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The Human Resources Strategy of Netflix
The Human Resources Strategy of Netflix
Pat Metzger and Jack Travers
ECO 329
SUNY Cortland
April 12th, 2016
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What started simply as a DVD-by-mail rental service; has now produced a slew of award-
winning original television series, made available over 100 million hours of content, and
essentially has rede6ned what it means to watch TV in today’s age. In the past decade, Netflix
has become an international sensa5on that is disrup5ng the traditional TV industry. With over
75 million members in over 190 countries, o<ering anything from original series, to
documentaries, to feature 6lms; Netflix has become the world’s leading Internet television
network. The main reason Netflix has become the mul5-billion dollar company it is today, is a
result of allowing members to watch as much as they want, any5me, anywhere, on nearly any
internet-connected screen. Not to mention, members can play, pause and resume watching, all
without commercials or commitments (Netflix). One of the other key ingredients that makes
Netflix so special is that it was started by one of the strongest so?ware entrepreneurs on the
planet; Reed Has5ngs. According to Paul Hollands article The Nelix startup story, “Reed is not
only 6nely skilled in the so?ware space but also incredibly talented at building teams and
empowering his leadership” so it should come to the surprise of nobody why Netflix has
become such a success. But maybe the most compelling aCribute of Netflix resides with their
human resource strategy and because it simply revolves around common sense. Netflix learned
that if they asked people to rely on logic and common sense instead of on formal policies, then
most of the 5me they would in fact get beCer results, and even at lower cost. They realized that
by being careful about hiring people who will put the company’s interests first, who understand
and care about the aspira5on for a high-performance workplace, 97% of employees would do
the right thing (Netflix). Innova5ve ideas like that are the reasons why Netflix have set
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themselves apart from the competition and have achieved one of the best and most interesting
human resource strategies in the world.
Netflix is responsible for developing the now ever-so inEuen5al approach to corporate
culture and the way that companies handle their human resource strategy today. The company
went about doing this through their “Culture Doc”, which is a power point presentation that was
released in 2009, that portrays the Seven Aspects of Netflix’s Culture. This document is now
