Inside the notorious shooting practices of Netflix

October
2018

3 min read

Netflix's corporate culture is often cited as a culture that startups might want to emulate. The famous document "Culture Netflix: Freedom and Responsibility", which focuses on autonomous, frank and transparent decision making, keeps only the most efficient employees and does its best to "avoid the rules", was created by Netflix, then The Talent Leader, Patty McCord. In a 2013 GQ Sheryl Sandberg, of Facebook, even said about McCord's work: "This is perhaps the most important document ever published in the valley."

But The Wall Street Journal recently made known what life really looks like in Netflix. History reveals that sometimes, even with the best intentions in the world, a business culture can evolve into something that does not match your expectations – especially if employees are constantly afraid of not being up to the job. , whether in terms of performance or cultural compatibility and being fired.

Netflix is ​​renowned for its dismissal practices that can be described as particularly brutal: managers and executives constantly wonder if they are fighting to keep an employee – otherwise, they are released.

This "guardian's test" is even used by CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings, who fired the former Netflix employee and close friend, Neil Hunt, the company's product manager, who created the company's algorithm. society. Hastings had told him that with the expansion of the company, especially internationally, another employee, Greg Peters, was better suited for this job.

according to the Wall Street Journal signal, after the dismissal of people, the next step, in agreement with the MO Transparency is explain why on a large scale, resulting in emails that can be received by hundreds of employees detailing what led to the dismissal. These autopsies can also be in person.

Sean Carey, former Vice President The Wall Street Journal that he was invited to attend the meeting after his layoff to ensure the continuity of his team. "It was a blunder for some, but it was also consistent with culture – transparency sometimes costs money," said Carey. The Wall Street Journal. "In the end, I felt that it was beneficial."

But apparently, this element of culture has had some difficulties in turning itself into a country where labor legislation is stricter, the company being developed abroad.