Kyle Evans at Ruffian Apparel

Problem statement The main problem of this case is that the Ruffian Kelowna store cannot keep employees due to not having competitive salaries and an unrealistic compensation program. The turnover rate for employees is high and this leads to the store not meeting the sales requirements. The store’s sales kept a downward trend, so it is time to do something to turn this situation around. The newly hired regional manager Kyle Evans will meet his new boss Jason Wilcox in two days to give a plan to deal with these problems, so there is a time limit.

Background The Ruffian Kelowna store had been without a capable store manager for several months, and sales figures were far from optimal. The newly hired regional manager of Ruffian Apparel, Kyle Evans was planning to get the Kelowna store back on track, with the back-to-school rush fast approaching. And he only has two days to make a decision before he meets his new boss, the operations manager Jason Wilcox. Paramount to the employees’ job, there was an expectation of making sales called “Extreme Customer Service” (Hewins K, 2009). The idea was that employees were expected to go above and beyond when it came to understanding customer needs, providing advice and options when necessary, and generally making the shopping experience an exceptionally pleasant one. Given the diverse responsibilities at each level, goal structure and compensation systems were set up differently. Part-time employees started out at minimum wage of $8.15 per hour and an opportunity to get a four per cent commission fees; full-time employees and assistant managers were guaranteed a commission, supplementing their slightly higher hourly rate of approximately $9 to $12 respectively, and a commission rate for these positions was two per cent of all sales; store managers were placed on salary and had no