Zappos are a US based online retailer of shoes renowned for their customer service.
Who would buy shoes online? Well, Zappos is heading for $1 billion sales this year so they obviously meet the needs of their customers and one key ingredient is customer service including things like free delivery and free returns - if you don't like the shoes, you box them up and send them back to Zappos for no charge.
But it is one particular aspect of their training program that has our attention. Prospective employees go through a 4 week training session (paid) at the end of which they are offered $1000 to resign. That’s right, they get paid to resign. The philosophy is this - if you would prefer $1000 to working for them, you don’t have what it takes.
I’m still trying to get my head around this – and leaving a little note to my boss that it is still not too late to make the same offer to me.