In this week’s COMM 101, we were introduced to the world of human resource management. In a captivating class led by Ann Stone, we talked about a company that is going to soon be the talk of the town.
The company in question, Zappos, is like none other. The emphasis, time and effort the company puts into managing its human resources is matched by no competitor. Imagine working in an environment where nobody leads anybody. A company with minimal hierarchy, with the big guys in the company work in the same workspace as the new hires, with new hires being offered $2000 as remuneration in place of the job on completion of their orientation training, and the best part? Each and every employee is offered free food at all times.
The Zappos culture ensures one thing: every employee in the company wants to be there. I doubt that there exists a single employee who views the Zappos job as a ‘dead end job.’ After all, how could you when your company focuses on team building through in-office parties, a year-end scrapbook with each employee’s inputs on how they felt about the past year and no dress code whatsoever. Zappos is taking the world by storm as far as they Human Resource Management is concerned. It amazes me how a company like Zappos can still claim a billion dollars in sales, despite incurring such high costs on their Human Resources.
I was taken aback by how a fellow student referred to this strategy as ‘cute,’ claiming that the company had taken the concept too far and that this would never catch on in the market.
To him, I, like many of my fellow classmates, say this. Zappos is a company that can pride itself with having achieved what human beings have been searching for all their lives. Happiness. If more companies today can ensure that employees turn up to work with a smile, and maintain that smile throughout the day, the world will soon be a better and more cheerful place. If more companies can rid employees of expenses such as food and their insurance, even if it is at the cost of their paychecks, they will see bigger and better returns from their employees. Not because there is external motivation to do better, but because they are satisfied with what they are currently doing, and more than happy to continue to do so.
Should more companies adopt the Zappos culture, the corporate world will see a positive change in the environment that they present their employees with. An environment that their employees are happy working in. An environment that generates higher profits, purely due to the happiness of their workforce.
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