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How Netflix Reinvented HR

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Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#41

Post by blazespin »

jedberg wrote: post #19
rsweeney21 wrote: post #11

I was an engineer at Netflix from 2010-2012. There were a lot of things that I really liked about the Netflix culture. They really do live the "Freedom and Responsibility" culture. It was very empowering. There is a dark side to that culture though. At Netflix it was too easy to fire people. This had two side affects. 1) People were afraid of being fired. You could come in one day and be sent home that afternoon with…

It's interesting that your experience is so different from mine (I work at Netflix now). for #1, I've never heard of someone being let go without having any idea. When a manager goes to HR and says "I'd like to let this person go", they ask, "will it be a surprise?" and if the answer is yes, they send you back to have the hard conversation first. for #2, I have lots of friends from Netflix. And some of them have even…

This is an example of survivorship bias. I think you need to consider the fact that Netflix has massive employee churn compared to its peers.

One of the reasons no doubt they're constantly pestering me on LinkedIn to interview with them even though they have just 2100 employees or so. They're running out of people who will actually listen to them.

Facebook, on the other hand, has 5700 employees and I've never heard from them even though my resume is definitely suited to their needs. Why? They don't have to. People want to work at Facebook. They don't have to recruit.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#42

Post by BorisMelnik »

rsweeney21 wrote: post #11

I was an engineer at Netflix from 2010-2012. There were a lot of things that I really liked about the Netflix culture. They really do live the "Freedom and Responsibility" culture. It was very empowering. There is a dark side to that culture though. At Netflix it was too easy to fire people. This had two side affects. 1) People were afraid of being fired. You could come in one day and be sent home that afternoon with…

so was this your fault then:

"We kept an eye on our IT guys, who were prone to buying a lot of gadgets."

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#43

Post by pmiller2 »

rsweeney21 wrote: post #11

I was an engineer at Netflix from 2010-2012. There were a lot of things that I really liked about the Netflix culture. They really do live the "Freedom and Responsibility" culture. It was very empowering. There is a dark side to that culture though. At Netflix it was too easy to fire people. This had two side affects. 1) People were afraid of being fired. You could come in one day and be sent home that afternoon with…

You effectively summed up why I was thinking "Man, this is kind of the opposite of the kind of place I'd like to work" while I was reading this.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#44

Post by yalogin »

kelnos wrote: post #38
yalogin wrote: post #36

I am not sure its all positive though. I only heard bad things about Netflix and the atmosphere. I stay away from it and their recruiters proactively because of that. Just like the "there is no limit on vacation" scam that they pull over their employees got implemented in many startups, I am sure a lot of that "culture" spilled into the startup world as well.

Just like the "there is no limit on vacation" scam that they pull over their employees... Why do you call it a scam? It certainly can be, but it doesn't have to be. We used to have a fixed-PTO policy (3 weeks per year) at my company, and moved to an unlimited policy sometime in 2012. In the 2013 calendar year I've taken about 4 weeks off. I'm actually not sure of the exact number of days I've taken off, as we don't r…

From what I hear (from the few people I know at Netflix) since there is a lot of fear that you can be fired at will, no one takes a vacation at all. It actually makes sense too, if one member of the team does not take a vacation but you do then you will come across as the one "slacking off". On the other hand if you are a set number of time off days you can take them without feeling guilty about it. Of course it depends on the culture in the group as well but I am very skeptical about it working in a company the size of netflix.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#45

Post by jevinskie »

mackwic wrote: post #32
jedberg wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Working at Netflix seems to be a very demanding experience. Will you say that Netflix balance this demand ? In which way ? It is demanding, but management sets a good example of taking time off and allowing for a work/life balance. If you're there at 6pm on a weekday, the building is 1/2 empty and by 7pm almost no one is around. People do not work crazy hours. Also, for the most part, no one is around for the next…

Thank you jedberg. You and elq give a much realistic view of what Netflix is.

And thank you mackwic. I appreciate seeing "thank you" comments, especially when they specify what they liked/disliked about the parent post. HN could use some more of the civility and appreciation that you exemplify. =)

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#46

Post by dba7dba »

Got few issues with the culture of Netflix.

So once someone is not needed, the person is just sent off? I understand a generous severance is given. But, you couldN'T use that money to try to retrain the worker with another technology/task/job?

What about mentoring? Someone has to start somewhere. So if Netflix ONLY hires someone who's A grade, where do B and C grade people get their chance to learn and improve? Sounds like a very selfish way of hiring (granted every company is selfish).

I do agree with one thing in the article. The whole year-end or half-year end performance review is just a sham. No one in management cares until management decides to lay off someone. They start putting down C or D grade all of sudden when earlier it was mostly As and Bs. And next thing you know, you are let go.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#47

Post by elq »

dba7dba wrote: post #46

Got few issues with the culture of Netflix. So once someone is not needed, the person is just sent off? I understand a generous severance is given. But, you couldN'T use that money to try to retrain the worker with another technology/task/job? What about mentoring? Someone has to start somewhere. So if Netflix ONLY hires someone who's A grade, where do B and C grade people get their chance to learn and improve? Sound…

Engineers are expected to take responsibility for themselves. They are, after all, "fully formed adults" (in Patty's parlance). And honestly it's not that hard to figure out which skills are useful to the work around you.

Netflix has traditionally only hired very senior engineers. Mentoring, at least technical, isn't seen as necessary for these people. Further, if an engineer thinks mentoring would help them, the onus is on them to seek it out.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#48

Post by blinkingled »

So what problems are your typical Netflix Engineers solving? I really don't mean to be insulting but given my interaction with Netflix as a consumer it's hard to see the stellar part. Lots of bandwidth play and even some Web app challenges but what part about it requires only A players with 200K+ salaries? Genuinely curious.

Re: How Netflix Reinvented HR

#50

Post by pcl »

blinkingled wrote: post #48

So what problems are your typical Netflix Engineers solving? I really don't mean to be insulting but given my interaction with Netflix as a consumer it's hard to see the stellar part. Lots of bandwidth play and even some Web app challenges but what part about it requires only A players with 200K+ salaries? Genuinely curious.

I'd guess that the challenging stuff is around the recommendation engine at this point.
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