Zappos's Core Values

With a computer science degree from Harvard, Tony knew how to write code, and he decided to try a similarly algorithmic approach to creating culture. He devised a Ten-Commandments-type list (Exhibit III) that included such tenets as, “Be Humble”, “Create fun and a little weirdness” and “Build open and honest relationships with communication.” From that moment, those core values have driven all key decisions – from hiring to customer relationships to, most recently, downsizing. Tony explained, “The employees came up with the list of core values themselves. We hire and fire people based on the core values, and performance reviews also include core values in them.”31
The first core value, “Deliver WOW through service” is obvious from the highly …show more content…
In October 2008, Tony took one of the toughest decisions of laying off 8%40 of its employees in order to cut the expenses. Zappos' approach in laying off its employees earned the company an overwhelming response both from its affected employees as well as existing employees. Tony stuck to the company's core values by revealing complete details about the Zappos layoffs on Twitter. According to Tony, “Zappos' success depends on its 10 core values including open and honest communication. We're open with everything on how we run our business internally. When people don't know what's going on, rumours start.”41
While generally the layoffs were determined on the basis of performance, in case of call centre employees, attendance and reliability of the employee were the determining factors. Informed directly by the managers, the laid off staff were paid through the end of the year, and also received severance pay for 1 month for every year they worked. Even their Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) payments were extended for the next 6 months. Besides, the existing employees were given counselling to deal with their