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Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?

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

#81

Post by sib »

rpgmaker wrote: post #64
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?

Since Reed owns a very small share of Netflix (less than 5%), the Board could very well do that if they felt he wasn't performing. He doesn't have the same level of control that a Zuckerberg does.

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

#82

Post by outworlder »

enraged_camel wrote: post #36
potatolicious wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The punch line: the employee flourished as soon as he was fired - his dream had been to join the ministry, but he'd worried about quitting a stable job to do so." I'm generally in favor of firing underperforming employees, but this punchline feels uncomfortably close to ex post facto justification. Lots and lots and lots of people get fired and don't flourish, in fact they drop like a brick and hit rock bottom. Wh…

>>Lots and lots and lots of people get fired and don't flourish, in fact they drop like a brick and hit rock bottom. Sure, but speaking from the perspective of the company and everyone else in it, it's better if those low-performers hit rock bottom outside the company, rather than hit rock bottom while employed and bring the rest of the company down.

Usually, unless the company is really small, they won't drag it down. Unless they are CEOs, which are seldom fired. And get golden parachutes even when they do get fired.

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

#83

Post by digler999 »

athenot wrote: post #17
mercer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instinctively and ideologically I mostly oppose the idea of this lack of loyalty toward employees. At the same time, for some reason it bothers me less the way it is presented to work within Netflix. I'm not sure why, though. Maybe it's to do with the fact that there are plenty of jobs in tech right now and Netflix apparently pays very well, enough for a future employee to accept that disadvantage. Partly it's also b…

It works for Netflix because they appear to pay above average. So the marketplace can accomodate companies that pay less and tolerate more, as well as ones that are super demanding but pay more. But if the labor market were compressed more like in Europe, all companies could afford that behavior, without having to spend abnomally higher in salaries, and that would be a problem.

my experience has been that when employers "pay above average", what they really mean is they pay 1 employee for the work of 1.5 employees. Do you really think the engineering team goes home at 5pm?

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

#84

Post by sib »

distances wrote: post #10
dominotw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. This probably explains why I've never seen my German counterparts ever being fired. The lowest performers are endlessly shuffled between projects, maybe hoping they would leave voluntarily ?

That's perhaps one way. Or assigning the employee no tasks at all, just an empty room with a desk and chair, and a requirement to be there during normal working hours. No sane person takes that for a longer time. Companies do have longish probation periods (say, 6-9 months) before the contract is final. Within this period either party can cancel the employment at will, with no notice period. This is meant to be the t…

In New York City, for example, unionized teachers sometimes end up in "Rubber Rooms" that are basically this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassignment_centers

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

#85

Post by zjaffee »

gaius wrote: post #74
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…

The perils of operational work: the mark of success is that no-one knows what you do, or that you are even there.

Ehh, at least in todays world where teams that focus on operations in a DevOps environment, there are a lot more metrics that operations teams can be measured by other than just uptime.

For example, lets say a decision is made that you want to spin up a new environment, deploy a new service, scale up or scale down a piece of infrastructure. A good operations team in this more modern space will have automated the vast majority of the work needed to do such things, and in turn, vastly improve developer productivity since they do not need to wait a month on operations to do such work.

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

#86

Post by kschrader »

jonathankoren wrote: post #77

Funny how Netflix HR polices never extend to the boardroom or the C-suite.

It literally says in the article that Hastings fired the Chief Talent Officer that came up with the "Would you hire them again today?" litmus test that they use because she no longer passed it.

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

#87

Post by dean »

drostie wrote: post #35

TL;DR: Netflix changed everything when it switched from mail-order DVDs to streaming-video. Now, people find themselves (a) not watching commercials and (b) watching shows back-to-back. This has been lucrative for the company in terms of raw revenue, but not in terms of profits after costs: though the article is pretty murky on this (one part says that they made millions in profits; another says that they have a cons…

> Another is that they don't own the vast majority of their content

Do any of the distribution channels actually own their content? The major networks? The cable channels? The other streaming services? Movie theatres? Don't the content producers typically licence to the distribution channels?

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

#88

Post by distances »

jasonkostempski wrote: post #75
distances wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You're right, it wasn't obvious. I had hit submit too early, I had meant to ask how long the contracts typically last for and if maybe it was better for a company to just use shorter contracts. Are they required to be permanent for the most part? Sorry for getting way OT here.

We're getting so detailed that I'll mention the following applying specifically to Finland.

It's possible to have temporary/fixed-time contracts too, and lots of people do. It's however illegal for the employer to chain temporary contracts one after another instead of offering a permanent contract if there's a continuous need.

If this happens, the employee may sue on grounds of it being de facto permanent employment. If successful, they will get all the associated benefits, including things such as compensation for wrongful contract termination and withheld bonus payments only available for permanent employees. Suing is pretty easy/risk-free if the wronged person is in an union, and the unionization of workforce is around 60%-70%.

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

#89

Post by vertex-four »

distances wrote: post #10
dominotw wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. This probably explains why I've never seen my German counterparts ever being fired. The lowest performers are endlessly shuffled between projects, maybe hoping they would leave voluntarily ?

That's perhaps one way. Or assigning the employee no tasks at all, just an empty room with a desk and chair, and a requirement to be there during normal working hours. No sane person takes that for a longer time. Companies do have longish probation periods (say, 6-9 months) before the contract is final. Within this period either party can cancel the employment at will, with no notice period. This is meant to be the t…

> Or assigning the employee no tasks at all, just an empty room with a desk and chair, and a requirement to be there during normal working hours.

Note that this is legally Constructive Dismissal and is likely to wind you up in front of a tribunal.

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

#90

Post by ergothus »

olalonde wrote: post #68
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?

Not any more subjective than elsewhere (which is why this was good advice in the first place).

No, the difference is in the speed of action. Other workplaces have some realization that hiring is hard, and thus if they have a problem with me they'll first try to see if we can work it out. If I'm actually performing well, it should be doable to make that obvious. Seems like Netflix would be faster on the "fire" button.

Plus, knowing this (or thinking it, if it was untrue), means I'd work with the knowledge that I need to constantly ensure they understand my value, surrounded by others doing the same. Not exactly stack ranking, but it sounds unappealing.

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