Melina Murray

For those of you who don’t know Zappos, they are an online shoe/accessories store.  The beauty of Zappos is their open communication- public and private. The company is incredibly present on twitter, with the CEO frequently posting about the daily happenings at the company.

Today was a very sad day at Zappos…they had to lay off 8% of the company.  What makes Zappos stand out, though, is the degree of compassion, openness and communication they showed. Tony Hsieh (CEO) made public the email sent out to all employees regarding the lay off- why, how, what.

I don’t need to describe it.  You just need to read it.  Zappos Update

Oh- and just another note.  When you visit the main Zappos website, notice that the company notes one of its core values at the bottom, along with videos with employees.  A rare site indeed.

Sometimes I read an article about a company and think, “Brilliant!! Phenomenal!  Every CEO and HR leader should read this and follow suit!“.Today was one of those days.  Thanks to Twitter, I came across this article from Harvard Business Publishing, Why Zappos Pays Its Employees To Quit- And You Should Too.  It is well worth a read, but can be summed up by the last paragraph: 

Companies don’t engage emotionally with their customers—people do. If you want to create a memorable company, you have to fill your company with memorable people. How are you making sure that you’re filling your organization with the right people? And how much are you willing to pay to find out?