Slumping sales force human-resources execs to focus on their own problems despite good ideas from outside the industry.

By David Farkas, Senior Editor

Here's a big idea from outside the restaurant industry: Pay new hires $2,000 after four weeks of training to go away. That's right, out you go. Zappos.com does, without hesitation.

"And we wish them well," declares Director of Human Resources Rebecca Ratner, adding it's the Las Vegas-based online retailer's way of making sure only truly motivated people stick around. (By the way, if you take the dough, you can't apply to Zappos.com again.)

Here's another idea. Absorb the cost of medical insurance for every full-time employee. Zappos.com does. "The company pays 100 percent of co-pays and deductibles," Ratner says. Turnover is very low.

Today, such ideas are patently foreign to restaurant chains. They've been busy trimming the cost of benefits, reducing contributions and removing perks as sales tumble. Who could possibly afford to give someone two grand not to work, particularly with so many job seekers? And given thin margins and skyrocketing medical costs, how could any restaurant company give away health insurance?

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