The Secret Behind Zappos Otherworldly Customer Service? Pay Employees To Quit
Say you want to staff your call center with friendly, high energy, intelligent people who want to help customers and who enjoy their job. How do you find them? Well, apparently you hire people, train them, then offer them $1,000 to quit.
From Harvard Business Publishing:
It’s a hard job, answering phones and talking to customers for hours at a time. 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.)
Zappos employees also have no scripts, no call time metrics, and are empowered to do whatever it takes to make you happy.
Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit—And You Should Too [Harvard Business Publishing]
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Comments:
They do the same thing at Google, except the offer is $1 million.
Brilliant!
It makes sense to me.
There was a 3-part interview with the CEO on Yahoo Finance last week. It was pretty interesting.
That's fiendish and awesome all at the same time :)
And yet they still don't have Nike Shox in size 15.
Suddenly, Zappos application box is full.
Electronics = Newegg.
Shoes = Zappos.
Awesome. Need more good companies such as these.
That's an excellent strategy!
Well based on my experiences shopping with Zappos, this seems to be a perfect strategy!
Any company willing to go that extra mile to make their customers happy, I'm sure would be a better than average employer. If you go thru such hoops to retain the best staff, you'd be jumping into burning houses to keep them.
Like my old boss said "1 good employee making $15 an hour is better than 2 shit employees at $7.50"
I just assumed they did that whole "coffee is for closers" and "this watch costs more than your car" bit.
I'm seriously impressed. That is a scheme worthy of super villainy!
Zappos employees also have no scripts, no call time metrics, and are empowered to do whatever it takes to make you happy.
Which helps explain why only 10% leave.
I've ordered from Zappos a few times, and I plan to do it again. I could complain that they often don't have my size in stock, but they're great about alerting you when the stuff you want arrives.
I think this is a bigger shoe industry problem. I wear sneakers in size 13, which is a little on the big size. BUT, I think shoe stores (Zappos included) just don't get enough of them, because they're always sold out. Clearly they're more popular than they think if I can get anything in size 12 but I have to wait for 13.
zappos and netflix. they should get married and have beautiful little internet company babies.
@overbysara: "Have your shoes arrived yet? Would you like us to send replacement shoes? Please rate your shoes! Please come back, here's NO incentive!"
Shoebuy also rocks. I often play them against Zappos and just pick the better deal. Consumer FTW.
Zappos charges over list for their shoes, and I don't consider that a bargain. They used to be great, but now I shop them against shoebuy.com and shoes.com, and they never have the best price. I've gotten great service from those two companies, too.
Zappos employees also have no scripts, no call time metrics, and are empowered to do whatever it takes to make you happy.
And I bet that was the policy at plenty of other companies that now metre every second of their employees' days and phone calls. First you build a good reputation, then live off it as long as you can while cutting back on the cost of service.
@MonkeySeeMonkeyDo: Yes, but do those other places have a 365-day return policy with free return shipping? (I honestly haven't checked.) I just returned a pair of gorgeous shoes that made my feet feel like I'd given myself a pedicure with a cheese grater. I'd had the things for two months, probably worn them four times. I was hoping they'd break in, but they just kept getting worse. I'm willing to pay a couple of bucks extra (and often, it really is a sub-$10 difference) if it means I can return a pair of shoes that starts sucking and not get a bunch of hassle about it.
This is amazing. i love it.
I think an even better recommendation is that I use Zappos constantly and have never, ever needed to contact customer service. Every order has been on-time, containing exactly what I ordered.
I have bought many, many shoes from them. They have a huge selection of the type of hard-to-find shoes my wife likes - steel toed mary-janes for instance, and speed and cost of shipping, plus stellar service on the phone keep me coming back.
Dude. How much customer service does it take to buy a pair of shoes? Assuming you know what you want, which you better if you're buying on teh internets.
I'd rather pay less, in person, to a sulky high schooler and know what I'm getting.
Wow, you can't buy this kind of PR. Or can you, Meg? What's that new diamond bracelet you have and why does it have a Z monogram on it?
This is a great story and a perfect example of superior management.
I can see this working for many easily-filled positions and entry-level positions, regardless of industry. Way to go Zappos.
Consumerist: Bring more upbeat stories like these!
Businesses: Do more good things so that Consumerist can post more stories like these!
Don't forget:
Cables = Monoprice
I'd love to see a bottom-line analysis between them and some consumer-unfriendly organization like Verizon.
I wear an odd size -- 12 EEEE -- and they always have them in stock. Shoebuy sucks. Zappos rocks.
@opsomath: Zappos probably has a much higher rate of returned merchandise, just due to the nature of their product, and returns often require assistance from customer service.
too bad they dont price match anymore. they are now an expensive store with great customer service. id rather deal with an asshole locally and get a better price.
I hate shoe shopping, but adore Zappos. I recently was pricing out a pair of Crocs (the Celeste style), and while Zappos cost about $7 more than other online stores, the free overnight shipping ensured my order would go to Zappos.
I really like Zappos, but I still miss the price matching they used to do. If there is a sale at a manufacturer's website I have to go with that =(
So what's to keep people from just signing up to work for them in order to make an extra $1000?
Zappos refunded me the FULL PRICE on an 8-month-old pair of Rockports I bought from them, after I asked them how to contact Rockport's customer service about the problem (the sole was coming apart). That is way above and beyond good customer service. Try that with a brick-and-mortar retailer. Zappos is the only company I will buy shoes from.
Zappos did hire one bad apple whom I encountered last year when I called to report that their package hadn't come. I went through the lengthy phone tree, got a rep, and said "It says 'delivered,' but it wasn't delivered." She said, "What is your order number?" (no cheerful "Okay, let's look into that!" or "Hmm, let me look at your account.") I told her the order number.
"I show the order as delivered."
"Well... right, but IT WASN'T."
"If there is a problem with UPS delivery you need to wait 24 hours to report it."
*crickets*
I finally said, "So I need to call back tomorrow?"
"Yes."
*crickets*
I said, "Wellllllll then. Okay."
"Is there anything else?"
"No..."
*click*
--
I'm guessing she took the $1000. This was last year.
If only Comcast would start doing this, too!
Zappos not only does all these great things with shoes, but their return policy and great shipping apply to all their merchandise. I'm starting to shop more and more with zappos and less with amazon.
$1000 for 2 weeks of work? Im there.
I LOVE ZAPPOS.
how is this a good business idea... people will sign up to train just so they don't have to do any work and get fully paid and a 1000 bonus at the end to boot
Wow. Most other companies desperately cling to anyone who's willing to do an under-trained, under-paid call center job. Hurray for Zappos.
@midwestkel: $1000 for 2 weeks of work? Im there.
You're jumping at $1k for 2 weeks of work? That translates to a yearly salary of $26,000.
I've never dealt with this company, but MY company is SO stealing that idea. Paying a grand to get rid of employees who would only cost you ten or more times that much later, plus headaches, is GENIUS.
wow. makes me want to shop @ Zappos.
@MonkeySeeMonkeyDo: Don't ever try to return your shoes or track down whether UPS lost your delivery. As I said in a previous post months back about online shoe retailers, I'd pay $5 over list for the service Zappos provides vs. the frightfully inept folks at the other two places.
The day you have a problem with ShoeBuy, ShoeMall or Shoes.com, trust me - you'll be a convert to Zappos too.
Yeah, I think that offer would be less likely to be "gamed" than some people are suggesting. If you have a better job than the one you would have at Zappos, you wouldn't leave it just to work two weeks and make the extra $1,000 at the end. If you didn't have a better job than the one at Zappos, why would you leave it for only $1,000? A job that's better than the one you had, that you enjoy, where they treat you like an adult and allow you to treat the customers like adults, well, that is worth far more than a grand.
That's so good, it's evil!