Amazon every year asks employees to quit, gives them Rs 3 lakh if they do because it wants loyalty
Amazon as a company is known for its innovative products and out-of-the-world projects. The company has not only pioneered smart devices such as smart speakers and Kindle but also designed futuristic buildings such as Amazon Spheres and Amazon Go. While everything happening at Amazon seems outworldly, once in a year this multi-million dollar company does something unusual. It offers up to $5,000 (Rs 3.4 lakh approximately) to all its full-time and part-time employees as an incentive to quit the company.
The offer begins at $2,000 (Rs 1.36 lakh approximately) for the employees who have worked with the company for a year and it increases by $1,000 every year maxing out at $5,000. As mentioned earlier, all Amazon employees are eligible to accept this offer but there is a catch. Employees who accept the offer can never work at Amazon again.
The program called "Pay to Quit" was originally introduced by shoe and cloth e-retailer website Zappos, which was acquired by Amazon in 2009. It was introduced in the company by Jeff Bezoz in 2014.
Amazon claims that it does not want its employees to take the offer. In fact, the headline of the offer says, "Please Don't Take This Offer". So why does it make such an offer to its employees in the first place? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Amazon wants its employees to take a moment and think about what they want in life. The company believes that an employee working at a place they don't want to work isn't healthy, neither for the organisation nor for the employee. And so, while it doesn't want its employees to leave, by making such an offer the company ensures that only the motivated employees stay behind.
While the offer as such might not force the employees to quit, it proves as a yardstick to check employees' motivation and commitment level and helps the company bargain for a psychological contract with them. In effect, the employees who decline the offer also help in increasing the overall performance of the company as they are highly motivated and committed towards the company.