Zappos.com

Zappos.com is famous for its outstanding culture, offers its new hires a $3,000 check if they have second thoughts and choose to quit during the four- week orientation.

  • G. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
  • USA
  • > 500

  • Profit

Teal Practices

Zappos.com is famous for its Green cultural practices described in the bestseller Delivering Happiness , written by CEO Tony Hsieh. Zappos culture is based on trust, love and respect. With values of "being open and honest, passionate and humble, fun and a little weird", as mentioned by Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com. The idea of offering $3000 for people that want to leave during onboarding phase is that everyone will be better off not staying in a marriage that isn’t meant to be. The fit with the culture must be perfect, and motivation at Zappos must not come from money. It’s a tribute to Zappos’ outstanding culture that the percentage of people taking the money and leaving is only around one or two percent. Whenever the percentage of people taking the check draws too close to zero, Zappos increases the amount (it started with $100, then raised it to $200, and raised it again and again up to its current level). The practice, in essence, boils down to a real- life barometer of the health of the organization’s culture. The 1,500- employee company is currently making the leap to Holacracy, which will make it the largest holacratic organization to date.

The idea is that everyone will be better off not staying in a marriage that isn’t meant to be. Three thousand dollars is a lot of money for people working in call centers or moving boxes in fulfillment centers, which is what most Zappos.com employees do. It’s a tribute to Zappos’ outstanding culture that the percentage of people taking the money and leaving is only around one or two percent. Whenever the percentage of people taking the check draws too close to zero, Zappos increases the amount (it started with $100, then raised it to $200, and raised it again and again up to its current level). The practice, in essence, boils down to a real-life barometer of the health of the organization’s culture.

Zappos.com is famous for its Green cultural practices described in the bestseller Delivering Happiness, written by CEO Tony Hsieh. The 1,500-employee company is currently making the leap to Holacracy.

Notes and references