Bearing Fruit Consulting

Paying Your Employees To Quit - Brilliant!

Sure you say.  Pay our employees to quit.  What could be so brilliant about that?

Bill Taylor (FastCompany, Mavericks at Work) over at Harvard Business Blogs tells the story of Zappos and their practice of paying employees to quit.  The gut reaction from most is say that is nonsense, a gimmick and it flies in the face of all that is holy in the HR space regarding turnover.  That is exactly why it makes sense - it flies in the face of all that is holy in the HR space.  Here is the money from Bill's blog:

So when Zappos hires new employees, it provides a four-week training period that immerses them in the company’s strategy, culture, and obsession with customers. People get paid their full salary during this period.

After a week or so in this immersive experience, though, it’s time for what Zappos calls “The Offer.” The fast-growing company, which works hard to recruit people to join, 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.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!

Why? 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. It’s hard to describe the level of energy in the Zappos culture—which means, by definition, it’s not for everybody. Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between what makes the organization tick and what makes individual employees tick—and it’s willing to pay to learn sooner rather than later. (About ten percent of new call-center employees take the money and run.)

I think it is total brilliance on the part of Zappos.  The cost of keeping disengaged and disloyal people who have a very high probability of being poor performers is significantly higher than dropping a quick $1,000 on them and sending them on their way. 

Ideas like this work, they make sense and they get resuts.  They also take daring and courage which is exactly why most companies won't do it. 

HR - Serving Two Masters?

You can't serve two masters!  It is a concept as old as the time of Jesus.  In fact, Jesus actually spoke those very words. 

Human Resources constantly finds itself in the awkward position of trying to do just that.  With all the furor over Why We Hate HR and related stories seeming to die down in mainstream media I am sure HR is wondering if the storm has passed.  On the surface that may be true but what lies beneath is more troubling than a FastCompany article. 

The blogosphere, social media, social networks and other alternative forms of transparent communication are continuing the outing in a less grand but more damaging conversation about HR.  Sadly, HR does not understand these modes of communiction much less utilize them effectively so they aren't even aware of this ground swell of anti-HR sentiment that lurks around them.

Today, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (staff writer for TIME Magazine) asks In times of trouble, is HR your friend?  Her blog Work In Progress is a great read.  More importantly her keen observation about HR is a telling sign that HR is not trusted by one of the masters they purport to serve. 

Do Passive Candidates Make Better Employees?

That is the interesting question being raised over on LinkedIn.  There are some really interesting responses by some very solid recruiting professionals who are weighing in with their thoughts.  I even took a few minutes recently to add my thoughts. 

Recruiting Gen Y: New Thoughts

Penelope Trunk is really smart and I have always enjoyed reading her blog Brazen Careerist.  Her ideas are fresh, intuitive and always significant.  Today I read her post The Real Deal about Gen Y and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  In my opinion, here is the money quote:

Gen Y does not admit it, but their top priority is stability. This is a fundamentally conservative generation. And in the middle of this very long article in Business Week, is  an important quote from Andrea Hershatter, director of the undergraduate business program at Emory University and veteran of college recruiting:

“There is a strong, strong millennial dislike of ambiguity and risk, leading them to seek a lot more direction and clarity from their employers, in terms of what the task is, what the expectations are, and job progression.”

Hershatter gives a great interview because she explains in detail why young people today are fundamentally conservative in their goals and decision making. Not conservative politically. (In fact, we know they are not conservative politically.)  But conservative in their lifestyle. They are not risk takers, not boat rockers, not revolutionaries. Young people today want a safe, nice life, and clear path to that goal.

I have long been an advocate that Gen Y was going to cause a major shift in corporate America mindset.  After all, every study and article written about Gen Y and their attitudes about careers and life pointed in the direction of a maverick generation that would buck against the ultra conservative, static and rigorously structured corporate world.  I have even written and spoken publicly that Gen Y would cause Recruiting teams all around America to have to re-think their recruiting strategies because Gen Y's attitudes would lead them away from working in corporate environments.