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Netflix – “Pay was great, leadership was horrendous..

8 of 9 people found this helpful

Oct 28, 2009

1.0

Netflix Anonymous in Los Gatos, CA:   (Past Employee - 2008)

Pros

Great Pay
Decent health plan
Great amenities
Building was well maintained/clean
Decent Swag
Plenty of parking
That's about all for the "pros' and that was a stretch.

Cons

Netflix is an HR driven company. As far as I am concerned they are the "bullies" of Netflix. Nothing is confidential. Be prepared, whatever you discuss with an HR employee will be leaked out to nearly everyone at Netflix. They will take confidential information and turn it into the joke of the day. Senior/Executive HR staff is crass and they seem to think cursing in front of others and telling lewd jokes is appropriate workplace etiquette.

No-vacation policy (As far as I am concerned, it is a scam). They work you so hard you feel guilty about taking time off. Between the blackberry they "give" you as soon as you walk through the door, and the laptop you will receive, you are never off the clock.

The revolving door in this place will literally make you dizzy. During my time at Netflix I can't even begin to count how many employees were terminated or resigned on a daily basis. Senior management even seemed to be desensitized to the large number of terminations.

No job security. You can be doing a fantastic job one day and the next day you are "re-structured"

Reed - Do yourself a favor.. Hire senior staff who truly understands the values that you believe in and who want their employees to embrace them. Currently the values are about as clear as mud. If one truly tries to abide by every aspect of what it reads, they will be fired. Wake up buddy, you are smarter that? Aren’t you?

Advice to Senior Management

Stop having meetings about having more meetings. A lot of managers at Netflix seem to be good at doing that. What amazed me is that even though all they do is seem to be locked in conference rooms all day, nothing good ever comes out of them. Perhaps they are plotting who to fire next??

Comments (15)

Oct 29, 2009

by Gone forever-Thank GOD:

I could not have said this better myself. FANATASTIC...
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Oct 29, 2009

by amen:

Maybe should have added Career advancement as a pro since they fire everyone-there is ALWAYS career advancement opportunities. That is if you can last past the normal 1-3 year life span of a Netflix employee. But even then, you are never safe from being "voted off the island". Many reasons, not a good "culture fit", makes too much money or my all time fav-"made a bad decision." I didn't shower this morning-would that me considered a "bad decision?"
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Oct 30, 2009

by so true:

How is it that there aren't any jobs in the united states, but if you go to the Netflix website....page after page of available jobs.hummmmmm
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Oct 31, 2009

by ✳✳✳✳✳✳✳✳

This post has been removed. Please see our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service for more information.
Nov 2, 2009

by Great:

Wish there was a facebook-type "like" button for some of these comments. Preaching to the choir!
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Nov 2, 2009

by Anonymous - Past employee 2009:

I find it hilarious that most of you that are complaining about Netflix are gone. Sour grapes perhaps?
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Nov 2, 2009

by Ex-Flixer:

Yes, sour grapes. For being treated like a work mule and then terminated without good cause, for the long hours and many days spent away from my family supporting the Netflix culture just to have it come back and bite me, for being forced to take action on employees that management did not like for personal reasons, for being forced to act outside of the company values to keep a job there, for having HR say one thing to you while discussing your pending termination with senior management, for HR not backing you up when you were told in writing they ageed with you.

Sour grapes.........naw.

Don't judge those that have gone before you as you may be next.
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Nov 2, 2009

by Glad it's over..:

Well said Ex-Flixer.. I worked there for over a year and feel the exact same way the original poster does. I am not sour either.. Just wish I didn't waste so much time on a company who obviously doesn't value its employees.
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Nov 2, 2009

by still here :(:

this company is truly dysfunctional, and the irony is that as much as management thinks that they have hired and retained top talent, the smart ones are slowly leaving. Between firing the wrong people and the ones that left, what's here are the dead weights... people here don't have a clue. It's a dysfunctional environment full of contradictions and no consistency.
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Nov 4, 2009

by You can run.. but you can't hide..:

I see that someone didn't like the fact that they were called out so they deleted the posting.. You can delete all you want, but sooner or later everyone will know who the downfall of NF really was.
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Nov 4, 2009

by Funny:

Looks like they just deleted the HR mention. Normal practice. Besides, Netflix has the worst HR in the country but then again why would you really need good HR people since Netflix HR's main job responsibilty is to carrry around the severance agreements. HR in Netflix is the laughing joke of the company. A "team" of back stabbing losers that can't stand anyone that is more intellegent then them. It's funny to sit back and watch them at meetings, plotting who will be next for being too quiet, too loud, too quirky, too creepy, etc.
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Nov 16, 2009

by WOW:

I am so impressed by this post - they said everything we have known for the last few years but couldn't articulate and were too afraid to call out! I am so ecstatic to find this web site! HR at Netflix is beyond the pale. This is not a company to WORK for - unless you like casting pearls before swine. Take your talents someplace where they will be appreciated and you will be rewarded - here you'll just get reamed.
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Nov 18, 2009

by Ex Flixer:

At least now they tell employees up front that they are on a hair trigger, I had to learn that on my own. You may be let go anytime regardless of how productive you are. 3 years was a very long tenure during my time there. There is zero loyalty from management to employees. The review process is a means of getting employees to rat on each other. They could easily make the reviews so that only the reviewee gets to read them if they truly wanted to live up to the highly esteemed company values. The vacation policy is a scam. All true.

That said, for the investor this is a very well run company. During my stint there I gleaned everything I could about operations, marketing, customer usage and product strategy. One thing they were good at was keeping employees appraised of company strategy. I loaded up on NFLX because I knew it intimately and knew it was very well run, from an investor's perspective. It counterbalanced my portfolio's big losers during the economic downturn. I'm concerned about the transition to streaming but so far, so good.
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Nov 18, 2009

by Enjoyed my time there but:

the revolving door was indeed amazing.
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Nov 19, 2009

by Been gone a year:

I've discouraged friends from working there. Why would you work for a company that values you less than their furniture?

This thread has been great, I wish I had read it before accepting their job offer.
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Netflix Overview (NFLX )
Web
www.netflix.com
Industries
Size
1000 to 5000 Employees, $1B+ Revenue
HQ
Los Gatos, CA
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