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Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

nytimes.com

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Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#61

Post by dublinben »

eitally wrote: post #41
Coincoin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that is a common way of firing people under permanent contracts in Europe. You give them a crappy position for a few months until they get bored to death and then offer them to leave for X months/years of salary.

You used an employment concept here that isn't typical or well-understood by American workers: permanent contract. Americans are well-versed in short term contracts, mostly because of sports, but I doubt more than a few percent of them ever consider that, absent any specification otherwise, all employment contracts are presented as permanent.

>all employment contracts are presented as permanent

On the contrary, the vast majority of employees in the US are under "at will" conditions, where their employment can be terminated at any time. There is nothing permanent about any employment contract in the US.

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#62

Post by dragonwriter »

eitally wrote: post #41
Coincoin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that is a common way of firing people under permanent contracts in Europe. You give them a crappy position for a few months until they get bored to death and then offer them to leave for X months/years of salary.

You used an employment concept here that isn't typical or well-understood by American workers: permanent contract. Americans are well-versed in short term contracts, mostly because of sports, but I doubt more than a few percent of them ever consider that, absent any specification otherwise, all employment contracts are presented as permanent.

> but I doubt more than a few percent of them ever consider that, absent any specification otherwise, all employment contracts are presented as permanent.

While much social expectation and institutions are based around that kind of essentially feudal lord/tenant relationship, that's not actually the case with at-will employment in law: employment contracts without specificity of term are indefinite but not permanent (were they permanent, it would be illegal for an employer to terminate them without a breach of a nature that made the contract voidable.)

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#63

Post by _0w8t »

distances wrote: post #4
yarapavan wrote: post #2

Spoiler: It's a long read! > Does this still holds? Is there any other organization in dissimilar industry where this works? McCord also convinced Hastings that he should ask himself a few times a year whether he would hire the same person in the same job if it opened up that day. If the answer was no, Netflix would write a larger check and let the employee go. “If you are going to insist on high performance,” McCord…

> You’ll have to fire some really nice, hard-working people. But you have to do it with dignity. I wonder if this is part of the reason why there are not too many Netflix-like high achieving companies in Europe -- firing people is not possible. Even totally sucking at your job isn't acceptable reason for employment contract termination, that'd be just a reason for further training. You'll have to go through different…

In Norway it is typical to start a new company to develope a business idea and transfer employees there through various insensitives like stocks or options. That do allow to "fire" people by closing down an unsuccessful business. The big upside is that one looses the job not alone which feels much better. Also one does not need to explain why one was fired on previous position when looking for new one.

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#64

Post by rpgmaker »

ergothus wrote: post #40

One of the best professional pieces of advice I've ever read said something like "Think you're indispensable? Do they know that?". It made me aware that often the people making the hiring/firing decisions aren't actually aware of my day-to-day. Rather, they know only the summary info. Those kudos to fellow employees and in-house "awards" that I'd been ignoring? Those are documentation that someone is worthwhile, and…

> While I'm sure Netflix would claim the same, I doubt McCord was expecting the axe to fall...

Exactly. How likely is Hastings to adopt that standard if he knew that it would apply to him too?

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#66

Post by mortenjorck » 

  At another point, Netflix created a dedicated device through 
  which to access its content, only to decide that adapting its 
  service to everything from mobile phones to TV sets made more 
  sense. (The Netflix device was spun out into its own company, 
  Roku.)
Pretty sure this is a factual error in the article. As far as I know, Roku existed as a consumer electronics company independent of Netflix for years before it produced any Netflix streaming devices - anyone remember the Roku SoundBridge series of home audio devices?

I’m not clear on the actual relationship between Roku and Netflix (they are both based in Los Gatos) but saying the Netflix hardware was “spun out” into Roku cannot be accurate.

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#67

Post by distances »

dublinben wrote: post #61
eitally wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You used an employment concept here that isn't typical or well-understood by American workers: permanent contract. Americans are well-versed in short term contracts, mostly because of sports, but I doubt more than a few percent of them ever consider that, absent any specification otherwise, all employment contracts are presented as permanent.

>all employment contracts are presented as permanent On the contrary, the vast majority of employees in the US are under "at will" conditions, where their employment can be terminated at any time. There is nothing permanent about any employment contract in the US.

That's what he meant -- that in Europe almost all employment contracts are permanent, which may not be obvious to an American reader without explicit mention.

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#68

Post by olalonde »

ergothus wrote: post #40

One of the best professional pieces of advice I've ever read said something like "Think you're indispensable? Do they know that?". It made me aware that often the people making the hiring/firing decisions aren't actually aware of my day-to-day. Rather, they know only the summary info. Those kudos to fellow employees and in-house "awards" that I'd been ignoring? Those are documentation that someone is worthwhile, and…

> It's not whether I'm a good performer, it's whether THEY THINK I'm a good performer.

To play the devil's advocate, isn't that true of any employer (that wants good performers)? Do you believe Netflix's system is too subjective?

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#69

Post by distances »

smhenderson wrote: post #55
distances wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Netflix will face a problem of getting their customers find too well what they actually like, and not being happy with the content after this. Say, I loved River that you mentioned -- it's brilliant I think -- but can't really stand the superhero stuff now. And that's fine, but there are economic limits on how much of specific kind of content they can provide. I will obviously cancel the service if I run out…

Yeah, agreed. I think the article mentioned price hikes scaring off casual watchers and this almost happened with me but before I decided to cancel I took a deeper dive into the available content and found a lot I had ignored for a while (both NF original and licensed content). So now I'm in this pattern where I find a few things I want to try, like enough of it to keep me happy for a month or two and then slowly run…

Offtopic, but since you liked River, I'd suggest you to try Happy Valley too (if it's available at your location). It's also serious English crime drama, with some seriously good acting performances.

Re: Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

#70

Post by jdblair »

Hi, Netflix employee here, been here 7 months. In my 18 year career I've never liked working at a large organization as much as I like it here. The people I work with are uniformly excellent at their jobs, I'm learning from all of them, and I enjoy the time I spend with them.
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