Browsing Tag: Achieve

If you want to achieve your most productive, creative, and happiest selves in work then focus on the bigger picture. Think about what makes you happy (or what gives you purpose) outside of work to ensure that your priorities are aligned with those goals. This will lead to happier customers who will reward your efforts with a greater return than money could ever provide.

First, a word about Zappos. The company, which has 1,200 employees and is based in Las Vegas, does not pay a base salary. Instead, it pays an hourly wage plus commission on sales. CEO Tony Hsieh told me that this is because he does not want to pay employees for doing things that do not fulfill the “larger vision and greater purpose” of the company or are not in the best interest of customers (he believes hourly wages and commissions are better motivators than salaries). This also means that Zappos is missing out on what could be billions of dollars in profit by not using salaries to motivate workers. However, Hsieh believes that this is more important than making more money.

The question of whether or not Zappos will eventually use salaries again is still undecided. Tony, who has a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford, said he is still thinking about it and has not made up his mind yet. And whether or not Zappos eventually goes back to paying workers salaries, Hsieh wants Zappos employees to have a sense that they are not “wage slaves” but instead are being paid for providing extraordinary customer service that exceeds expectations and results in greater happiness for customers and the employees themselves.

“In the past, we have not had as much money to spend on long-term employee incentives and benefits as companies like Amazon.com or Google. We’ve had to make do with one of two things: we can give them a really great hourly wage, or we can try to be more ‘relationship-oriented,’” says Hsieh. “What I have discovered is that you can have a happy group of employees and still make more money paying people hourly rather than salaried. Even though you are getting more done for the same amount of money, there are many ways in which you can significantly improve the experience for your customers and employees if you think about it holistically.”

So the question is: How do you ensure your employees are happier in work? First, create a “greater purpose” for your employees that is at least as important as bringing in money—in other words, it will motivate them more than a paycheck could. Then make sure that their time on the job is focused on delivering that purpose at every instance and not just “trying to find ways to make money or justify what they are doing,” says Hsieh. Finally, make sure to focus on customer happiness and designing systems that nourish customers and employees alike.

Tony gives the following example: “Recently we had one of our runners who was working a nine-hour shift. After working one hour, he called in to say that he was exhausted and needed to take off for the day. I then talked with him about how unhappy he was with his current pace, which was around half of the pace that our marathoners were running at the time.”

Tony says the runner felt compelled to do everything in his power to improve, regardless of whether it meant working additional hours. “I told him that I wanted him to be a better marathoner and help get us closer to our goal than we were when he called in sick—even if it meant working longer hours,” says Tony.

Hsieh’s theory is that Zappos employees are actually set up to achieve greater purpose, which is why this one hour of extra work caused such a difference in the runner’s experience. “We have specific goals for marathoners and runners, and we don’t want them to feel like we are trying to shortchange them or make them feel bad about not delivering in their ‘real’ job, meaning their other jobs outside of Zappos,” says Hsieh. “If you spend so much time helping your customers, they will remember your efforts and treat you better in the future. Try to set up your employees so that they feel the same way and, in doing so, empower your employees to become more productive and increase the overall value for all of your customers.”

To do this you need to get the right people on the bus and make sure they are “on the same page.” “Sometimes people who have different priorities than you’ll be working with end up on your team,” explains Hsieh. “You can try to out-maneuver them or you can use their different perspectives and skills to improve the overall business. Usually if they see a problem and you address it with them, they will follow even if they don’t agree with all of your decisions.”

The point of this exercise is to make sure that everyone who works at Zappos has the same purpose in mind, which is why Tony says that he thinks it is important not just to pay your employees a high hourly wage but also to increase their wellbeing by providing them with opportunities to attain bigger, more meaningful purposes. “It’s usually the people who are doing the work and working very hard who will be motivated by getting bonuses, rewards, and incentives—but those people get exhausted easily and lose motivation after a while.”

If you want people to stay fit for longer periods of time, you have got to give them something greater than money. A great purpose, for example. This is why Tony says it’s not about being “feel-good” but instead being “do-good.”