Amazon Offers Employees $5,000 to Quit

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is offering its warehouse employees up to $5,000 to quit their jobs, even as the company is in the process of adding workers and locations. The "Pay to Quit" program, which was announced by CEO Jeff Bezos in his letter to shareholders last Thursday, is an effort to make sure that the Internet retailer's employees really want to be there. According to Bezos, "The goal is to encourage folks to take a moment and think about what they really want," he wrote in the letter. "In the long-run, an employee staying somewhere they don't want to be isn't healthy for the employee or the company." Bezos said the offer is made under the headline "Please Don't Take This Offer." The company has experimented with this program in recent years, but rolled it out to its 40,000 warehouse employees in January, according to a company spokeswoman. Newer employees are offered $2,000 to quit. The plan is to increase that offer by $1,000 each year until the amount hits $5,000. Fewer than 10% of the employees who got the offer took it and left the company.