Nifty HR Strategies in the News

Since this blog is supposed to be about Inspired HR ideas, I thought that I'd refer to some of the more creative things I've heard of lately.

My "Talent Scout", Kara Chambers sent me this article yesterday. In it, Author Bill Taylor talks about Zappo's program that actually PAYS new employees to QUIT! Yes, that's right after a week on the job, new customer service representatives are presented with an offer to leave right then for $1,000. The company figures that if they take it, the employee didn't have the loyalty to the company that they need to be exceptional customer service people.

Jobpartners in the UK just launched an internal networking tool called ActiveNetworker that could help with the internal communications question I had in yesterday's blog post. I think that this is essentially an ActiveNetworker press release, but it still sounds like a pretty inspired idea. I like the fact that the social network is completely in-house, so employees can feel free to discuss projects that they're working on and managers and HR can take note of what forums employees are interested in shedding light on what their future career goals might be.

I've learned a lot about the career aspirations of three individuals outside of HR that I mentor at work by meeting with them for lunch every other month. Imagine what I could learn from interacting with individuals from all over the company on a more regular basis in a web 2.0 format where, especially some of the younger employees, feel most comfortable socializing!

What are some inspired ideas that you've heard about?