a> on Friday, he said there is a \u201chuge amount\u201d of innovation going on now at the athletic gear giant, and revenue has been growing at a 9% rate on a constant-currency basis over the last four years, led by \u201citerative\u201d innovation.<\/p>\n But he acknowledged that \u201cbold, disruptive\u201d innovation had been missing and pointed to supply-chain issues like factories in Vietnam closing for three months during the pandemic as one reason.<\/p>\n \u201cBut even more importantly, our employees were working from home for two and a half years,\u201d Donahoe said. \u201cAnd in hindsight, it turns out, it\u2019s really hard to do bold, disruptive innovation, to develop a boldly disruptive shoe on Zoom<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n He added that teams returned to in-person work 18 months ago and recognized what had been lacking earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we realigned our company, and over the last year we have been ruthlessly focused on rebuilding our disruptive innovation pipeline along with our iterative innovation pipeline,\u201d he said. \u201cSo the pipeline is as strong as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, Nike said that it planned to cut costs by $2 billion over the next three years as part of a broad restructuring plan caused in part by weaker consumer demand.<\/p>\n And in February, the company announced a 2% cut to its workforce<\/a>, or more than 1,500 people, and Donahoe put some of the blame for Nike\u2019s recent underperformance on himself and the company\u2019s leadership. That came amid a wave of other layoffs in the tech, media, and finance sectors.<\/p>\n Donahoe\u2019s strong endorsement of coming into the office is the latest salvo in the debate over the future of work. Many workers\u00a0insist they\u2019re more productive<\/a> from home, while return-to-office mandates are\u00a0have been almost universally reviled<\/a>. <\/p>\n Still, in-office days at America\u2019s major companies have grown from 1.1 days per week on average in 2021 to 3.4 days in 2023<\/a>. That\u2019s despite a recent survey showing that managers actually want to work from home more than their workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a separate study earlier this month found that for the first time since the pandemic began, more workers are saying they prefer hybrid work to working completely remote<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the fruits of Nike\u2019s product innovation will be on a high-profile stage this summer, when top athletes will showcase its shoes and apparel during the summer Olympics<\/a> in Paris. That comes as emerging rivals have made inroads in key markets.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done more to advance running than any brand in the world over the last 50 years and we continue to lead with elite runners,\u201d Donahoe told CNBC<\/a> when asked about On Running and Hoka. \u201cInnovation has always been what\u2019s marked Nike in running, as in other categories and so we\u2019re not just going to copy what other people do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to CHRO Daily, our newsletter focusing on helping HR executive navigate the changing needs of the workplace. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n