Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Pays Employees To Quit Like Zappos, Also Pays Tuition For Education In Any Field
A lot of people were confused when Amazon announced that they were offering a "Pay to Quit" program to their employees but also said that they wanted to keep their employees. This raises the questions as to why a company would make such an offer in the first place. According to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Amazon does not want their employees to take the offer and wants them to stay, but their main goal is to encourage all employees to think first about what they really want. They don't want to keep those who are not interested in staying with the company or are going to leave any time soon. They only want to keep those who really want to help the company grow.
This program works in a very simple way. Those who wish to quit are given a $2,000 offer in the first year, which will go up by $1,000 the year after until it reaches $5,000. This concept was first started by Zappos.com, Amazon's subsidiary selling shoes and other apparel. According to Zappos, a very small percentage of their employees took the offer. However, the opportunity provided them the chance to think about what they really want in life.
Other than this program, Amazon also offers an education program in which they pre-pay the tuition of their workers to advance in any field of their choice. This is true even for those who wish to pursue fields that are not relevant to their jobs at Amazon. They can opt to be nurses, airplane mechanics, or anything they want. According to Amazon, this is just a stepping stone for their employees to acquire the skills to be where they want to be. They want to provide the right training, make a difference and extend help as much as possible.