When a company actively promotes \"a little weirdness,\" it becomes important to

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When a company actively promotes "a little weirdness," it becomes important to hire people who will be satisfied in that sort of environment. Zappos does so by carefully assessing fit during its hiring process. But what happens if new hires realize that they're not satisfied with their job, their co-workers, or the organization? After all, the craziness at Zappos is not for everyone! That's where The Offer" comes in: New hires begin their Zappos employment with a four-week training period that acquaints them with the company's strategy and its approach to customer service, receiving their full salary along the way. One week in, the new hires are offered a bonus.. to quit. That's right-new hires can walk away with one week's salary and an extra $2,000 in their pocket. Zappos uses "Th e Offer" to give employees who may not enjoy working at Zappos an easy out. The idea o "paying people to quit" has recently been picked up by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com (Zappos's parent company). Amazon recently shocked the corporate world by announcing a new policy: "If an employee isn't happy working at the online retail giant, they can earn up to $5,000 just for quitting." Bezos describes the program as being fairly simple: "Once a year we offer to pay our associates to quit. The first year the offer is made for $2,000. Then it goes up one thousand dollars a year until it reaches $5,000." "The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want," Bezos explains. "In the long run, an employee staying somewhere they don't want to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company In addition to its "Pay to Quit" program, Amazon has adopted a couple of other employee empowerment initiatives. Career Choice is a program in which Amazon pre-pays 95 percent of tuition for its employees to take courses for in-demand fields, such as nursing or mechanics, even if the skills have nothing to do with a career at Amazon. Bezos explains, The goal is to enable choice. We know that for some of our fulfillment center employees, Amazon will be a career. For others, Amazon might be a stepping stone on the way to a job somewhere else-a job that may require new skills. If the right training can make the difference, we want to help." A third initiative is called the Virtual Contact Center. Under this program, Amazon employees a customer service support while working at home. "This flexibility is ideal for many employees who perhaps because they have young children or for another reason, either cannot or prefer not to work outside the home," explains Bezos. 5.1 What do you think of Amazon's approach to employee empowerment? Explain how this strategy might work at a strategy for maximizing job satisfaction within the organization? 5.2 Should the "pay to qi" programs used at Zappos and Amazon be used at other organizations? Are you concerned that programs like this might undermine the company attempt to strengthen organizational commitment? Explain 5.3 When you consider your personal values (Table 5-1), would you experience job satisfaction or dissatisfaction within a company that prides itself on being "a little weird? Would you fit in at Zappos or organizations like this? Why or why not?

Explanation / Answer

1.Amazon's aproach to empower employees are innovative and out of box approaches.Approaches like 'Pay-to Quit" Program, Career Choice programs and Virtual Conact Centres ar some of inn ative inititives that has been taken by Amazon.

2. the "Pay to Quit" program used at Amazon and zappos can be used in any other organizations as well.

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