This company pays its employees to leave. Those on notice period get 10% hike

Jon Franko, the CEO of Gorilla, said that the policy ensure that there are no hard feelings between the company and the outgoing employees. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

A marketing agency in the US has a unique policy to ensure no hard feelings between the company and its employees even when they are quitting. The agency even offers a 10 per cent hike to its employees serving notice.

The founder of Gorilla, Jon Franko, said, "From the moment an employee tells us of their decision to leave Gorilla and that they are in the search for a new job, any full-time employee who gives us at least six weeks’ notice will be given a 10 per cent salary increase for the remainder of their time at Gorilla. We ask that they leave within three months."

"This encourages our people to do something different if they're feeling stuck or in the wrong place. It also gives us time to prepare for how we'll move forward. It's way better than the normal two-week sprint," Franco wrote on LinkedIn, insisting that the policy ensures that there are "no hard feelings".

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But, what if the policy encourages employees to quit?

"Of course, we don't want people to leave. But we're fools to think they're all going to retire with us. Our approach is to make transitions as seamless as possible," added Franko.

Giving an example of an employee who quit recently, the Gorilla founder said, "So, he came to us, told us he was seriously looking, and that he would be gone within three months. We 'shook hands', bumped his salary 10 per cent, and began our search. We've found someone to fill the role, the departing employee has some great leads and we'll be working with both to prep for a smooth transition."

The move was lauded by a number of professionals on LinkedIn, but many of them also had a lot of questions.

"Sounds like a pretty good plan, but how long does someone have to stay before they can utilise it?" asked Jason Jones, a PLC technician at Refresco in Ohio. "I’m sure if there are stipulations as to how long you must be there before you can do the six weeks notice pay bump. If not, once the word is out, you’ll get people giving six weeks' notice on their first day of orientation."

Responding to this, Franko said, "We don't have a minimum time they have to be here. No issues to date here, but trust me - I've wondered what you're wondering. I think other things we have in place (benefits, etc) far outweigh the 10 per cent salary bump for three months."

On being asked what would happen if the employee decided to stay while serving notice, Franko said, "Hasn't happened, so we'd have to cross that bridge when we got to it. My gut tells me there would be no coming back as they already had the drive to leave. But nothing is certain."

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