A group of Adidas employees from different parts of the world is calling for the company to investigate its chief human resources (HR) officer over how she responded to racial issues.
On June 15, the group of employees sent a letter to three Adidas executives asking the company's supervisory board to examine whether HR chief Karen Parkin has appropriately responded to racial issues within the company.
Letter to executives
The letter was from 83 employees from five of the company's offices in Germany, the United States, Australia and Panama. Adidas currently has almost 60,000 workers globally.
In the letter, the group is asking the sportswear giant to create an anonymous platform where employees can report instances of racism and discrimination, and to ensure protection against retaliation.
The letter reads: "Our employees have courageously raised their voices to people in positions of power; they have called out the fact that we are not representative of the communities we profit from and we lack the leadership, processes, and goals that will enable us to get there."
It also calls on the Supervisory Board to "investigate whether we have the right approach and behavior from our (chief human resources officer) to tackle this issue within Adidas."
The group adds that employees believe it is "important that our approach to tackling these issues is modeled by our highest ranks of leadership, especially in HR where its purpose is the health and performance of the organization."
Adidas' response
Responding to the letter, the sportswear company, which also owns Reebok, released a statement saying it "rejects all statements" made in the employee letter.
Adidas recently stated that  it has a zero tolerance policy for retaliation and that a third party investigator has been established to ensure the implementation of this policy.
The firm said: "Adidas and Reebok have always been and will always be against discrimination in all forms and we stand united against racism."
"Our Black employees have led the response that we will continue to implement together and that we have committed to as a company. We are now concentrating our efforts on making progress and creating real change immediately," the company assured.
HR chief Karen Parkin
Parkin has been serving as head of global human resources at Adidas for over three years and is a longtime employee at the company.
While she has not commented on the letter yet, Adidas said Parkin is currently working with a coalition of employees on the company's global diversity and inclusion commitments.
Last week, Parkin released a statement to Adidas employees, saying: "You have all seen our announcements over the past several days that outline what we are committed to do to confront the cultural and systemic forces that sustain racism."
"We know we must do more to create an environment in which everyone feels safe, heard and with equal opportunity to advance in your careers," she added.
Adidas also announced last week that it is taking steps toward increasing the number of people of color in its North American workforce and create a more inclusive workplace.
These initiatives include investing $120 million in black communities and allotting at least 30% of new positions in North America to black or Latin employees.
Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said: "We have had to look inward to ourselves as individuals and our organization and reflect on systems that disadvantage and silence Black individuals and communities."
"While we have talked about the importance of inclusion, we must do more to create an environment in which all of our employees feel safe, heard and have equal opportunity to advance their careers," he added.
