12) Zappos

zappos logo

wēi  danger

It’s a recruiter’s market in any downturn, and that certainly holds at the moment with current US and UK unemployment rates widely predicted to significantly exceed 10% by the end of 2010.  Many recruiters spend much of this time of opportunity worrying about losing their talent when the market improves (known as brain-drain).

jī opportunity

Zappos has found a creative way to ensure that the talent it brings in is committed and therefore likelier to stick the course – it offers all staff an incentive of $1000 to leave after two weeks of its four week training programme.  This system, coupled with a rigorous recruitment process, yields it a winning combination of brains and commitment (and the sale of the business to Amazon for $880m in July ‘09).

how about…

  • incentivising uncommitted employees to leave the business early, ensuring a better return on your training investment
  • increasing training for those employees that have self-selected themselves as committed