Written By: Aarushi Bansal
Edited By: Srijaa Chatterjee
Designed by: Aadiyaa Kurupp
Is constant fear of losing one’s job effective? This very fear seems to be working for Netflix as they function on a rather unusual HR system where constant productivity and transparency are key, and job security is not an option.
Netflix has a “keeper test,” which is a measure for management to fire or retain staff. Yes, a simple test to “keep” or “delete” their employees. It works on a simple principle: if an employee was thinking of leaving for another firm, how hard would the manager try to keep them from leaving? Any employee who does not pass the keeper test (i.e. their manager would not fight to keep them) are promptly and respectfully given a generous severance package, and a new employee, a “better fit,” is hired for an 'improved' dream team.
Netflix adopts a philosophy of “radical transparency” throughout its organization: salaries, “sunshining” (a Netflix term encouraging employees to air a mistake they might have made to colleagues; ironically, the practice seems far from a bright beam), and evaluations.
Netflix implements this complete transparency through a formal tool called “360 review system,” which allows anyone at the company to review anyone else, their profile, their mistakes, what they can work with, and why a previous employee was fired. This tool doesn’t exclude any members, including the profile of their CEO, Reed Hastings. One may call this tool and its company-wide access excessively transparent, but this “open” culture does seem to be working, as there is a constant pressure for the employees to thrive and give their most effective performance.
Due to these constant public evaluations, Netflix’s culture is one where the idea of getting fired is never far from an employee’s mind. And the employees are correct to worry. The “360” and the “keeper test” are intertwined and the crux of these tests is to allow managers to sort out the alleged “best for Netflix” employees. Those who are not, are terminated, or asked to leave.
Netflix’s HR strategies are contradictory to the conventional thinking regarding work culture and directly oppose the definition of an “ideal workplace.” Then why would one want to join Netflix? Apart from the stress-inducing fear that comes with the job, the employees do get several “freedom perks”, such as unlimited vacation days and flexible working hours. Surprisingly enough, Netflix had the largest share of happy and satisfied employees in 2019, reaching a prodigious 86%.
So yes, although Netflix’s nonstandard strategies are still shocking, they work for both the company and its employees. There may just be a chance that this will be the future of typical work culture - specifically, the new normal for OUR jobs. Netflix’s HR may seem odd or rather unconventional at the moment, but given how successful Netflix is, this HR system seems to be working and we, the future workforce, must be prepared for it.
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