Top HR and Company Culture News of the Week – January 13, 2014

It's another week full of exciting news on the HR and company culture front, and we've got the best and brightest articles from around the web in this week's roundup. This week, we take a look at a big change taking place at culture giant Zappos (have you heard yet?) We also ask how values like transparency and rewarding loyalty can impact the growth of your business. Read on, and be sure to leave us a comment below if you see something you think we missed.

Zappos is one of the biggest trend-setters in the company culture world. From their commitment to being "a little weird," to the passionate commitment to providing the best customer service possible, to a policy of offering new hires $2,000 to quit, Zappos does things a little differently. But Inc.com author Issie Lapowsky writes about their latest (and perhaps their biggest) splash: eliminating managers. See what led to this big change.
 
We recently learned that transparency is one of the most important factors relating to employee happiness. But did you know that transparency can also help earn you thousands of new clients? That was the case for New York startup Everlane, an online clothing retailer dedicated to eliminating the "games" that other companies are playing with their customers. Check out their unique approach in this piece by Mashable writer Lauren Drell.
 
Most small businesses focus on growing within a small niche where competition is low and innovating new processes or new services can make a big difference. San Francisco startup PointsHound decided to take a different route. They are now making serious inroads in the highly competitive travel industry, thanks to five core approaches. See how they've earned so much early success in this Inc.com feature by Christina Desmarais.