Gerald J. Alred Professional Writing Challenge Award - Fall Semester

Fall 2025 Case

You are Petra Colson, Human Resources representative for a fitness equipment company called Fire Fitness. With success in the market and high employee productivity, Fire Fitness has been able to offer better salaries and benefits than many of their competitors.

However, due to tariffs on raw materials and market volatility, equipment costs have increased in the last year by 15% and sales have declined by 20%. Fire Fitness is now looking for places to reduce expenses.

One area is paid leave. Currently, employees earn one hour of paid sick leave for forty hours worked. Any unused sick leave is paid upon retirement or termination of employment. Employees also receive two weeks of paid vacation every year. If Fire Fitness were to eliminate sick leave accrual for future hires and eliminate one week of paid vacation for all employees, they could cut costs. However, they know they will also reduce morale, potentially lose good employees, and impact productivity, so Fire Fitness would be open to reinstituting paid vacation if their financial situation improves. This seems unlikely for the foreseeable future.

Instructions

Write a one-page email to employees in standard email format. Use professional writing principles to deliver this negative news. Show sensitivity and understanding while making changes clear. Be cautious about how you discuss internal matters.

Provide your entry number in the top right corner of your email. Use Petra Colson’s name and title instead of your real name, and invent a company email address for yourself.