The system at Nordstrom was a failed system. It did not reward the employees based on the hours that the employees put in. There are three areas that the company went wrong.
Three Downfalls of Nordstrom’s Approach
First, it didn’t let the employees know upfront what kind of hours they would be expected to work. Second, it had an overly strong competition between the sales associates within the stores. And third, their pay structure was broken. All three of the above points illustrate that the system was broken.
1. Nordstrom’s Compensation System
As the first point indicates, Nordstrom would hire people under a specific set of duties and responsibilities and expect a completely different set. The managers wouldn’t explain how the compensation system was going to be set up based on the sales per hour structure. Once the employee was hired on, they would then expect them to work extra hours without pay or they would give them bad reviews as not being a team player. [Read more…] about Dissension in the Ranks at Nordstrom