CEO is paying new hires $5K to quit if they aren't 'excited' about their jobs after 2 weeks

Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 12, 2022. It has since been updated.

Workplaces are realizing the importance of worker satisfaction and about time too. One CEO from Arizona is upping the ante and offering $5000 to those who aren't satisfied with their positions within two weeks of hiring them. Chris Ronzio, the CEO of the software company Trainual, believes his company is an exciting place to work and is ready to be proven wrong. "With today's market, hiring teams have to move quickly to assess candidates and get them through the process to a competitive offer, so it's impossible to be right 100 percent of the time," Ronzio told Business Insider.

Ronzio is aware of how important it is to be excited about work. He believes a two-week time gives them time to settle down and assess the work at hand and the potential red flags as well. "The offer to quit allows the dust to settle from a speedy process and let the new team member throw a red flag if they're feeling anything but excited," he said. Trainual is a software company that helps small businesses onboard, train and scale teams. From a company that literally trains other teams, Ronzio understands the resources that go into training someone else and believes it's better to have invested less in training than if the employee quits later.

He also adds that those who reject the $5,000 have a lot to gain in the future. "Those who refuse the $5,000 miss out on something 'extra' at this point in the timeline, because they believe the long-term value of sticking with us is worth much, much more," said Ronzio. Trainual launched the program first in May 2020 with a bonus of $2,500. Ronzio adds that none of the company's 38 hires took the company up on the offer. Ronzio says the idea is to let the employees have the power to choose. "It's a powerful thing for them to turn down the cash, opt-in, and commit," he said, before adding that it creates a foundation for a great working relationship."

America has seen a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November 2021, on account of various factors including low pay, and poor working conditions. The mass resignations have been dubbed the "Great Resignation." Companies have been forced to radically change their approach to hiring, starting with better pay packets, benefits, and a healthier work environment. 

The San Francisco-based e-commerce developer Bolt made the news after announcing a four-day workweek for its employees. The San Francisco-based company initially piloted the program last fall and found the results to be overwhelmingly positive, said founder and CEO Ryan Breslow, according to CNBC News. "I couldn't imagine running a company any other way," he said. Breslow claimed that productivity increased, work was streamlined and the employees were happy. An internal survey revealed that 94% of workers and 91% of managers wanted the program to continue. An overwhelming majority (84%) also reported being more productive and added that their work-life balance improved. "A lot of companies operate with a lot of work theater, which is people caring more about the appearance of working than the actual work," he noted. "So you have countless meetings, countless documents, countless presentations," Breslow said. "It's impossible to sift through the noise and get to the heart of the matter."