Blog with Rob: A Premature Buyout?

Many of us have been there before:  that new job is making you miserable, you probably are not performing well and everyone’s uncomfortable.  The newest standard response?  Paying employees who haven’t technically done anything wrong but who just don’t quite fit into your company to quit.  Amazon will pay employees $5,000.00 if they want to quit, and Zappo’s offers $2,000.00

The idea behind the unusual tactic is simple—make poor fits between company and new employee easier and quicker to determine and move beyond.  If everyone is in agreement and compensation is provided to soften the blow? It’s an ideal situation.  But in practice this only works with large, high revenue companies.   In fact, one such company, Riot Games, a maker of PC games is willing to offer new employees who want to quit within the first two months 10% of their salary, up to $25,000.

I can definitely sympathize with the frustration over the resources spent on an employee who you can tell from the early stages is probably not going to make the cut.  If you have the resources readily available to make this kind of offer, as a business owner I understand the impulse.

Would you implement a new employee buyout program?