Howdy HR friends!👋

Can you believe it’s July next week?! Where is the year going? Hope those Summer vacation plans aren’t causing too much havoc in your teams!

Before we dive into all things Zappos, just a final reminder to check out our advertising page if you have something lots of (our 23,500) HR readers would love! 20% off for ads in the newsletter for the next 3 days!

Let’s jump in to today’s topic shall we?

🚦Coming up

In today’s edition

🌟 Culture First, Resume Second: The Zappos Revolution

🛋️ The Break Room: Would you pay employees to quit during onboarding?

📚 Human Readsources: Dating app layoffs, minimum wage increases across states, and how Gen Z is trading shifts for flexibility

💭Opening thoughts

I wonder if you can bank the $4k and just apply again?

Would you believe that Zappos offers new hires $4,000 to quit during onboarding, with 97% of employees turning down the money to stay with the company?

Honest question: would that be 97% at your company?

This counterintuitive (yet genius) approach reveals how strategic hiring practices can filter for cultural alignment and commitment before significant resources are invested in training and development.

HR departments worldwide are now studying Zappos' unconventional methods, recognizing that traditional resume-scanning fails to identify the personality traits and values that truly determine long-term employee success and satisfaction.

Discover how this online retailer transformed standard hiring protocols into a distinctive competitive advantage, and why their seemingly bizarre practices might contain the blueprint for your organization's talent acquisition strategy.

For easy reading

Today’s edition is presented by

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🧠Let’s unpick

🌟 Culture First, Resume Second: The Zappos Revolution

In a world where most companies hire based on skills and experience, Zappos flipped the script by prioritizing cultural alignment above all else.

Their unconventional approach isn't just quirky—it's strategic.

AKA: there’s method in the madness…

By ensuring every hire embodies their core values, they've built a workforce that naturally delivers their brand promise.

And that filters all the way down to their famous customer service experiences, which I’m sure you’ll have heard of over the years.

For HR pros drowning in turnover issues, Zappos offers a compelling alternative to traditional hiring models.

Their infamous "pay-to-quit" offer—where new hires receive up to $4,000 to leave during training if they're not feeling it—weeds out the uncommitted early.

According to Culture Monkey, this bold move has contributed to Zappos' impressive 85% retention rate.

Even more striking: every single employee, regardless of role, spends four weeks in customer service training before starting their actual job.

No better way than to learn in the trenches, right?

So do you want to try elements of the Zappos model in your business?

Start by defining your non-negotiable cultural values, then build interview questions that reveal alignment (or lack thereof).

Consider adding a ""cultural fit"" interview separate from skills assessment.

And while you might not offer thousands to quit, create early off-ramps for new hires who realize they don't belong—it's cheaper than managing a poor fit long-term.

You can read more at...

🔗 Zappos: Where Culture Drives Exceptional Service and Success (Culture Monkey)

🔗 Zappos' Unique Hiring Process Creates Customer Service Success (HRZone)

🔗 Zappos' Unique Onboarding: Customer-First Culture Builds Employee Loyalty (Deel)

👀Too long didn’t read

TLDR

Hire for who they are (culture fit), not just what they can do (skills)—Zappos proves that unconventional approaches like customer service boot camps and "bribing" the wrong people to leave actually builds stronger teams.

Today’s edition is also presented by

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🎬Lights, camera, action!

Takeaway and try

🔍 Run an anonymous "Would you take $X to quit during onboarding?" survey as a temperature check on engagement—the departments with highest "yes" responses reveal where your culture needs immediate attention. Be very clear: this is hypothetical and judgement free!

🤝 Dedicate one full interview in your hiring process specifically to cultural alignment, separate from skills assessment, using scenarios that test how candidates would embody your core values.

🧠 Define your 3-5 non-negotiable cultural values with specific behavioral examples for each, then train all hiring managers to recognize these behaviors during interviews.

🚪 Create ethical "exit ramps" during onboarding that make it easy and stigma-free for new hires to self-select out if they realize they're not aligned with your culture. No harm, no foul. And saves everyone time in the long run.

👥 Implement cross-functional training like Zappos does—have every new hire spend at least a few days in customer-facing roles to build empathy and understand your core business, regardless of their actual position. You know who does this really well? Deliveroo.

☕The break room

What’s your take?

📚Additional reading

Human Readsources

💔 Bumble Cuts One-Third of Staff Amid Dating App Struggles (The HR Digest) - Bumble cuts one-third of workforce amid dating app struggles.

💰 Minimum Wage Hikes Hit West Coast, DC (HR Brew) - Minimum wage increases in Alaska, Oregon, DC, and other locations.

🔧 Gen Z Trades Degrees for Tools and Skills (HR Grapevine) - Gen Z embraces trades over degrees for practical, affordable careers.

That’s it for today.

Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠

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