Amazon Paying Disgruntled Employees to Leave

Under a new program named Pay to Quit, Amazon is paying up to $5,000 per person to weed out unproductive or disgruntled employees at its different fulfillment centers.

In a company letter this week addressed to shareholders, CEO Jeffrey Bezos outlined details of a rare strategy by human resources the retail internet giant has recently launched.

The program is being offered one time per year to employees working in the fulfillment centers. The first year the offer to leave is $2,000, following that, it increases each year by $1,000 until it peaks at $5,000.

The goal is a weeding out of employees that are not satisfied with their work and looking for a parachute that is green in color and has dollar signs on it.

Bezos told employees that over the long term, an employee remaining in his position when they are not happy is not healthy for either the employee or the company, he or she is working for.

The progressive strategy, by the human resources department, has been successful in other companies. One of those companies is Zappos, which Bezos mentioned in his shareholders letter.

In addition, an online retailer, Zappos, based in Las Vegas often is a case study for experts in human resources. The company emphasizes weirdness and happiness as key traits for the workplace culture.

Netflix, Inc also offers its employees a large bonus if they quit. The company’s rationale is adequate performance is given a generous severance package.

Netflix, in other words, would prefer to have employees that are less than stellar leave with their pockets full of money and fill their vacancies with employees that are more talented.

The severance package Netflix offers is only for corporate level employees, not the ones working in sorting facilities. However, the end result results in a workforce that is more engaged, say experts.

For employers, workers who are disengaged deliver financial repercussions that can be substantial.

A new study of the workplace in America by Gallup has found that 70% of the workforce is not engaged or is actively disengaged, or workers who simply go through the motions, while counting the hours down until they can leave for the day.