Pay to Work or Pay to Quit?

What would you do if your employer offered you $2,000 toquit? Would you stay or would you take the money andrun? That is a decision that the employees at Amazon andZappos must make. Zappos offers new hires $2,000 toquit. However, less than 2 percent of its employees haveaccepted the offer. Amazon, which acquired Zappos in2009, also has a pay-to-quit program. Amazon offers itsfulfillment centre employees $2,000 to quit to start and up to$1,000 more per year up to $5,000. However, only a smallpercentage of employees accept the offer. According toAmazon, “The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment to thinkabout what they really want. In the long run, anemployee staying somewhere they don’t want to be isn’t healthy forthe employee or the company.”

QUESTIONS

Discuss the program in terms of the goals of organizationalbehaviour. In other words, what can be predicted, howcan you explain it, and what is being managed? Does apay-to-quit program make sense in terms of any of the contemporarymanagement concerns discussed in the chapter? Do youthink it is a good idea for organizations to have pay-to-quitprograms? Explain your answer.