Pay Me $50,000 to Quit Writing Slacker Manager
Bill Taylor recently shared a unique strategy from online shoe retailer Zappos: It offers new employees $1,000 (plus up-to-date pay) to leave the company. It’s an interesting strategy: pay folks who aren’t 100% committed to the company’s mission, vision and values a decent sum of money to quit right now, rather than find out they’re not a fit later. I like this idea a lot, and it got me thinking…
Let’s take this a step further: You’re a mid-level manager making $75,000 per year. Would you take $10,000 plus whatever pay you’re due to leave your current role?
Or even further: Let’s say you’re a newly appointed senior level manager, making a cool $125,000 per year, plus a nice $25,000 bonus. Would you take your bonus and try your hand at another firm, if you knew you weren’t a fit doing what you were doing right now?
Tough questions, and ones I’m not expecting anyone to be brave enough to answer in the comments. But they are ones you need to think about if you’re a manager trying to motivate an associate out of the company. I know I’ll be sharing this article with my manager and my HR department, as a way to hedge our bets against hiring a bad fit.
What do you think?
- Would you take the cash to leave your current employer, with no guarantee of anything else?
- Would you even think about using this in your company as a strategy to keep only A players?
And by the way, if you’re thinking of offering me $50,000 to quit writing at Slacker Manager, I would definitely think about it, though I do love writing management and productivity tips a few days a week.I take my money the old fashioned way: cold, hard cash!
Phil Gerbyshak is a customer service and management speaker, author and relationship geek who loves to share his ideas.
Flickr photo credit to massdistraction
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POSTED IN: hiring, innovation, management
11 opinions for Pay Me $50,000 to Quit Writing Slacker Manager
gina
Jun 2, 2008 at 4:07 am
Phil - I think this is an awesome idea! To me, the collateral damage that the wrong employee can make to an organization is way more expensive that a flat 1000 bucks.
Would I leave for money? YIKES! That’s a tuff question. Let me get back to you on that. HA
David Zinger
Jun 2, 2008 at 4:08 am
Hi Phil,
I’ll miss you if someone gives you the $50,000! This story has been making the blogging rounds the past couple of weeks about the $1000 offer. Only good during initial training and really much more symbolic than real but obviously it works as so many people have taken notice.
David
Anne Wayman
Jun 2, 2008 at 7:02 am
Phil, you’re underpricing yourself! I want double that, plus that much every year as passive income.
Okay, I’ll calm down… suspect Zappos is really onto something.
Phil Gerbyshak
Jun 2, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Gina - I agree. This is a great investment for the organization. $1000 is a small price to pay to keep your company humming along at top speed.
Phil Gerbyshak
Jun 2, 2008 at 5:18 pm
David - yes, I’ve seen this story make the rounds. I don’t think this is symbolic though. I think this is a real gesture to ensure your front line employees are 100% engaged in your business.
And I would miss you too partner, but we would still find ways to connect, fear not!
Phil Gerbyshak
Jun 2, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Anne - I’d like more too, but this would be a good start.
And yes, I think Zappos is on to something. It’ll be interesting to read about the first company brave enough to copy them.
David Zinger
Jun 3, 2008 at 3:43 am
Phil,
I believe the dollar amount is real and it has gone from $100 to $500 to now $1000. I think the symbolism of the gesture is the real power of the offer. Now maybe the offer for Slacker will go from 50,000 to 100,000 to $1,000,000. Of course it also might be the suitcase with just $1.00 in it!
David
McNeal
Jun 3, 2008 at 6:30 am
This is one really good idea. I’m thinking about using it in one of our innovation programs and organise a little debate amongst participants about it. If an idea doesn’t cause a conflict, it’s probably not really innovative … this one is bound to cause a stir in any company!
Miki
Jun 3, 2008 at 8:50 am
It’s not that surprising that Hsieh would think of that, it fits with the rest of his approaches. He’s one of the few CEOs who puts his company’s money where his mouth is regarding customer service and employees. Here’s a post I wrote in May with a link to an interview with him.
Camille
Jun 3, 2008 at 9:03 am
I like this idea. So much of the time a new employee is thinking ‘well, i got a job, so there is some income, i’ll just stick here until something else comes along’ and they demoralize truly committed staff or take advantage of other people’s commitment. I think the payoff to get out is a brilliant idea.
Blake
Jul 3, 2008 at 2:00 pm
This is an interesting thought…even if someone were to pay you the $50,000 to stop writing slacker manager, couldn’t you still write slackr manager or something?
I personally would hope to have weeded out those bad seeds in the interview before they’re even hired, instead of having to shell out $1000 to get them to leave.
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