Amazon buys Zappos: how will Zappos's legendary culture be affected?

Yesterday's announcement of Amazon's acquisition of Zappos raises some interesting questions for HR professionals.

Zappos.com is a company renowned for its focus on customer service and wonderful HR practices. One quick look at the company website and a glance overZappos ' 10 Core Values tells you everything you need to know: Deliver 'WOW' Through Service; Embrace and Drive Change; Create Fun and a Little Weirdness; Be Adventurous, Creative and Open-Minded, Pursue Growth and Learning; Build Open and Honest Relationships with Communication; Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit; Do More With Less; Be Passionate and Determined; Be Humble.

To some, it could read like an exhaustive list, but actually the list is essentially just a collection of ideas on how to run the business and how to treat the employees, customers and representatives.

In line with the Core Values, Zappos is also renowned for its "Work Hard, Play Hard" mentality. It embraces and enjoys the weird and the wonderful things that a diverse, young and ultimately trendy workforce can offer. In a recent interview with MeettheBoss.tv's Adam Burns, CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh explained how when the company hires anyone, and it doesn't matter what position the candidate is going for, the potential recruit has go through two sets of interviews.

"The first set is done by the hiring manager and his or her team," told Hsieh, "But then our HR department does a separate set of interviews purely for culture fit and they have to pass both in order to be hired." In other words,Zappos admits that the one things it is really looking for when hiring people is that they are passionate about the company's vision. And that vision is to be the very best in customer service.

So how will this unique culture be changed now Zappos is part Amazon? Well, if Hsieh can help it not at all. In an email sent by Hsieh to employees late yesterday evening, he explained how, though employees are likely to see headlines such as "Amazon acquires Zappos" popping up all over the place during the next few days, he prefers to think of the merger more in terms of "Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree..."

His hope is that Zappos will continue to run the way it has always run. But for human resources, only time will tell if Hsieh's hopes become a reality.

More stories:

Zappos - Everything you need to know

The benefits of a loyal customer base

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: