Netflix FAQ

Pros

Free food, free coffee/tea, good pay

Cons

You can’t take any vacation, you have to sell your heart and soul to your hiring managers and do as they please even if you disagree with them, HR and everyone is there to mislead you, culture is a big deal but for the most part, really fake because no one wants feedback and will play office politics, hierarchy

Advice to Management

There are too many people playing politics and too many leaders who are phony/lack cultural competency - try to identify them to better your culture

Pros

-Pays top of market across fields. In fact, if you can find a case where someone with your experience and role makes more elsewhere, Netflix will revise your pay. -Great benefits: Amazing medical insurance (maternity, vision, dental included), everyone can travel Business for a long-distance flight, stock options that vest every month.

Cons

-Competitive, cut-throat, not a place you can think of settling down in or working long-term. People are often asked to leave with little to no notice. -Management, org structures keep changing, so it's forever in flux.

Advice to Management

-Process isn't a bad word. And with the company famously saying "no rules", managers, teams, countries make up their own. -Interview process needs a neutral bar raiser like Amazon to cut out manager bias.

Pros

Netflix has stellar benefits including up to 12 months paid parental leave and a $75K allowance for adoption. There are incredibly smart people throughout the company. Many are willing to be at the forefront of innovation. There is a strong focus on D&I

Cons

When a directive comes from the top it is not questioned. This does mean some people operate out of fear.

Advice to Management

Don't take a directive as the only way to do things, explore and truly live the culture of context not control.

Pros

- Amazing colleagues - hard working, smart, supportive - Strong brand and fantastic content creators, Netflix truly lives and breathes entertainment - Constantly striving to improve the way we work, extremely agile work environment - Generous - high monthly salary, good bonuses (option program) and pension, maternity/paternity support, 'unlimited' days off, free food/drink at the office and much more

Cons

- Extremely competitive environment due to everyone being an overachiever. Work is never ending - 24/7 - on weekends, public holidays, during your vacation. I received emails from my manager on New Years eve with an expectation for me to respond. - Unlimited days off sound great, but when you go on vacation you need to be ready to work. Every. Single. Day. Nobody will take over your work or help offload when you are gone, it's up to you to make your work happen. Since I started 2 years ago I have checked my email every, single day. Including on my sisters wedding. - At any moment you can be given a new position at the office, that you might not want or need, but it's part of the constant change that is Netflix. If you don't accept it, your services are on longer needed. -...or even worse, you will be laid off. I've seen amazing people being let go because their manager didn't feel they were 'engaged enough' - as in, they wanted a life, disagreed one too many times or the reasoning was even more vague. - It feels like most that work here just go with the flow. If they keep their job one more month, great, if not...well they made some money and it looks good on their CV. - Generally you don't have any work stability and you need to be ready for that i.e. never knowing whether you will have a job in 3 months or not. - Maternity/paternity leave for a year never happens - if you get 2-4 months without having to worry about your job then that's fantastic. - If you have a family, and children, have a good long think about what matters in life before accepting the offer. I am 'lucky' to not to have kids, just a very supportive partner, and I still feel like the worst person ever at least 1-2 days per week (as I just always cancel outings with my partner and/or friends because of work). I see parents struggling weighing the glossy work that is Netflix vs their love for their children vs being able to buy that fancy bag or car. It's heartbreaking at times.

Advice to Management

- You are amazing in so many ways, but please try to see that workaholism and pinging on public holidays isn't cool. - Sitting in a meeting while you are extremely sick (Covid/flu, vomiting etc) isn't inspirational. - Telling your staff that 'being burnt out isn't real/it doesn't exist - it's just the staff member being lazy' won't make us work harder. Finding balance in work and life is what makes us creative, what makes us passionate and what makes us happy. Netflix has changed so much in the past couple of years and for me the journey we are on is to change the world with our streaming content, we want to engage and spark joy - all around the globe and without prejudice. Please don't lose sight of what's important, and the positive impact we have on society as a whole (including the well being of your staff), in the chase for money alone.

Pros

Great culture, benefits, employees, and employers.

Cons

Haven't found a con yet

Advice to Management

Keep doing what you're doing!