Implications for HR Practices in the Companies like Zappos - Research Paper Example

? Implications for HR Practices in other Companies like Zappos.com and Implications for HR Practices in other Companies like Zappos.com Introduction Zappos’ company culture is what distinguishes it. Several organizations try to manage their human-resource function by applying it to their employees without defining what their culture is. The organization has enjoyed top-20 status on Fortune magazine’s best companies to work for, for the past five years. This position did not arise by chance; it was a strategic choice that the company made at its inception and has continued to maintain it to date. HR Lessons from Zappos.com A similar company in online retailing is Modcloth.com. It has been in operation for only two years, so it has a lot to learn in terms of having a clear-cut organizational culture. Zappos.com took the time to define what its company culture is, and then made sure that all individuals who worked for it fit into the culture. Everything else that they did was an offshoot of this parameter (Palmeri, 2009). Therefore, Modlcoth.com can learn from this company by doing the same. They must decide on the values and norms that will help them achieve their goals. Once this is done, then the organization can focus on other strategic elements. Modcloth.com may also emulate the extent to which organizational culture is a personal responsibility for all staff at Zappos. Modcloth treats organizational culture as a human-resource issue yet Zappos takes a totally different approach. Zappos prefers to hold everyone accountable for the maintenance of their culture. Individuals often work towards this component in every aspect of their jobs. This culture is captured in ten statements that include “Being adventurous and creative," “being humble” and “pursuing growth." The proactive nature in which Zappos diffuses its values may also be used by managers in Modcloth.com. They should not just expect their employees to discover their values independently. Training for new workers should involve learning about the company’s style. Modcloth.com can benefit from teaching employees explicitly about these issues before they allow workers to interact with clients. Sephora.com is a highly successful cosmetics online retailer. Its HR practices, however, do not mirror this new-age approach. Their hiring process is something that needs improvement. It normally carries out a technical recruitment process with a little focus on organizational culture. Zappos.com focuses on a person’s fit with the company culture during recruitment. They believe that possessing technical skills will not yield substantial results if these cannot translate into their values. Therefore, they do not compromise on it. Hiring processes usually last for a relatively long time. The firm expects job candidates to attend at least one departmental and company event as interviews continue. This leads to the appreciation of organizational values. Sometimes some recruitment processes may last for up to four months (Inghilleri & Solomon, 2010). In Zappos’ recruitment, interviewers often ask six questions that are likely to determine the person’s behavior. Usually, these questions are meant to assess the extent to which a candidate’s behavior fits in with the company culture. However, some parts of the interview will also look at the applicant’s skills. Sephora can learn a lot from these hiring practices. First, they must hire for their core values. Secondly, they must have a structure to follow when recruiting. Sephora.com usually leaves aspects of the hiring process in the hands of professionals, and what they decide is the final word on the matter. This means that transparency is a challenge. Zappos.com has a highly transparent hiring process. Once an interview has been completed, the interviewer is expected to vote on whether the candidate should be hired or not. These individuals often enter their feedback into a computer. They are also supposed to give explanations for why they felt that the candidate was the right fit for the company. Such a high degree of formality ensures that interviewers do not take advantage of the unconventionality of hiring to recruit anyone they like. Sephora.com can borrow a leaf from this company. They should not let recruiters do whatever they want in interview rooms. Instead, they ought to have systems of accountability, like forms, in order to make them available to senior managers or any other stakeholders that may have objections to the hiring process. Employee engagement is probably something that contemporary firms have started to value. Sephora.com appreciates this concept and even outlines it in HR managers’ job descriptions. However, their idea of engagement is quite narrowly defined. It focuses on succession planning and employee relations as handled by managers. Zappos.com scores very highly on this front. It has held parties for its employees and even impromptu happy hours. The firm has bells within each department where anyone is allowed to use it for announcements. Additionally Zappos’ co-CEO will collect positive feedback from customers on a weekly basis and send emails out to everyone on this. Sephora.com may not be able to extend happy hours for its employees. However, they can borrow a few ideas from the organization that will help them engage with their staff. Sephora should choose non-work related activities that allow senior managers, operational managers as well as other staff to interact and know each other. Poppin.com is a furniture and office supplies online company. It has been in business for about one year but is making waves around the industry. Poppin also has a fun loving culture among its employees and strives to provide excellent customer service. However, its performance reviews do not reflect these values. Most of them dwell on technical aspects of job functionality. Zappos’ reviews are based on the ability of an employee to fit into the firm’s culture. In fact, Zappos is so committed to its cultural values that it fires employees who fail to ascribe to their values (Barbara, 2008). Those performance reviews do not constitute technical aspects because the company focuses on services which put them ahead. Poppin.com should use its core values as a parameter for setting performance reviews. If culture is the primary aspect, then this should be the key factor for reviews. At the end of the day, what matters is the ability to stick to one’s core values. When asked about why employees value their jobs, several researches have shown that it is because their organizations reward them. Reward systems are still at their infancy at Poppin.com. Most of them dwell on typical HR incentives like paid leave and insurance cover. Zappos appears to know about this aspect because it has an elaborate reward system. It puts in place both big and small rewards for work done. As an organization, members get to enjoy parties and carnivals if they have done collectively well. On the other hand, individual performances are also recognized through bonuses, certificates, trophies and written recognition within the building. Usually, these are persons who have hit their sales records. Departmental recognitions may also come about when the company has done exceptionally well. Poppin.com needs to widen the scope of its reward system in order to benefit from high outcomes. At Sephora.com, succession planning is already in place. However, their criterion is not well understood by workers, so they have no goals to work towards. On the other hand, promotion within Zappos.com follows strict rules. Usually, the workers must go through a skills test in which it will be determined whether they have new skill sets to warrant a promotion. The same criterion is applied to the provision of pay raises within the company. Unless an employee can show that they were available for customer contact at least 80% of the time, then they will not get a raise. Sephora.com can learn from this approach and work on building firm structures for promotion. They must have tangible and measurable standards against which to offer raises. Career progression is also another aspect that Modcloth.com can emulate. They need to become more organized in this area as it is not as well laid out as it should be. Employees are not sure about their prospects for growth in the organization. Conversely, Zappos has an extensive career development plan for most of its employment. Each department decides on how best to implement a career path and then works on career progress for the employees. Individuals have the option of either following the superstar path or the normal routine for career advancement. Modcloth.com has placed career advancement at the back banner, yet Zappos has shown that it still matters. Furthermore, by valuing its employees greatly, many of them would prefer to grow their careers there (Cheng, 2008). Conclusion Zappos appears to be an employee’s haven. It values them through rewards and bonuses. Furthermore, its managers are deeply engaged with their staff. Methods of hiring and firing are transparent and well-structured. Therefore, employees have a distinct goal to work towards. Generally, Modcloth.com, Poppin.com and Sephora.com may learn about the implication of culture on HR practice from this institution. They must also learn about the need to be consistent about their core values. References Barbara, R. (2008, June 16). Zappos pays to weed out uncommitted workers. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-06-16/business/0806140083_1_zappos-litmus-works Cheng, A. (2008, May 12). Zappo’s grand mission doesn’t involve selling shoes. Retrieved from http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zapposs-grand-mission-goes-beyond-selling-shoes-2010-09-13 Inghilleri, L., & Solomon, M. (2010). Exceptional service, exceptional profit: The secrets of building a five star customer service organization. New York: Amacom Books. Palmeri, C. (2009, October 2). Zappos retails its culture. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162057120453.htm Read More