The NordStorm - Case Study Example

Company Analysis - The NordStorm Issues and Problems at NordStorm Overworking of employees past contract time: The departmental managers were under pressure to get the highest SPH employees hence they overworked them. This was an inferred term of service, not formally communicated to employees. Overtimes not paid according to effort. The employees felt compelled not o record some of their overtime working hours since this would land them into trouble if this did not reflect increased sales though some of the word done overtime as store related e.g. taking stocks and writing thank you notes to clients.

These complaints reached the labor unions and Nord Storm management promised to back-pay the current employees who had such complaints with amounts ranging from $300 to $1000 depending on the employees’ length of service. There is broken communication between staff and management. Management knew the complaints of the employees but they did not listen. Instead, they told the press that the employees voluntarily worked the extra hours and extra service because they were happy to do so. Many of the employees were always n tears.

Poor employee motivation and enumeration techniques. The public display of each employee’s SPH created peer pressure and unhealthy competition among employees. The pressure to be an All Star led to “shirking” (i.e. stealing credits from sales made by other employees) by some employees. Termination of contracts without notice: The employees with low SPH did not receive any prior communication for their contract termination.Management playing blind to the plight of employees. The management even told the press that employees loved working the extra hours while the contrary is true.

Poor working conditions by NordStorm. Intentional technical irregularities (broken clock on weekends) by management to abuse the employee rights to pay by the hour terms of service. The management will whiteout the handwritten arrival and departure times and adjusts them wrongly to reduce the employees’ work hours. Lack of specialization of tasks in the store: This required every employee to work at the store, display, attend to numerous meetings, attend to customers’ needs, make sales, go the extra mile, and write thank you notes to clients, alert loyal clients on new arrivals.

Make home deliveries to clients, perform extra services e.g. pay parking tickets for clients whose parking ticket expires due to time spent at the store, and replace a flat tire. Excellent service by an employee earned them not a promotion, to department manager but, more working hours on busy days and departments, no pay rise. Complaints by the employees to the management earned one extra working hours on days where there was few clients coming in and in a slow department, this means you recorded fewer sales and many working hours, a ticket to your being fired.

Constant monitoring of employees at work: “The feeling that you had to punch in every minute you are at work and constantly being nudged by management was a natural feeling.” This was recorded fork a former employee. No clear distinction between “selling time” and “non selling time” created confusion among employees and inefficiencies that led to their penalization and income received on sales made on “non selling” time did not commissionable. Solutions Contracts between the management and current employees should be revised and clearly communicated.

Terms and conditions of service, rights, and obligations of both parties should be stated and well understood. Those agreeable to them should sign new contracts, and these contracts should be followed to the letter by new management and employees. An audit of the Nord Storm by an external audit firm should be done. Salaries, commissions and other benefits and compensations in arrears should be met by the appropriate parties. A clear working schedule for the employees should be drawn by the departmental managers and communicated to the employees.

To avoid delays caused by employees working on everything, the firm should recruit more employees to handle stocks taking, deliveries and writing thank you notes or draw some from the current pool to do those tasks. This will increase the efficiency and income per department. To curb the problem of grapevine information, clear communication channels should be developed. These will include but are not limited to internal and interdepartmental memos, weekly meetings and emails to employees. Enumeration and motivation channels should be fair and healthy.

Management should be keen to note unhealthy competition, shirking, and irregularities among the employees and management. A punishment system should be put in place to handle irregularities in the operations of both management and employees. Employees should be allowed to create and join labor unions to be able to voice their grievances and be educated on their rights. Works Cited Dawn, B.A and Laura, P.H. Employment Law for Business. 3. 2000.