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What percentage would quit? The ones that could land another job by the quit date. They would essentially get a 3-month "bonus" for doing nothing. I would say t

What percentage would quit? The ones that could land another job by the quit date. They would essentially get a 3-month "bonus" for doing nothing. I would say this is only possible if the these people were looking to jump ship anyway.

basseq 11y ago
Or the ones that think they can find another job with 90 days, or the ones who want to try their own thing for a little while (subsidizing the first 90 days of startup runway: enough for a MVP).
Phlarp 11y ago
What percentage of any competent IT team can't have a competitive offer in writing by the end of the day? Even if your anticipated time between jobs is 1-2 months, you can still confidently quit by the deadline and end up with six weeks paid vacation and a six weeks bonus.
- Retric 11y ago
  In the US I would guess around 95%. Extend things to 1-2 months and that probably drops to 20% or so which is very good odds. However, the difference between a 'competitive' offer and a 'good' one at a company you want to work for is huge. If your spending between 1/3 and 2/3 of your waking hours at work you need to make them count.
  - ghaff 11y ago
    Furthermore, Zappos is in Las Vegas. It wouldn't be my idea of a place to live but some people like it and it's certainly hugely cheaper than most of California. So someone leaving Zappos in IT/software development probably has the option of going to work for one of the casino groups or moving.
- toephu2 11y ago
  When you refer to IT do you mean IT/desktop support or software engineers?
- coldcode 11y ago
  Not everywhere in the US. Some places are full of mostly crap jobs.
- mahyarm 11y ago
  You still have to schedule interviews, take vacation to interview because it takes all day, etc. You should probably interview at many places to get a better offer, and because you can get rejected for pretty silly reasons. You might want to review your whiteboard coding too. It can take a few weeks / months.
- nsxwolf 11y ago
  A job offer by the end of the day? Seriously? Or did I misunderstand you?
slg 11y ago
That is assuming that everyone is a hired mercenary. I could rather easily find a job that pays me a 10%-30% raise over what I currently make. I don't do that because I already make "enough" and I like my current job, company, and coworkers. It isn't even a matter of loyalty, it is a matter of different priorities that puts money further down the list than job satisfaction. Finding a good paying job is much easier than finding a good job.
- AceJohnny2 11y ago
  When it comes down to it, it's a matter of comfort and risk.
- Touche 11y ago
  I can find a good job easier than I can find $30k+ free money.
  - simplemath 11y ago
    hear hear
  - sliverstorm 11y ago
    If you can find a better job than you have, why haven't you done that already?
    - Touche 11y ago
      No one's giving me 30k to go look for one.
      - logfromblammo 11y ago
        This is highly relevant. Looking for a new job is like another job in itself. You have to do research, have telephone conversations, be "switched on" in your interview persona for hours at a time, jump through flaming hoops, and if possible, also be younger, more energetic, and more beautiful than you really are. It's a sales job, with you as the product. I. Hate. Doing it. So while a lot of people could go out and get a better, higher-paying job, there is a potential barrier and significant activation energy for that reaction. Doing my regular job plus the self-sales job is absolutely exhausting. When my current job is already almost good enough to keep, I have little incentive to go sift through piles of recruiter spam and speculative postings to find the actual jobs, retype every last detail of my resume into yet another stupid custom candidate tracker web-app, suffer through the bozo filter and the pop quiz of the tech screen, fly or drive wherever, and spend one of my vacation days playing along with some stupidly involved interview process, only to see a curtain of silence descend forever. For $30k, and an extra 40 hours per week in which to do it, I would certainly put up with the tech hiring circus for a couple of months.
munificent 11y ago
> The ones that could land another job by the quit date. The ones that are confident they could land another better job by the quit date. It's not enough to be possible to get any job. The offer only makes sense if you are certain you will trade up.
- velodrome 11y ago
  I doubt those 14% are that confident. Confident makes it sound like it is a sure thing. I think it is more like: If they could, they would. And it does not have to be a better job, it could be even one that pays less. If the person needed cash fast, this is one way of getting it. They could spread those losses over a year. It's still better than a payday loan.
- rifung 11y ago
  Why better as opposed to one that is just as good? If you got another job that's just as good that'd be akin to getting a 3 months paid vacation. I would LOVE that
indymike 11y ago
How many people get a three month, paid vacation at any point in their life?
- danielweber 11y ago
  It's not a vacation if you don't have a job to come back to. I'd relax that first week, but then I would need to start job hunting. And this thought that "you can always find a new job" quickly might turn out to stop being true tomorrow, or not be true for your exact specialty or geographic location. (Especially if 210 other employees hit the job market the same time as you.)
  - indymike 11y ago
    Letting fear rule your life makes for no fun.
- ghaff 11y ago
  Intel still has two month sabbaticals AFAIK but, yeah, it's incredibly rare. It's not even so much about the vacation being paid but having certainty. I haven't changed jobs a lot but the last time was pretty typical: get an offer and then "when can you start?" I ended up taking a 2-3 week vacation arranged on about 3 weeks notice.
JustSomeNobody 11y ago
And not happy with current job. If I'm happy, I'm not quitting even though I could easily get another job. It's not always about the money.

basseq 11y ago

Or the ones that think they can find another job with 90 days, or the ones who want to try their own thing for a little while (subsidizing the first 90 days of startup runway: enough for a MVP).

Phlarp 11y ago

What percentage of any competent IT team can't have a competitive offer in writing by the end of the day? Even if your anticipated time between jobs is 1-2 months, you can still confidently quit by the deadline and end up with six weeks paid vacation and a six weeks bonus.

Retric 11y ago
In the US I would guess around 95%. Extend things to 1-2 months and that probably drops to 20% or so which is very good odds. However, the difference between a 'competitive' offer and a 'good' one at a company you want to work for is huge. If your spending between 1/3 and 2/3 of your waking hours at work you need to make them count.
- ghaff 11y ago
  Furthermore, Zappos is in Las Vegas. It wouldn't be my idea of a place to live but some people like it and it's certainly hugely cheaper than most of California. So someone leaving Zappos in IT/software development probably has the option of going to work for one of the casino groups or moving.
toephu2 11y ago
When you refer to IT do you mean IT/desktop support or software engineers?
coldcode 11y ago
Not everywhere in the US. Some places are full of mostly crap jobs.
mahyarm 11y ago
You still have to schedule interviews, take vacation to interview because it takes all day, etc. You should probably interview at many places to get a better offer, and because you can get rejected for pretty silly reasons. You might want to review your whiteboard coding too. It can take a few weeks / months.
nsxwolf 11y ago
A job offer by the end of the day? Seriously? Or did I misunderstand you?

slg 11y ago

That is assuming that everyone is a hired mercenary. I could rather easily find a job that pays me a 10%-30% raise over what I currently make. I don't do that because I already make "enough" and I like my current job, company, and coworkers. It isn't even a matter of loyalty, it is a matter of different priorities that puts money further down the list than job satisfaction. Finding a good paying job is much easier than finding a good job.

AceJohnny2 11y ago
When it comes down to it, it's a matter of comfort and risk.
Touche 11y ago
I can find a good job easier than I can find $30k+ free money.
- simplemath 11y ago
  hear hear
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  If you can find a better job than you have, why haven't you done that already?
  - Touche 11y ago
    No one's giving me 30k to go look for one.
    - logfromblammo 11y ago
      This is highly relevant. Looking for a new job is like another job in itself. You have to do research, have telephone conversations, be "switched on" in your interview persona for hours at a time, jump through flaming hoops, and if possible, also be younger, more energetic, and more beautiful than you really are. It's a sales job, with you as the product. I. Hate. Doing it. So while a lot of people could go out and get a better, higher-paying job, there is a potential barrier and significant activation energy for that reaction. Doing my regular job plus the self-sales job is absolutely exhausting. When my current job is already almost good enough to keep, I have little incentive to go sift through piles of recruiter spam and speculative postings to find the actual jobs, retype every last detail of my resume into yet another stupid custom candidate tracker web-app, suffer through the bozo filter and the pop quiz of the tech screen, fly or drive wherever, and spend one of my vacation days playing along with some stupidly involved interview process, only to see a curtain of silence descend forever. For $30k, and an extra 40 hours per week in which to do it, I would certainly put up with the tech hiring circus for a couple of months.

munificent 11y ago

> The ones that could land another job by the quit date. The ones that are confident they could land another better job by the quit date. It's not enough to be possible to get any job. The offer only makes sense if you are certain you will trade up.

velodrome 11y ago
I doubt those 14% are that confident. Confident makes it sound like it is a sure thing. I think it is more like: If they could, they would. And it does not have to be a better job, it could be even one that pays less. If the person needed cash fast, this is one way of getting it. They could spread those losses over a year. It's still better than a payday loan.
rifung 11y ago
Why better as opposed to one that is just as good? If you got another job that's just as good that'd be akin to getting a 3 months paid vacation. I would LOVE that

indymike 11y ago

How many people get a three month, paid vacation at any point in their life?

danielweber 11y ago
It's not a vacation if you don't have a job to come back to. I'd relax that first week, but then I would need to start job hunting. And this thought that "you can always find a new job" quickly might turn out to stop being true tomorrow, or not be true for your exact specialty or geographic location. (Especially if 210 other employees hit the job market the same time as you.)
- indymike 11y ago
  Letting fear rule your life makes for no fun.
ghaff 11y ago
Intel still has two month sabbaticals AFAIK but, yeah, it's incredibly rare. It's not even so much about the vacation being paid but having certainty. I haven't changed jobs a lot but the last time was pretty typical: get an offer and then "when can you start?" I ended up taking a 2-3 week vacation arranged on about 3 weeks notice.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

And not happy with current job. If I'm happy, I'm not quitting even though I could easily get another job. It's not always about the money.