On April 24th, Zappos hosted its second annual Earth Day Event in our Henderson HQ! We had 17 new and returning vendors join the Zappos LEAF Team in creating an awesome event to highlight how easy it is to go green.
Over 450 Zapponians hung out with us, enjoyed the sunshine, and learned about sustainable initiatives. Similar to last year, our metric for success is to teach each Zapponian at least one new eco-habit that makes a difference. Whether it is to use a reusable shopping bag or to buy brands that utilize recycled materials, every little habit or lifestyle change helps keep our planet a wonderful place to live.
We had all sorts of educational activities and giveaways for our employees. Our favorite: Repurpose America brought a giant earth mural painted by a local artist and hundreds of Zapponians used paint pens to leave messages of support for the planet by signing the canvas. The mural will be hung up inside the new downtown Zappos campus for all to see.
Special thanks to all of our friends who participated this year. Giant high fives to Zappos’ own DJ Ultra for bringing the beats and to our awesome Bistro team for grilling corn on the cob. We’ll see you next year at our 3rd Earth Day party in downtown Vegas!
A Big "Thank You" goes out to these very special friends who made this Earth Day event possible:
Trish C., a Receiving Exceptions Coordinator, was recently recognized as the recipient of the MOQ (Merchandiser of the Quarter) award for Q4. It is given quarterly to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond what is asked to make everyone's life a little bit easier and a whole lot more awesome. We caught up with Trish and she shared some thoughts on the award and her shrewd thrifting skills, among other things. She has a big heart, a warm personality and is a real team player. It's easy to see why Trish was recognized for the MOQ award!
Congratulations, Trish! How does it feel to be recognized by your Content peeps?
TC: I love Content! Each department at Zappos is entwined in some way or another, but I like to think of Content as being one of my closest siblings. It is such an honor to have them say I’m a superstar!
You are part of a very unique team as a Receiving Exceptions Coordinator. Can you briefly describe what you do and how it relates to the Content and Merch departments?
TC: Briefly? Oy. LOL! Basically, I communicate very closely with our fulfillment centers to ensure that product that gets stuck in the system somewhere gets resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible. Product comes in that either wasn’t ordered, doesn’t have a PO (purchase order) attached to it, is the wrong color or isn’t even in our system. I work with both Content and Merchandising to figure out what it is, why we have it and where it goes.
Share with us the single most crazy-busy day you have experienced so far at Zappos and how you persevered, WOWing those around you.
TC: I am nothing without my Peeps... and the ZCafe! These are the things that keep me sane. Crazy-busy day? With 333 unassigned tickets in our queue, every day is a crazy-busy day! LOL!
What is the coolest thing you’ve ever acquired from a garage sale?
TC: Probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten at a garage sale would be an electrical insulator bought for $2 that I turned around and sold for $2500! Wooohoooo!
As a fan of the written word, which book has offered the greatest impact in your life?
TC: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Finally, the big question! NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, actress Alyson Hannigan and actor Steve McQueen all share a birthday with you. Of these three, whom would you most like to meet and why?
TC: Steve McQueen would be my choice. He was a great actor, he drove a motorcycle and he starred in epic films like The Blob (1958)!
Zappos is composting! It’s true; we have partnered with A1 Organics to collect and compost the food scraps and paper products that are generated in the Z-Bistro. For the last few months, we have been testing the compost collection system inside the kitchen where food scraps from daily prep are separated and collected for composting. Recently, we extended the reach of the collection to include the leftover food scraps, napkins, and paper plates from the dining room. More than 1,000 meals are served a day - this makes for a lot of scraps!
Just to be clear, we are not composting on-site since we don’t have a worm farm out back (but how cool would that be!). Rather, we are sending our compostable materials to A1’s facility north of Las Vegas. A1 has over 50 acres of land dedicated to making 24,000 tons of mulch and compost a year from the food scraps collected from Zappos, supermarkets and Strip casinos, and green waste from many local landscaping companies and golf courses. After 90 days of processing, the mulch and compost returns to the city and is sold at local nurseries – a great life cycle story.
In typical Zappos style, we had a party to celebrate our composting initiative. The day-long “compost party” featured education from LEAF and A1 Organics and muddy cup treats from the Z-Bistro kitchen team. Mmm, tasty!
When I wrote this article I hadn’t noticed that the employee I featured, Roz Searcy at Zappos, had a Twitter handle. I just read her Twitter profile. The first sentence reads, “7+ years for the greatest company in the world!” Is there any doubt she is the happiest employee in America?
“You name it. I make it happen.” That’s what Rosalind (Roz) Searcy said when I asked her what she did for her employer, Zappos.com. I’ve met thousands of employees. I speak at their companies, conferences, or interview them for my columns and books. Most employees like their jobs and they’re grateful to have a job at a time when millions of people do not. In rare cases I meet employees like Roz, who are passionate, happy, enthusiastic, and inspired day after day and year after year. In my opinion Roz Searcy is America’s happiest employee.
I met Roz two years ago when I visited Las Vegas and requested a tour of Zappos.com headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. Zappos.com is consistently rated as one of the best places to work in the country and has built a reputation as the gold standard in customer service. I wanted to learn why so I could share the lessons with my readers. Roz showed up in a shuttle to pick me up from my hotel on the Vegas strip. I was the only one on the shuttle and Roz had no idea that I was writing a book. I soon learned that Roz picked up anyone who wanted to visit Zappos—vendors, journalists or customers.
“Why did you pick me up? I could have taken a cab,” I said. “Don’t be silly. We treat our customers like family,” Roz responded. “If you had a family member in town, wouldn’t you pick them up from the airport or hotel?” I thought Roz was the happiest shuttle bus driver I had ever seen. It’s what happened next that really surprised me. Roz parked the shuttle, walked inside the building, and took her position behind the front desk. Roz was the receptionist, yet she gladly volunteers to pick up guests as well. “From the first day I walked in the door [February 22, 2005] I knew it was the place I was going to work for the rest of my life,” Roz told me.
Two years later, December 2012, Roz is still working at Zappos, happier and more passionate than ever. One of her colleagues told me, “I’ve never seen Roz in a bad mood. As a matter of fact, the day I came to Zappos for my first interview, Roz was in her previous role as the front desk receptionist and she not only made me feel welcome, she made me feel like I was the most important visitor to the office that day—which I can guarantee you I wasn’t.”
Zappos.com is an independently run subsidiary of Amazon with nearly 1,300 employees. In September 2013, Zappos will relocate to its new headquarters in downtown Las Vegas. Roz has a new role that fits her perfectly—as a member of the downtown community team her primary function is to get to know every business owner downtown and to build relationships between Zappos and those businesses.
Here are five reasons why Zappos inspires Roz and hundreds of happy employees.
Hire for cultural fit. Everyone I met at Zappos had a friendly, outgoing personality. From Roz to my tour guide, everyone exuded passion and enthusiasm (see the video below that I recorded with my smartphone).
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh told me that the company hires for cultural fit. For example, one of Zappos’ core values is to “create fun and a little weirdness.” Zappos managers ask potential employees, “On a scale of one to ten, how weird are you?” The number is not as important as how people react to it. Zappos looks for people who have fun, have passion and personality, and are committed to customer service.
“At Zappos, I’m allowed to be myself,” Roz told me. “I have a strong, bubbly personality. Zappos supports me and encourages me to be me all the time. At the company I worked at before, I couldn’t be as open and personable as I am today. At Zappos I stay at a level nine or ten all day long!”
Commit to transparency. Zappos shares everything with employees, partners, and vendors—the good and the bad. True partners don’t mask results and Zappos goes the extra mile to demonstrate transparency. Daily briefings and call statistics are posted on a whiteboard for everyone to see—employees and guests. Even its all-hands company meetings are publicly available. Here’s a link to the company meeting held in November 2012. If you have three hours, you can watch everything they discussed. It’s all there.
Everything is transparent at Zappos, even the CEO’s condo. Roz told me that as part of her new tour, she takes people to Tony Hsieh’s condo to see the view of downtown. The next time you think you’re a “transparent leader,” ask yourself if you’re willing to open up your home to anyone who asks for a free tour. Hsieh walks the walk.
Help employees grow. When I met Roz two years ago, she was a receptionist. Today she is building relationships as part of the company’s move to its new headquarters. Everyone is given the opportunity to grow at Zappos.com. I even met a “goal coach” whose job was to help employees meet their personal goals. “What does that have to do with selling shoes online?” I asked. “It has everything to do with Zappos,” the coach said. The formula is remarkably simple. If leaders help people achieve their dreams, it makes them happy. Happy employees offer better service.
Empower staff to do what’s right. Customers who call Zappos.com to order shoes or clothes will not feel pressured to get off the phone. There are no scripts or time limits for call-center employees. Hsieh once told me that an employee had spent a couple of hours on the phone with a customer. Hsieh did not ask the employee why she spent so much time with one person. Instead he asked, “Was the customer happy?” Brands that have best-in-class customer service empower their employees to do what’s in the best interest of the customer. Zappos.com views its call center employees as an extension of its marketing arm. Every unscripted conversation can help earn customer loyalty. Employees can even write personal thank you notes after a call. These simple notes make yet another emotional connection with Zappos customers.
Deliver happiness, not products. When I asked Tony Hsieh to describe Zappos.com he didn’t say “We sell shoes online.” Instead he said, “We deliver happiness.” Big difference. Hsieh is a student of happiness, literally. He quotes research into the science of happiness. He’s focused on the happiness of his employees and his customers. Leaders cannot expect their teams to deliver an exceptional customer service if they fail to understand happiness. Once you do, employees will speak about you the way Roz does of Hsieh: “Tony is an open book. He is still the same person I met eight years ago. He is very, very regular guy, funny and little weird, passionate, friendly, open and honest, inspiring and an incredible visionary.”
I talked to Roz recently and asked her if she was comfortable with the label, America’s happiest employee. “That’s interesting. In my previous role we chose nicknames for ourselves. Mine was Makena,” she said.
A few weeks ago, LEAF had the opportunity to recycle something a little less conventional than plastic or paper; we recycled soap! Sounds strange, yes, but once you learn where the finished product goes to, you might think a little differently.
Clean the World is a non-profit organization that collects discarded soap, shampoo, and conditioner from hotels and resorts around the country. Clean the World sanitizes the soap at their facilities and then repurposes it by giving it to communities in need. By partnering with hotels and resorts from all 50 states, and even some Canadian provinces, Clean the World has eliminated 2.2 million pounds of hotel waste. Wow!
But, why recycle soap? Soap is powerful enough that it can reduce the effects of two very common and fatal diseases: acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease, which are responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of lives annually.
Once the discarded soap has been cleaned, sanitized and rid of all pathogens, the product is then donated to countries all around the world in efforts to help save lives. So far, more than 11 million bars of soap have been donated to more than 55 countries! Through the use of the soap donated by Clean the World, these at-risk communities are able to continue living their lives with a little less worry and a lot more smiles!
To help this amazing cause, LEAF visited the Clean the World facility in Las Vegas to volunteer our time and hands. Our task for the afternoon was to separate the little amenity bottles that were collected at resorts such as Caesars Palace, Venetian, Wynn and Planet Hollywood. And as you can tell by the pictures, there were thousands of bottles at the warehouse!
The LEAF team had a great time sorting the bottles while music was jamming in the background. We've decided to add this outing to our Zappos monthly volunteer events calendar (called “Karma Adventures”), so that many more Zapponians can contribute to this awesome cause!
Alex C., a Merchandising Assistant for the Athletic Performance Department, was recently recognized as the recipient of the MOQ (Merchandiser of the Quarter) award for Q3. It is given to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond what is asked to make everyone's life a little bit easier. We caught up with Alex and he shared some thoughts on the award, as well as a glimpse into the windows of his soul. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic. We asked him some questions and he thoughtfully answered them!
Congratulations, Alex! How does it feel to be recognized by your Content peeps?
AC: It feels amazing to be recognized by such an awesome team.
If you were mentoring a new Merchandising Assistant on your team, what one thing would you stress is important to a successful work relationship with Content?
AC: Appreciate, respect and understand your content team. Collectively, they are your right-hand man or woman.
Share with us the single most crazy-busy day you have experienced so far and how you persevered, WOWing those around you.
AC: My first day at Zappos was my craziest day here. Going from line showing to line showing, meeting to meeting and being introduced to so many new people that day, it was pretty overwhelming. I can honestly say though, without being cliché, staying calm and carrying on did get me through that day.
Having graduated from CSU-Fresno, you may or may not know Fresno is the fifth largest city in the state of California. Can you name five of your most favorite places or things about Fresno?
AC:
1) The Tower District! It's an awesome place to hangout, meet up with friends, grab a bite to eat, check out a show or have a drink at one of the awesome bars in the area.
2) The food! Fresno has great local spots that can't be beat! Not to mention the fresh fruit and vegetables that are grown in Fresno that go into the great local dishes.
3) Fresno also has great culture in both the art and music scenes. There are weekly and monthly art exhibits that rival those of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Fresno is also a destination for big music acts but is still rich in its great local music scene.
4) Being in the middle of California, Fresno is only a few hours away from destinations like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Yosemite, the Central Coast and my favorite, Disneyland!
5) Lastly, you can't talk about Fresno without mentioning CSU Fresno or as we call it, Fresno State. It's a great university and home to the Fresno State Bulldogs. GO DOGS!
What is your favorite word in the Japanese language?
AC: Ganbatte - Good luck
Finally, the big question! Rap luminary T-Pain, author Truman Capote and actor Tony Hale (Buster Bluth on TV's Arrested Development) all share a birthday with you. Of these three, whom would you most like to meet and why?
AC: Truman Capote. I'm sure he would have some very interesting stories to share.
Last week, the L.E.A.F. and Bistro teams joined forces to promote the message of "reuse" and delivered FREE MUGS and FREE HUGS to the employees at the Carson office; free COFFEE mugs, that is! Washable, reusable ceramic coffee mugs were given to employees to take the place of the numerous paper coffee cups used each day.
To add a little bit of flare to these coffee mugs, we provided plenty of paint and glitter pens to make each mug “z”unique. Every day, Zappos employees work hard to use less paper products and reduce waste through initiatives like this one. We encourage employees to take green actions seriously, but above all want to make sure they have FUN with it!
Check out some of their beautiful mug masterpieces below:
Upon arrival to work, Joe heads directly to the Zcafe– Zappos' own, internal version of Starbucks. Here, Joe can, for free, order anything he wants–ranging anywhere from Lemonade to Joe's personal favorite: Double Blended Half-Soy Nonfat Decaf Organic Chocolate Brownie Iced Vanilla Double-Shot Gingerbread Frappuccino Extra Hot With Foam Whipped Cream. While Joe waits for his drink to be ready, he is free to grab a scone or other breakfasty pastry.
On the way to his desk, Joe stops by one of the many break rooms and gets a few drinks from the refrigerator to get him through the day. Joe then heads over to his desk to catch up on his email. Joe sees that he can get free tickets to Carrot Top that night. Having always wanted to see Carrot Top, he responds to the email. Soon after, he gets a response saying his tickets have been reserved and he can pick them up from the Luxor box office at 8.
So let's recap. Not more than 10 minutes after getting to work, Joe has already received a multitude of free beverages as well as free tickets to see Carrot Top.
As an intern, my experience has been similar. So far I've been to: Reggae in the Desert, Carrot Top, Las Vegas Film Festival, a Las Vegas 51s game, a screening of 'Monsters Inc.' in a park, as well as a pre-release screening of 'The Naked Brand', I have also acquired the following books: The Lean Startup, Comedy Writing, Triumph of the City, and Delivering Happiness. Additionally Zappos has paid for many-a-lunch and dinner for me, as well as *breaks out into song and dance* shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, EVERYBODY!!!!! Yesterday, as part of a team meeting, we played glow in the dark putt putt golf… on the clock!
By providing such benefits, Zappos has encouraged me to experience more of Las Vegas than I would have on my own. In doing so, they have provided me with tons of fun experiences which will turn into lasting memories and I think we can all agree that both of those things make for happier people.
On any given day, you will hear "I got it FO' FREEEEEEE", a reference to a line from the movie Bridesmaids resonate through the halls of the Zappos Interns' hotel. That's because on any given day, you can almost rest assured that someone got something for free while at work. On their quest to deliver happiness, Zappos goes out of their way to provide its employees with tons of free, life-enhancing benefits. To further examine this idea, let's follow a typical morning of a Zappos employee, Joe:
Upon arrival to work, Joe heads directly to the Zcafe– Zappos' own, internal version of Starbucks. Here, Joe can, for free, order anything he wants–ranging anywhere from lemonade to Joe's personal favorite: Double Blended Half-Soy Nonfat Decaf Organic Chocolate Brownie Iced Vanilla Double-Shot Gingerbread Frappuccino Extra Hot With Foam Whipped Cream. While Joe waits for his drink to be ready, he is free to grab a complementary breakfasty pastry.
On the way to his desk, Joe stops by one of the many break rooms and gets a few drinks from the refrigerator to get him through the day. Joe then heads over to his desk to catch up on his email. Joe sees that he can get free tickets to Carrot Top that night. Having always wanted to see Carrot Top, he responds to the email. Soon after, he gets a response saying his tickets have been reserved and he can pick them up from the Luxor box office at 8.
So let's recap. Not more than 10 minutes after getting to work, Joe has already received a multitude of free beverages as well as free tickets to see Carrot Top.
As an intern, my experience has been similar. So far I've been to: Reggae in the Desert, Carrot Top, Las Vegas Film Festival, a Las Vegas 51s game, a screening of 'Monsters Inc.' in a park, as well as a pre-release screening of 'The Naked Brand', I have also acquired the following books: The Lean Startup, Comedy Writing, Triumph of the City, and Delivering Happiness. Additionally Zappos has paid for many-a-lunch and dinner for me, as well as *breaks out into song and dance* shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, EVERYBODY!!!!! Last week, as part of a team meeting, we played glow in the dark putt putt golf… on the clock!
By providing such benefits, Zappos has encouraged me to experience more of Las Vegas than I would have on my own. In doing so, they have provided me with tons of fun experiences which will turn into lasting memories and I think we can all agree that both of those things make for happier employees!
Congratulations, Trish! How does it feel to be recognized by your Content peeps?
“You name it. I make it happen.” That’s what Rosalind (Roz) Searcy said when I asked her what she did for her employer, 
Carmine Gallo
Alex C., a Merchandising Assistant for the Athletic Performance Department, was recently recognized as the recipient of the MOQ (Merchandiser of the Quarter) award for Q3. It is given to an individual who consistently goes above and beyond what is asked to make everyone's life a little bit easier. We caught up with Alex and he shared some thoughts on the award, as well as a glimpse into the windows of his soul. Okay, it wasn't that dramatic. We asked him some questions and he thoughtfully answered them!
As an intern, my experience has been similar. So far I've been to: Reggae in the Desert, Carrot Top, Las Vegas Film Festival, a Las Vegas 51s game, a screening of 'Monsters Inc.' in a park, as well as a pre-release screening of 'The Naked Brand', I have also acquired the following books: The Lean Startup, Comedy Writing, Triumph of the City, and Delivering Happiness. Additionally Zappos has paid for many-a-lunch and dinner for me, as well as *breaks out into song and dance* shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, EVERYBODY!!!!! Last week, as part of a team meeting, we played glow in the dark putt putt golf… on the clock!
