The legendary internet entrepreneur and management thinker, Tony Hsieh, died on Saturday at the young age of 46 after sustaining injuries in a house fire in Connecticut. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
His sudden demise came just months after his retirement from online shoe giant Zappos, the e-commerce which he ran for 20 years. This has shocked many and has evoked an outpouring of affection and remembrances.
But one thing that the late ex-CEO of online retailer Zappos Hsieh has been known for are his unusual workplace policies which can range from creative, fun to what people call “weird”.
The Offer
This is probably the most famous policy invented by Tony Hsieh. In ‘The Offer’, after a four-week training period, the company offered up to $2,000 to unhappy new employees to leave the company, which is practically bribing them to quit.
The reasoning behind such a policy is that if the employee is willing to take the company up on The Offer, s/he obviously doesn’t have the sense of commitment that the company is looking for.
“We want to make sure that employees aren’t here just for paychecks and truly believe this is the right place for them,” Hsieh told in a 2016 interview to the Business Insider.
After Amazon acquired Zappos, it allowed Zappos to remain an independent division under Hsieh’s leadership. Amazon found Hsieh’s policy of ‘The Offer’ so inspiring that it adopted a version of the idea as well.
The policy boosts productivity of the workforce which subsequently bolsters the company’s income.
“The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a 2014 letter to shareholders.
Holacracy
Hsieh’s another main focus was to improve company culture. In 2012, he adopted Holacracy, a method invented by startup founder Brian Robertson. It is a self-management tool designed to eliminate bureaucracy at a company.
The system includes a flat work hierarchy that allows employees to work without assigned roles and more flexibility.
“Employees are equally privileged and work in circles dedicated to specific functions, which overlap. Rather than a pyramid structure, power is distributed across those circles”, Hsieh said in an interview in 2016.
Hsieh hoped that this would allow for more innovation and productivity as employees wouldn’t need to navigate through layers of bureaucracy for a good idea to get passed. It creates a safe space for employees to express any creative ideas that they come up with.
Encouragement to individual identity
At Zappos, every desk reflects the unique personality of its owner. Unlike other companies, an employee is free to design the desk in any way s/he wants. This is down to let their creativity flourish and allow for a safe space for the employees where they could come up with innovative ideas even if they seem outright absurd at first.
Creating fun and a little weirdness is one of the core values of Zappos. And at the Las Vegas headquarters, there are lots of avenues to do that
- Rooftop Patio- It is full of comfy chairs and loungers to facilitate socialization
- Haunted House- For the finance team, for the ninth year in a row, an elaborate haunted house has been constructed.
- Decorated conference rooms- There are themed conference rooms on each floor like “Safe Room”, “Space Odyssey Room”.
- Jam Room- Anyone can go there to play guitar or any other musical instrument or just to enjoy music.
- Nap Room- Which company would have a separate room built for its employees to take nap?
Tony’s aim was to amuse and amaze the customers. He wanted to “deliver happiness” to his customers, which was also the title of his best-selling book.
His passion in creating a special workplace was so great that he even invested around $350 million from his own money.
His creative workplace and company culture ideas have inspired many. This is the first year in around a decade when Zappos was not in the annual list of Fortune’ annual list of “Top 100 Companies to Work For”.
Komal is an English literature student with a keen interest in economic developments and politics amongst others. She is a part of Research & Content team at HrNxt.com