One day in 2019, Arizona Cardinals employees arrived at the team’s headquarters in Tempe, made their way to their offices or cubicles on the second or third floors, opened up their emails and found . . . An employee survey.
At most workplaces, this would be a decidedly ordinary part of the grind. But in Cardinals’ offices, the survey was monumental. Some who received it filled unglamorous, back-office jobs in finance, marketing, community relations or business development departments and had never felt like their opinions about the operation were valued. Further, many had negative feelings about the workplace but had been reluctant to share them because they felt replaceable — if they didn’t value the privilege of working for an NFL team, someone else would.
The team, owned by the Bidwill family for nine decades, didn’t have a dedicated director of human resources at the time. Some employees wondered if they could trust that their survey answers would stay anonymous.
Despite their fears, some employees wrote about unpleasant encounters with team owner Michael Bidwill and unwritten rules they dare not break in his presence. Many female employees addressed a variety of issues that made some of them feel like second-class citizens inside the building. After finishing…
