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Firing New Employees in Order to Find the Right Fit(s)

[When shoe company] Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers…After a week or so in this immersive experience…[Zappos] says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” [Because]…if you’re willing to take the company up on the offer, you obviously don’t have the sense of commitment they are looking for.
— William C. Taylor, Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too

From my very satisfied customer’s point-of-view, Zappos is an incredible company. What’s even more fascinating to see is their corporate culture functioning in non-standard ways like the quoted policy, and fully embracing technology like Twitter (they have over 300 employees using Twitter) in order to connect directly with customers.

Tue 05.20.08

Tagged: An Entry, Business, Customer Service, Office Culture, Web Culture

There are 2 comments on this post. Add your own comment.

    WOW. I just ordered a pair of shoes from Zappos for the first time and not only was ground shipping free across the board, but they upped my shipping to overnight delivery at no extra cost. I placed the order on Sat & they were here on Mon. Thoroughly impressed.

    said Allan Cole

    at 11:59am on Tuesday

    What a great idea. It gives people an out for those times they get into a job and their gut just tells them it’s not right. With the severance they have time to find a new job and Zappos is better for it.

    said Grant

    at 1:56pm on Tuesday

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