A transparent corporate culture is much sought after in today’s world. However, at Netflix the level of transparency is rather unique, according to a report on the Company’s culture in Wall Street Journal. Employees who are fired are expected to attend a meeting where their colleagues discuss and explain the reasons for their termination!
These meetings, referred to as ‘postmortem’ sessions are quite common at the American media services company. When the ex-vice president of Netflix, Sean Carey, was asked to leave after a five-year long tenure, he attended such a session where about 50 of his team members were present. In everybody’s presence, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer, Netflix, explained that with the Company deciding to concentrate on original programming, Carey had ceased to be suitable for the job he was performing.
While some employees are appreciative of such transparency, some admit to feeling slightly uncomfortable at such postmortems.
At Netflix, managers are expected to apply a ‘keeper test’ to their team members, wherein they are questioned about the reasons for them to retain the said employees. If the answers are in the negative, the concerned team members are terminated.
This level of transparency and blunt feedback is believed by the Company to have contributed to its growth and success.
