Module 06 Course Project - Zappos Final Report

Zappos Employee Culture Training

Applied Management Principles

Jeff Rover

Rasmussen College

09/02/17

Zappos Employee Culture Training

Culture is one of the most important things managers should emphasize on due to the fact that it affects performance of a company or organization. A clear link can be made between change in culture and an organizations performance, managers should have a keen eye and pay attention to culture when involved in any process involving organizational changes (O’Donnell, O., &Boyle, R, 2013).

Zappos has strived to be among the best companies when it comes to customer service, it has strived fearlessly in training its employees in its cultural ways so as to maintain a happy customer base, each Zappo employee undergoes a mandatory four-week training program and the company doesn’t shy at the cost required to make sure its employees maintain the impressive industry benchmark on customer service that has been set. In order to get its employees up to speed with its dynamic corporate company culture, Zappo trains and submerges employees in its in-house program and not every job seeker would be attracted to the working environment set up by the company but those who adapt to the culture and become comfortable usually thrive at the company.

Zappos uses its Human Resource department and management to instill the corporate culture it has envisioned to its employees, the corporate culture at Zappos is defined by ten values which are:

· Deliver WOW through service

· Embrace and drive change

· Create fun and a little weirdness

· Be adventurous, creative and open minded

· Pursue growth and learning

· Build open and honest relationship with communication

· Build a positive team and family spirit

· Do more with less

· Be passionate and determined

· Be humble (Hsieh, 2010)

To manage all this Zappos has a training team that trains employees on; the values of the company and the behavior required to live by this value and the importance of getting and understanding the same message. Employee hiring at Zappos is like courtship as any potential employee is required to the company’s employees in a social gathering so that the various employees not in the interview process get to be acquainted with the potential employee. It usually takes a period of time from the initial interview and the actual job offer a due to the fact that Zappos views its cultural fit program as a delicate process, aside from the hiring managers those who fail the cultural fit interview do not get to meet the employees. During interviews there are about six questions that are based on behavior meant to illuminate if an employee is compatible with Zappos core values and determine if the employee has the required skills and fits with the company’s corporate culture. After the interview, each interviewer gives his/her feedback through a computer system by answering questions and free forms that are used in the assessment of each interviewer’s opinion of the candidate (The Balance, 2017).

The candidates that are successful in getting employed by Zappos start off their first four weeks at the call center answering phones so that they can learn how to answer customer needs, Zappos requires all its employees to work shifts in the call centers and clock in at least ten hours per week and so this also acts as an acclimatization process for the new employees. After the four weeks at the call center the employee’s commitment to the company’s culture and goals is tested with an offer of money to leave the company and those who leave may never come back. At Zappos salary raises do not come by sucking up to the managers but by employee capability and skills, to receive a raise employees have to pass skill tests, there are standards set for the employees which stipulate that they are to avail themselves to customers 80% of the time at the call centers. For the employees to be comfortable with each other and the Zappo culture each manager is required to utilize 10-20% of the departments time on activities that encourage team building such as cook outs, picnics and parties (The Balance, 2017).

In collaboration with the Human Resource department managers are essential in the promotion of Zappos culture as they are the ones that hire and fire employees, do assessments on the cultural fitness of employees and give them feedbacks and advise them on ways to improve. The duty of Creating career paths within the departments falls on the shoulders of managers with those who contribute getting the regular career path while those who excel manage a super star career path. At Zappos employees at the call centers are encouraged to make customers happy by being creative and use their imagination while talking to customers as the company does not give them scripts, this has led the company being successful with over 75% repeat sales from the same customer. At Zappos employees express their feelings each year regarding the corporate culture on the company’s culture book and this reinforces the company’s culture, tis books are given to visitors to the company. The company organizes tours around the company where visitors get to meet with the employees, ask questions and observe the day to day activities of the company.

Managers have a role to play in the creation of a performance oriented culture in the company. They are essential in the creation of a climate that symbolizes change, displaying leadership qualities that portray champions, ensuring there is sufficient empowerment of employees and engagement, making sure the employees are team oriented. Managers play an important role in the tracking of any cultural change in the company as this helps in determining if there are any issues that need to be addressed. In conclusion when it comes to corporate culture managers play a very important role due to the fact that they are the one’s responsible for employee training at employment, rewarding employees and recognizing those employees that excel in the company.

References

Hsieh, T. (2010). How Zappos infuses culture using core values. Harvard Business Review.

O’Donnell, O., &Boyle, R. (2013). Understanding and managing organizational culture