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1-Does Zappos sound like a place you would want to work? Why?
Zappos does sound like a place I would like to work there. It offers a very different environment from what one can expect from a regular company where there are many rules that everyone is expected to follow. There are no particular rules about dressing and conduct at Zappos and while that may seem like chaos, giving employees the freedom to work as they please can often bring out the best of them.
2-Do you think it makes sense to offer new employees a $3,000 incentive to quit?
It shows the confidence that the company management has to its ability to attract the best talent and have them work in a unique environment. It is unlikely that new employees will find another work environment such as this, so an incentive like this makes sense by giving new employees a challenge. It also publicizes the company and attracts the best talent around.
3-How do you think the role of HR might change as Zappos matures as a company?
The way that senior manager Hollie Delaney describes it, the role of HR at Zappos is developing away from being traditional. Initially, people did not like the HR department but overtime under Delaney’s management, it has integrated itself into other departments and now plays a role in the general and HR related affairs of other departments as well. Traditional HR departments are usually very distant from the rest of the company, which is not the case here. It is likely that the integration of HR into the company will continue in the future as Zappos grows as a company.
4-How does the role of HR at Zappos differ from typical companies such as the casinos referenced in the article?
The HR departments at other companies usually keep to themselves and are very distant from other departments. As a result, the people working in HR are not familiar with people in other departments and vice versa. Companies such as the casino mentioned also have rules about informal meetings, which further deepen the divide between the departments at a company. At Zappos, the entire company is integrated into a system where everybody knows each other, and the lack of rules has to lead to a massive increase in social life and increased goodwill among employees of different departments.
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1-What are some specific tasks that a human resource specialist could do for Curt?
A specialist in human resources management can perform many tasks that Curt is facing difficulty in such as helping with selection, recruitment and taking interviews. They could also create a system for managing employee complaints regarding harassment or any other such matter facing employees. They could also help with sorting out the payroll issues that Curt is facing.
2-Are there any financial benefits that might come from hiring a human resource specialist?
The financial benefits of hiring an HR specialist are that they possess specialized skills, which Curt would need time and money to acquire and so hiring another person to do that work is financially beneficial. HR specialists are also very good at hiring the right people, meaning that with the right employees working in Curt’s stores, his profits would increase and thus the hiring of the HR specialist has resulted in a financial benefit.
3-How might labor trends affect Curt’s ability to continue expanding his stores?
As Curt continues to expand his stores, labor trends related to diversity will come into play meaning that overtime both his employees and customers will become diverse concerning race, culture, religion, gender, etc. It is therefore important for Curt to hire people who are experienced in dealing with various cultures meaning he will have to hire specialized and experienced employees who will take a higher paycheck and thus his ability to continue expanding will be reduced over time.
4-What benefits and problems might result if Curt hires a human resource specialist to provide support to all stores? Would it be better to delegate all human resource activities to each store manager simply?
As seen by the example of one of his store managers harassing an employee, it is definitely not a good idea to delegate human resources activities to his managers. Store managers also do not possess the right skill set to properly manage employees and ensure that all employees are facing fair treatment without any prejudice regarding their cultural background. The benefits of hiring the HR specialist are that it frees up Curt and the store managers to focus on actually running their business. Some problems that might occur are that since Curt is expanding into many stores and expecting to have close to 100 employees, one HR specialist might struggle to keep track of all of them.
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