TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit

(Via Kottke.org)

It’s a small practice with big implications: Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people. How are you making sure that you’re filling your organization with the right people? And how much are you willing to pay to find out?

Zappos pays its new employees full salary for weeks-long training sessions that immerse them in Zappos’s culture and mission — satisfying their employees. After this immersion period, Zappos gives them an offer: if they quit, the new employee can keep the money they made so far and take home a $1,000 bonus.

They pay their new employees to quit, and it’s one of the smartest things I have ever seen. To keep their customer-centric culture alive, they have to identify employees that aren’t really dedicated to the intent of the company. What better way to do it than to lure them out of the crowd with cold, hard cash?