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‘People over Process’ Approach

Case Study
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This case was written by Dr. Garima Ratna and reviewed by K. Bhagyalakshmi, Amity Research
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Author: Dr. Garima Ratna

Netflix Redefines Employer Branding with ‘People over Process’

Approach

Abstract: Netflix, the premier video streaming brand, was valued at $187.3 billion as of April
2020 with a subscriber base of 182.9 million globally. It had achieved dizzying heights of
success through intelligent algorithm which understood subscribers’ preferences, huge

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investments in innovative original content and forging strategic alliances with local partners in
nearly 190 countries. But the meteoric rise was not the only reason the company was talked
about, its employer branding strategies which showcased the tenets of its ‘Culture Deck’ and
‘People over Process’ approach, were areas of discussion too. Considered exemplary and
ground breaking, Netflix’s organisational culture had contributed enormously to earn the
reputation of being one of the best employer brands across the globe. The company’s
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employer branding team constantly hammered its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) through
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multitudes of videos unleashed on social media. These videos offered the job seekers a peek
into the company’s organisational culture and ‘People over Process’ approach. However, over
the years a counter narrative was woven by researchers who dug deeply into Netflix’s culture
through the feedback, interviews and testimonials of existing and former employees. These
potential threats to Netflix’s employer branding efforts were too conspicuous to be ignored.
Most importantly, these reflected badly on the company’s ‘People over Process’ approach.
Against this background, it was prudent to ask whether Netflix had really redefined employer
branding through its ‘People over Process approach?

Case Study

“Companies that consistently attract the best talent get one thing right: Employer branding.
– Excerpt from an Article on Employer Branding

“Employer branding is your unique scent.”1

– William Tincup, President of RecruitingDaily.com

Employer branding, unlike corporate branding, was the value proposition an employer
promised an employee. It comprised of employee benefits, tangible as well as intangible,
perks, compensation, work environment and most importantly, a conducive organisational
culture. Also, termed as Employer Value Proposition (EVP), it answered the pertinent question
for a job seeker as to ‘What is in it for me?’. The buzz around employer branding had gained
traction for one simple reason that job seekers were exposed to a ‘universe’ of job
opportunities at a mere click. They could now compare the ‘returns’ of getting associated with

1
Slater Ben, “Employer Branding: Definition, Process, Strategy and Resources”,
https://beamery.com/blog/employer-branding
“© 2020, Amity Research Centers HQ, Bangalore. All rights reserved.”

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an organisation by simply reading through the feedback and testimonials of the existing and
former employees. Consequently, companies were compelled to outdo each other in order to
divert the attention of the best talent available. Employer branding, if done right, could let the
job seekers get a peek into the organisational culture and the core values that a company
stood for. Besides, when remuneration packages offered were comparable, organisational
culture offered the much-needed differentiation.

Amongst the plethora of companies trying to outdo each other in their employer branding
efforts, Netflix stood apart. Ranked highly for its innovative employer branding drives, Netflix
understood the cruciality of exemplary organisational culture, much before others, to become
a compelling employer brand. The company’s ‘Culture Deck’ and ‘People over Process’
approach were acclaimed by analysts and strategists alike. Its social media campaigns aimed at
employer branding delivered along the desired lines. However, on digging deeper by
researchers, it was found that whatever was projected in the campaigns did not exactly meet
the ground realities. There were substantial number of testimonials from existing and former
employees which wove a counter narrative. Against this background, had Netflix really

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redefined employer branding with ‘People over Process’ approach? Was the company’s
approach right as far as employer branding was concerned?

Employer branding: A Conceptual Overview

According to management consultants, companies had, in addition to their product brands, a
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second brand to nurture and project. This second brand was their employer brand which
defined how they were perceived in the minds and hearts of their former, current, and future
employees. Quite similar to the corporate brand which outlined the value proposition of
products and services to customers, the employer brand determined Employer Value
Proposition (EVP) which outlined a company’s ‘promise (or employee value proposition) to
employees in exchange for their experience, talents, contacts, or skills’. In simple terms,
employer branding defined ‘how you market your company to desired job seekers’.2 (Exhibit I).
Employer branding or EVP was composed of five elements, analysts proposed. These were –
Culture, Values statement, Diversity statement, Work environment and Recruitment
marketing. The six characteristics of Culture, as outlined by Harvard analysts, were Vision,
People, Values, Narrative, Practices and Place.3
Exhibit I
Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
EVP answered the question: ‘What is in it for me?’
Work
Compensation Benefits Career Culture
Environment
 Salary  Time off  Ability and chance  Recognition  Understanding of
satisfaction  Holidays to progress and  Autonomy firm’s goals and
 Compensation  Insurance develop Stability  Personal plans
system  Satisfaction  Training and achievements  Colleagues
satisfaction with the education at work  Work-life  Leaders and
 Raises and system  Career balances managers
promotions  Retirement development  Challenges  Support
 Timeliness  Education  College education  Understanding  Collaboration and

2
Lybrand Sarah, “What Is Employer Branding and How Can It Grow Your Business?”,
st
https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2018/employer-branding, March 1 2018
3
Doeing Derek, “5 Crucial Elements to Upgrade Your Employer Branding”, https://learn.g2.com/employer-
th
branding, May 29 2019

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 Fairness  Flexibility  Consultation of one’s role team spirit

 Evaluation  Family  Evaluation and and  Social Responsibility
system feedback responsibility  Trust
Source: Compiled by the Author from – “What is Employee Value Proposition (EVP)?”,
https://www.talentlyft.com/en/resources/what-is-employee-value-proposition-evp

The new found focus on employer branding and EVP was the direct outcome of a fiercely
competitive job market (job seekers had access to multitudes of opportunities at mere click),
scarcity of right talent, deluge of social media platforms wherein employees (both former and
current) could offer feedback on organisational culture, etc., and the new age professionals
which sought more than monetary benefits in their employer companies. As defined and
explained by analysts, “An employer value proposition encompasses your organization’s
mission, values, and culture, and gives employees a powerful reason to work for you. It’s
everything your company can offer as an employer, in exchange for all the skills and
experience your employees bring to the table... Done well, employer branding will spark buzz
around your company, and this buzz will attract motivated job seekers and an army of happy

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employees. And then those people will turn around and broadcast their positive experience to
other open talent, clients, customers, and stakeholders — further broadening the scope of
your employer brand.”

Branding experts had suggested several ways to cultivate a compelling employer brand.
According to some, a quintessential employer branding process entailed 6 steps: ‘Step 1. Get
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familiar with your company; Step 2. Do an audit of your employer brand; Step 3. Define an
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employer value proposition; Step 4. Use recruitment marketing; Step 5. Build engagement
among current employees; Step 6. Write snazzy job descriptions’.4,5

The growing relevance of EVP could be seen in the behavioral patterns of job seekers. In a
survey conducted in 2017 by Glassdoor, a job portal of repute, several insightful behavioral
patterns emerged. A huge 95% of job seekers admitted that an employer's reputation
influenced their decision to apply for a particular company.6 The survey also revealed that the
respondents thought highly of the company fetching positive reviews from former and current
employees and admitted to being more eager to apply for and recommend such company. The
respondents even hinted that they would settle for less salary for such companies.7

A survey conducted by the Fast Company in 2016 had highlighted the relevance of employer
branding. The respondents were some 26,000 professionals including roughly 7,000 who had
switched jobs. These professionals were asked questions regarding their job searches. It
emerged that a substantial 66% of respondents sought to know about, more than anything
else, the company’s culture and values. Experts observed that, “They may know about your
company, but they lack a clear picture of what it’s like on the inside–and the typical job
description isn’t helping.” It also emerged that job seekers looked for what a company’s ‘big-
ticket benefits are like’. Job seekers were inclined to consider what were the intangible
benefits on offer and how it enriched their lives besides the take home salary. The researchers
divulged, “We’ve found that it’s true that people are looking for more than a paycheck:

4
“What Is Employer Branding and How Can It Grow Your Business?”, op. cit.
5
“Understanding Employer Branding”, https://builtin.com/employer-branding
6
O'Donnell J.T., “The Brutal Truth About Why Nobody Wants to Work for Your Company”,
https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/the-brutal-truth-about-why-nobody-wants-to-work-for-your-
rd
company/, August 3 2017
7
Bulchand-Gidumal Jacques, “Why Online Reviews Matter for Employer Brand: Evidence from Glassdoor”,
https://www.glassdoor.com/research/why-online-reviews-matter-for-employer-brand-evidence-from-
th
glassdoor/, January 11 2017

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Mission and vision ranked as job candidates’ third-highest priority when they’re considering a
position.”8

A similar survey by CR Magazine, revealed that nearly 36% of job seekers surveyed would
settle for anything between 0% to 20% salary hike from a company with excellent reputation
while switching jobs. In comparison, merely 12% would expect something similar from a
company with bad reputation. Moreover, nearly 33% of prospective candidates desired a hike
of more than 50% to accept an offer from a badly reputed company as opposed to 20% of
prospective candidates desiring something similar from a company with good reputation.9

According to an article published in Harvard Business Review in 2016, the top three factors
responsible for a company earning bad reputation were ‘concerns about job security,
dysfunctional teams, and poor leadership’. It was reported that the job seekers expected a
minimum 10% pay hike to convince them to join a company which had poor track record on
above mentioned factors. What was more eye opening was that this 10% hike could only lure a
small (28%) of the prospective employees.10 A research done by LinkedIn researchers further

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revealed that lack of employer branding/bad reputation could cost a company with 10,000
employees an alarmingly substantial $7.6 million in additional wages. Such companies ended
up paying an additional $4,723 per employee coming on board. Also, nearly 50% of
professionals based in US, admitted to not considering job opportunity with a company that
scored highly on the top three negative employer brand factors.11 The Harvard analysts also
listed ways in which a ‘misdirected, misunderstood, or outdated employer brand’ could be
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resurrected. In fact, some companies were known to cultivate a compelling employer brand
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after gaining insight from current employees.12 (Exhibits IIA & IIB).

Exhibit IIA
Creating a Compelling Employer Brand
Find out
where your
reputation
stands

Figure out
Get your
executive employee
buy-in value
Employer proposition

Branding

Speak to
Mobilize your
your biggest audience
fans (like a
human)

Source: Compiled by the Author from - Burgess Wade, “A Bad Reputation Costs a Company at Least
10% More Per Hire”, https://hbr.org/2016/03/a-bad-reputation-costs-company-at-least-10-more-per-
th
hire, March 29 2016

8
Burgess Wade, “These Are Job Seekers’ Top 3 Priorities Right Now, According To LinkedIn”,
https://www.fastcompany.com/3061250/these-are-job-seekers-top-3-priorities-right-now-according-to-linkedin,
th
June 27 2016
9
“Employment Cost of a Bad Reputation Survey A Study by Corporate Responsibility Magazine”,
pdfserver.amlaw.com/cc/COMMITForumPowerpointdocumentSeptember232013Final.pdf
10
Burgess Wade, “A Bad Reputation Costs a Company at Least 10% More Per Hire”, https://hbr.org/2016/03/a-
th
bad-reputation-costs-company-at-least-10-more-per-hire, March 29 2016
11
Burgess Wade, “Research Shows Exactly How Much Having a Bad Employer Brand Will Cost You”,
https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2016/research-shows-exactly-how-much-
th
having-a-bad-employer-brand-will-cost-you, March 30 2016
12
“A Bad Reputation Costs a Company at Least 10% More Per Hire”, op. cit.

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Exhibit IIB
Creating a Compelling Employer Brand: Insights from Companies
Company Strategy
Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the company conducted surveys to
BP understand people’s perception about the brand. To BP’s amazement, many
interested job seekers (yes there were!) did not know that BP was hiring. The
company also realised that prospective employee were more concerned about
the company’s financial position, safety record, their career goals and whether
they’d be a fit for the culture.
The company surveyed 1,000 employees to learn what they valued about their
InMobi workplace. Upon finding out that its culture and practices set it apart, a series of
employer brand campaigns/videos/blogs/social media presence highlighting its
culture, showcasing work life at InMobi was unleashed. Within six months InMobi
experienced a deluge of applications (5 times more) from, surprisingly, worthy
candidates.
The company revamped its career page by increasing visuals, adding 40 videos

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SAP featuring employee stories, and tweaking content aimed at young techies,
students, graduates, and professionals. A social media campaign titled ‘Life at
SAP’s was unleashed on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.
The campaign returned desired results.
GE Digital’s funny ad campaign featuring a fictional techie named ‘Owen’ wherein
GE his friends and family are struggling to understand that he has acquired a tech job
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at a manufacturing company managed to both ‘humanize’ the company and

show there was more to GE than otherwise perceived.
To serve the Cleveland Clinic’s Middle East expansion plans, the talent acquisition
Cleveland team uploaded the creative job description videos to YouTube, then tracked the
Clinic hiring managers which shared the videos. The tracking results were in an email
thereby creating a competition and thus motivating everyone to out-share each
other. The results were impressive.
In order to energise the employer brand on social media, the company promoted
Cisco #IChoseCisco, a campaign encouraging employees to create content around the
hashtag. Executives, across the hierarchy participated. A particular hashtag
involving CEO Chuck Robbins posing with a young employee holding a sign that
reads, ‘#IChoseCisco because…the CEO supports innovative ideas — even from
interns!’ grabbed much attention. The results were - boosted social following,
more traffic to its jobs site, and several other desired rewards.
Source: Compiled by the Author from - Burgess Wade, “A Bad Reputation Costs a Company at Least
10% More Per Hire”, https://hbr.org/2016/03/a-bad-reputation-costs-company-at-least-10-more-per-
th
hire, March 29 2016

Analysts had listed down several benefits of employer branding. Considering the following five
components of employer branding: job security, ample professional development
opportunities, opportunity to work on a better team, opportunity to work in an organization
with the same values as the job seeker and an organization with positive feedback both from
current and former employees; it was observed in US job market that if a company scored
highly on at least 3 out of 5 components, it could attract as much as 41% of full time
prospective employees without any pay hike. The percentage rose to 46% if the company
possessed all five qualities. Also, job seekers in the age group between 18 and 34 were inclined
to accept a pay cut from a compelling employer brand. Nearly 23% would accept a 2% pay cut
in their eagerness to come on board a positive employer brand whereas a significant 15%
would accept a 5% reduction in pay. Companies possessing all five qualities could attract 49%

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of job seekers in the age group of 18-34 and 46% in the age group of 35-54 without any
expectation of pay hike.13 There were ample market statistics to support the need and
relevance of cultivating a compelling employer brand.14 (Exhibit III).

Exhibit III
Relevance of Cultivating a Compelling Employer Brand

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Source: “What is Employer Brand?”,

https://www.talentlyft.com/en/resources/what-is-employer-brand

Amidst the buzz around the relevance and strategies required to cultivate a compelling
employer brand, one company which generated huge interest around the world for its
employer branding strategies was - Netflix. The company was ranked second in the 2019
Global Brand Health Report released by Hired.15 The rank and accolades, however, were not
devoid of their share of controversies.

Netflix’s ‘People over Process’ Approach: Scripting new Paradigm in

Employer Branding?

Netflix, Inc. (formerly known as Kibble)16, a Los Gatos, California based media-streaming and
video-rental company, was started by two Americans entrepreneurs Reed Hastings (Hastings)
and Marc Randolph (Randolph) in 1997. The company which began its journey as a DVD rental
service provider, in 1999, mailed subscribers’ chosen DVDs to their doorstep. The whole
process involved a subscriber identifying a movie/TV series title on Netflix’s website (the
company by this time possessed a huge catalogue) and Netflix mailed it to their home address

13
“Research Shows Exactly How Much Having a Bad Employer Brand Will Cost You”, op. cit.
14
“What is Employer Brand?”, https://www.talentlyft.com/en/resources/what-is-employer-brand
15
“2019 Global Brand Health Report”, https://hired.com/page/brand-health-report, 2019
16
“How Netflix Became a $100 Billion Company in 20 Years”, https://producthabits.com/how-netflix-became-a-
100-billion-company-in-20-years/

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with a prepaid return envelope from any of the 100 distribution centres. The number of DVDs
that could be delivered in a month depended upon different subscription plans. Interestingly,
in 2006, the company unveiled a $1 million Netflix Prize contest wherein the participating
teams/person had to find a better algorithm to improve Netflix’s recommendation system (an
algorithm to gain insights into a subscriber’s movie preferences based on rental data history
and make recommendations). The prize went to a team of seven mathematicians, computer
scientists, and engineers from the US, Canada, Austria, and Israel. The name of the team was
BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos.17 In the years to follow, slowly and steadily Netflix became the
premier video streaming company in the world. (Annexure IA - ID).

Much of the credit could be apportioned to the company founders’ understanding of the pulse
of the market very early on. Randolph once stated, “One of the biggest challenges that we had,
which I think is also one of the things we did very well, is recognize very early on that if we
were going to be successful, we had to come up with a premise for the company that was
delivery agnostic. But if we were to come out and say, ‘This is all about downloading or
streaming,’ and we said that in 1997 and ’98, that would have been equally disastrous. So we

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had to come up with a positioning which transcends the medium.” In addition, analysts
contended that Netflix’s approach towards analysing viewers’ preferences was a clincher. The
difference in approach was explained by analysts thus, “Cable TV channels typically calculate
their audiences based on viewership or how many viewers a TV show has. Netflix comes at this
from the opposite direction by focusing on how many movies (or shows) a viewer has watched.
Rather than optimizing individual shows to maximize the number of viewers, Netflix instead
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leverages its vast media catalog to optimize for movies watched per individual user. This subtle
yet crucial distinction has allowed Netflix to remain focused on how to better engage viewers
and iterate on its core ‘movies watched’ metric through key product initiatives such as its
CineMatch recommendation algorithm.”18

Apart from having a sense of the market pulse and an algorithm which rarely failed to identify
subscribers’ ‘cinematic’ tastes, what helped Netflix to cover the length and breadth of the
globe was its multi phased global expansion strategy. As explained by analysts, in the first
phase, Netflix began streaming in Canada, a market similar to US in geography and subscribers’
sensibilities. In this market, analysts observed that the ‘challenges of foreignness were less
acute’. The company gained crucial insight about international expansion from this experience
and applied them in the second stage of expansion. The company, which was now equipped to
handle diverse markets, ventured into other world markets. Louis Brennan wrote in HBR, “The
choice of those markets was influenced by their degree of attractiveness, such as from shared
similarities, the presence of affluent consumers, and the availability of broadband internet.”
Learnings from the first two phases helped Netflix accelerate its expansion into nearly 190
other countries by 2017. The company acquired knowledge regarding the content preferences
of people of these countries, how and which marketing content they responded to and above
all, how to organise the company in these markets. Much focus was given to local language
content and forging strategic alliances with local partners. While doing all this, Netflix
staunchly remained loyal to customer centric content.19 Strategists lauded its cost leadership
and differentiation (streaming innovative original content) strategies.20 These strategies

17
Hosch L. William, “Netflix American company”, britannica.com/topic/Netflix-Inc
18
“How Netflix Became a $100 Billion Company in 20 Years”, op. cit.
19
Brennan Louis, “How Netflix Expanded to 190 Countries in 7 Years”, https://hbr.org/2018/10/how-netflix-
th
expanded-to-190-countries-in-7-years, October 12 2018
20
Moore Amelia, “Netflix’s Generic Strategy, Business Model & Intensive Growth Strategies”,
https://www.rancord.org/netflix-business-model-generic-strategy-intensive-growth-strategies-competitive-
th
advantage, November 10 2019

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catapulted Netflix to being a $187.3 billion company as of April 2020 with a subscriber base of
182.9 million globally.21,22

Apart from its meteoric rise, Netflix was also applauded for its employer branding strategies,
the crux of which was its ‘People over Process’ approach and an exemplary organisational
culture. As pointed out by analyst Ross Brooks, “Not content with revolutionising the way the
world consumes media, Netflix is also on a mission to revolutionise organisational culture.”23

Netflix Culture Deck: A Blueprint for Organisational Culture

Netflix’s commitment to organisational culture was evident for the first time in 2009 when the
CEO Hastings and Talent Officer Patty McCord (McCord) drafted a PowerPoint presentation
titled, ‘Netflix Culture Deck’.24 The presentation not just became viral but also became a
benchmark for formulating guidelines for exemplary organisational culture.25 In the words of
McCord, “The first part of it was, ‘Let’s write down the behaviors that we value in our

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teammates’. I wanted to write down ‘behaviors’ and not ‘values’. It’s an important distinction,

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because values are aspirational. Behaviors are what you actually do. So, if we value honesty,
and you keep secrets, then something in the system should either punish that behavior or help
reward the behavior of teaching you how to say something honestly.” Elaborating further
McCord said, “The next chapter was around high performance, and we wrote that after we had
a big layoff. We had ended up with very few people in the company, but were focused. We
realized that when we had the right people, the right focus and the right deadlines, people
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operated pretty independently. It was about adults. It was about them knowing what they
were doing. It’s about having people who are passionate about the work that you need to get
done.”26

Emma Zangs (Zangs), a Contributor to Forbes, categorised and summarised Netflix’s Culture
Deck, the 125 slides PowerPoint into three comprehensive points: Actionable, Question-based
mindset and Upfront. Zangs elaborated on the first point thus, “Each of the nine value is
followed by actionable steps. A one-word value can mean a plethora of things depending on
each employee’s experience and background. So, by giving specific details about how Netflix
understands each word, it gives a framework on how to embody the values. For example, if the
value is HONESTY; then the Action is that ‘You only say things about fellow employees you will
say to their face’.” For second point, Zangs explained, “When one of your talented people does
something dumb, don’t blame them. Ask yourself what context you failed to set. Netflix is a
company that hires self-aware, empowered employees who proactively challenge themselves,
their manager and their team. At each level, questions are key in sorting out challenges.” The

21
Spangler Todd, “Netflix Worth More Than Disney After Streamer’s Stock Hits All-Time High”,
th
https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/netflix-shares-all-time-highs-disney-market-cap-1234581167/, April 15
2020
22
SN Vikas, “Netflix eyes making its service 'more competitive' in India”,
https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/netflix-eyes-making-its-service-more-competitive-in-
india/75297847#:~:text=Netflix%20added%20a%20record%2015.8,breakdown%20of%20its%20member%20base.
nd
, April 22 2020
23
Brooks Ross, “Workplace Spotlight: Netflix Company Culture Focuses on ‘People over Process’”,
th
https://peakon.com/blog/workplace-culture/netflix-company-culture/, June 6 2018
24
Hastings Reed, “Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility”, https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-
st
1798664/2-Netflix_CultureFreedom_Responsibility2, August 1 2009
25
McCord Patty, “How Netflix Reinvented HR”, https://hbr.org/2014/01/how-netflix-reinvented-hr, January–
February 2014
26
“Learning from Netflix: How to Build a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility”,
th
knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-netflix-built-its-company-culture/, May 29 2018

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third point was explained by Zangs thus, “Netflix’s culture is not for everyone. Being upfront
about their company culture helps them to accelerate their selection process. People who do
not align with the culture will not thrive and therefore probably do not apply to a job at Netflix.
The definition of freedom is extensively laid out; for example, employees are required to
perform highly and they can also choose how many leave days they take.”27 The clarity to what
kind of behaviour was expected from Team Netflix was noteworthy. (Annexure II).

Analysts contended that in many ways Netflix’s culture was unique and trend setting. The
company encouraged direct and open feedback instead of anonymous ones. The feedback,
never personal, was expected to be specific, discreet and backed by ample justifications.
Decision making also followed a structured process. The company had the concept of
‘Informed Captains’ wherein every employee was in charge of his/her ship. As reported in the
media, “Rather than having committees take decisions, they have group meetings where a
discussion takes place, but in the end, only the ‘informed caption’ makes a decision, no matter
what position that employee has. Employees are given the full responsibility and freedom to
make decisions when they are reasonably confident of the right bet for managers to take,

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where the managers trust their team members and take that bet.” Other highlights of the
Netflix culture were – ‘Management in context, not control environment’, ‘Freedom and
Responsibility’, ‘Flexibility around work schedule and vacation’, and ‘Measuring Job
Performance’.28

Netflix: ‘People over Process’ Approach

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The company’s ‘People over Process’ approach was explained on the website thus, “Our core
philosophy is people over process. More specifically, we have great people working together as
a dream team. With this approach, we are a more flexible, fun, stimulating, creative,
collaborative and successful organization.” It further pointed out that what differentiated
Netflix from other companies was in the manner it encouraged ‘independent decision-making
by employees’, permitted sharing ‘information openly, broadly, and deliberately’, were
‘extraordinarily candid with each other’, retained ‘only our highly effective people’ and
promoted ‘Avoid rules’ mindset.29

David Anderson (Anderson), an Analyst, elaborated on ‘Avoid rules’ mindset, “Rule avoidance
makes Netflix’s corporate culture unusual. This cultural trait is based on the idea that rules
lead to online business rigidity, which reduces responsiveness to market changes. In this
business analysis case, Netflix Inc. applies its organizational culture to create and maintain
flexibility to adapt to market trends. The global on-demand digital content streaming market
involves frequent changes in technologies and consumer preferences. Through rule avoidance
in its corporate culture, Netflix maintains business flexibility and enables its organization to
adjust and ensure consumer satisfaction.”30

The website further underscored the company’s ‘People over Process’ approach, “Our version
of the great workplace is not sushi lunches, great gyms, fancy offices, or frequent parties. Our
version of the great workplace is a dream team in pursuit of ambitious common goals, for

27
Zangs Emma, “Is Netflix's 2009 Culture Deck Still Relevant Today To Shape Company Culture?”,
forbes.com/sites/emmazangs/2019/03/28/is-netflixs-2009-culture-deck-still-relevant-today-to-shape-company-
th
culture/#50f6b1cc1109, March 28 2019
28
“The Netflix Culture: What’s the Big Fuss About?”, https://pro-capita.com/Media/the-netflix-culture-whats-
th
the-big-fuss-about, February 20 2020
29
“Netflix Culture”, https://jobs.netflix.com/culture
30
Anderson David, “Netflix Inc.’s Organizational Culture & Its Strategic Implications”, rancord.org/netflix-inc-
th
organizational-culture-hrm-strategic-implications, November 18 2019

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which we spend heavily. It is on such a team that you learn the most, perform your best work,
improve the fastest, and have the most fun… Our goal is to inspire people more than manage
them. We trust our teams to do what they think is best for Netflix — giving them lots of
freedom, power, and information in support of their decisions. In turn, this generates a sense
of responsibility and self-discipline that drives us to do great work that benefits the company.
We believe that people thrive on being trusted, on freedom, and on being able to make a
difference. So we foster freedom and empowerment wherever we can.”31 There were
measures put in place which showcased how Netflix held people in high regard. (Exhibit IV).
Exhibit IV
Netflix: ‘People over Process’ Approach
We share documents internally broadly and systematically. Nearly every document is fully open for
anyone to read and comment on, and everything is cross-linked. Memos on each title’s performance,
on every strategy decision, on every competitor, and on every product feature test are open for all
employees to read.
There are virtually no spending controls and few contract signing controls. Each employee is

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expected to seek advice and perspective as appropriate. ‘Use good judgment’ is our core precept.
Our policy for travel, entertainment, gifts, and other expenses is 5 words long: ‘act in Netflix’s best
interest’.
Our vacation policy is ‘take vacation’. We don’t have any rules or forms around how many weeks per
year. Frankly, we intermix work and personal time quite a bit, doing email at odd hours, taking off a
weekday afternoon, etc. Our leaders make sure they set good examples by taking vacations, often
coming back with fresh ideas, and encourage the rest of the team to do the same.
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Our parental leave policy is: ‘take care of your baby and yourself’.
Each employee chooses each year how much of their compensation they want in salary versus stock
options. You can choose all cash, all options, or whatever combination suits you. You choose how
much risk and upside you want. These 10-year stock options are fully-vested and you keep them
even if you leave Netflix.
Source: Compiled by the Author from - “Netflix Culture”, https://jobs.netflix.com/culture

Netflix’s ‘People over Process’ was appreciated by a contributor on Glassdoor who stated in his
review, “The environment encourages you to be a better version of yourself, which is far from
the case in many places and often the opposite of that.” The common knowledge was that the
attributes of honesty, transparency and open communication was just held in high esteem;
they were practiced effortlessly within the company. This was evident in the company
manifesto which stated, “In the tension between honesty and kindness, we lean into honesty.
No matter how honest, though, we treat people with respect.”32 Anderson observed, “Overall,
Netflix maintains a corporate culture that helps keep its organization flexible, innovative, and
responsive to market demand and consumer preferences.”33

Netflix: Employer Branding through Social Media

Apart from arduously cultivating an exemplary organisational culture, Netflix made it known to
the world through innovative story telling on social media. This innovative story telling
contributed enormously in the company’s employer branding drive. Amir Moini (Moini),
Manager of Employer Branding, Netflix, provided a detailed account of the company’s’
employer branding efforts. To begin with, Moini stressed upon the importance of an employer
branding team which possessed the quality of ‘strong empathy and a deep understanding of
human connections’ and disposition to ‘appreciate the importance of storytelling’. Only people

31
“Netflix Culture”, op. cit.
32
“Workplace Spotlight: Netflix Company Culture Focuses on ‘People over Process’”, op. cit.
33
“Netflix Inc.’s Organizational Culture & Its Strategic Implications”, op. cit.

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which matched these attributes were taken on employer branding team. Further, Moini
contended that current employees should do the talking and storytelling. Towing this premise,
Netflix shot and released exclusive videos featuring current employees discussing some
aspects of organisation culture. One such series was captioned, ‘Netflix Culture Explained’. In
one of the related videos, Moini got five employees sitting around a table and discussing their
experiences and offering valuable inputs regarding Netflix’s ‘unlimited vacation’ policy.

In yet another remarkable employer branding video captioned ‘She Rules’, women employees
of the company from diverse backgrounds were shown narrating and discussing their
experiences. One of the employees shared her experience of relocating from Philippines to
Singapore to join the company. The beauty of these was they were candid and very powerful.
Analysts contention in this regard was, “By giving employees the freedom to talk openly about
what they like about their jobs and any difficulties they face, you can create a more authentic,
complete story about your company. While Netflix is known for high production value (they do
make movies, after all), you can create similar content using just your smartphone.” Moini
explained getting employees talk about the company’s culture thus, “There are moments

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where you don’t need to have a company message. You can let employees speak on behalf of
the company.” Moini proposed an interdepartmental approach towards employer branding
and emphasised, “Even though I’m one person doing employer branding proactively, I do think
at Netflix it’s everyone’s job to do employer branding.”34

Incidentally, Netflix’s employer branding campaigns on Facebook had drawn accolades from
Educational material supplied by The Case Centre

many analysts.35
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Netflix Employer Branding: Counter Narrative

Although, Netflix had impressed a good number of analysts and employer branding experts
with the manner in which they approached organisational culture and made it a highlight of its
employer branding campaigns, there was a section of analysts which had a counter argument.
Bretton Putter (Putter), a Contributor to Forbes, drew references from an article published in
The Wall Street Journal and quoted some Netflix employees terming the culture as ‘ruthless,
demoralizing and transparent to the point of dysfunctional’. The authors of the concerned
article Shalini Ramachandran and Joe Flint interviewed nearly 70 current and former Netflix
employees and from their account revealed that many employees were not comfortable with
two of Netflix’s practices – ‘Sunshining’36 and ‘Keeper test’37. Putter quoted from a
disillusioned Netflix employee, Andrew Parker, who was constantly ‘filled with anxiety’ and
was ‘frightened by the performance culture’. This employee revealed that, “It was very much
on our minds: How do I know if I’m about to be fired?” The experiences of such employees led
Putter to comment that, “You do not need a high-performance culture to build a successful
company. There are many companies without well-defined cultures that are growing slowly
and steadily and that’s just fine. However, if you want to build an innovative, disruptive, high-
performance, rapid growth company that attracts and retains the best talent, then you need to
be deliberate about the culture you create. These strong cultures are demanding and hence

34
McLaren Samantha, “Netflix’s Employer Branding Lead Shares the Secrets to Building a Winning Brand from the
Ground Up”, https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2019/netflix-employer-
th
branding-secrets, August 19 2019
35
Bandodkar Divya, “Best 5 Examples of Employer Branding on Facebook”, jobsoid.com/examples-of-employer-
th
branding-on-facebook/, February 13 2020
36
This involved encouraging employees to share a mistake they have made with colleagues thereby promoting
transparency.
37
In Keeper test, as part of the review process, managers must ask themselves whether they would fight to retain
an employee or not.

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they are not for everyone. It is the responsibility of potential and current employees to
honestly analyse the culture, evaluate if they fit the values and expectations of the company
and then decide whether they want to commit to that culture or not.”38

Analysts drew the attention of Netflix’s allegedly toxic and cut throat work culture made
known to the world through former and current employees’ accounts. Evidently, all was not
well at Netflix.39 (Exhibit V).
Exhibit V
Netflix: Threats to Employer Branding
The ‘keeper test’ “I was trying to help somebody in their career, and they maybe saw that as
pressures managers to a sign of weakness from me.” – Former executive who got fired on grounds
fire or be fired that ‘she should have fired somebody on her team faster’.
Executives support a Media reports alleged that one PR executive ranted at a department meeting
‘culture of fear’ about his constant fear of being fired, the response was: “Good, because fear
drives you.” The comment was considered insensitive by analysts.

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‘sunshined’, North colleagues’. Reportedly, Hastings, on getting suspicious, of an executive
Korea style having taken some of her team to get their hair done and bought makeup on
the company’s dime for a launch event, asked the concerned executive to
‘sunshine’ in front of dozens of top executives. The incidence, in addition to
being awkward smelled of discrimination prevalent in the company. Male
executives were never questioned for similarly treating their team members.
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Employees have to use “…speaking the peculiar Netflix dialect is mandatory for survival at the firm.”
cultish jargon in – Netflix employee.
everyday conversation
Fired employees attend “Postmortem emails and meetings explaining why people got fired are viewed
their own post-mortem by some employees as awkward and theatrical when the audiences can be
dozens or even hundreds of people. The emails about firings can reach
hundreds of employees across multiple divisions and can be painfully specific,
calling out an employee’s flaws, while inviting more questions and gossip,
many employees say.” – Media reports.
Policies are “Netflix announced in 2015 that it would offer its employees maternity or
communicated in paternity leave up to a year, trusting employees to use their discretion on
doublespeak whether to take full advantage. after many people construed the policy as an
automatic full year, Netflix executives discussed reining it in, people familiar
with the situation said. The company now instructs managers to tell their
employees that it’s common to take four to eight months.” – Former Netflix
executive.
Employees can’t According to media reports, Belle Baldoza, a former PR manager in Singapore,
comfort or support got into trouble with human resources when she asked co-workers to help
peers who have lost out a receptionist who was fired during Chinese New Year and wasn’t eligible
their job for severance.
Source: Compiled by the Author from - MacLellan Lila, “All the ways Netflix culture sounds like your
worst work nightmare”, https://qz.com/work/1439451/the-seven-ways-netflix-culture-sounds-like-
th
your-worst-work-nightmare/, October 27 2018

38
Putter Bretton, “Netflix's Company Culture Is Not For Everybody And That's Exactly How It Should Be”,
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brettonputter/2018/12/04/netflixs-company-culture-is-not-for-everybody-and-
th
thats-exactly-how-it-should-be/#2250b47a1880, December 4 2018
39
MacLellan Lila, “All the ways Netflix culture sounds like your worst work nightmare”,
https://qz.com/work/1439451/the-seven-ways-netflix-culture-sounds-like-your-worst-work-nightmare/, October
th
27 2018

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Amidst the bouquets and brickbats regarding Netflix’s organisational culture and its efforts to
highlight its ‘People over Process’ approach and make it crucial component of employer
branding, Jörgen Sundberg, CEO of Link Humans, made a different and very pertinent point. He
contended, “Employer brand and the employer value proposition are relationships. An
employer, or a startup should understand that its people are really the only source of its
competitive advantage, because we have many examples of great, change-the-world
technologies that fell flat on their face because the company wasn’t able to execute, that’s
almost always a people issue. So when a startup understands this, then the actual exchange of
this relationship, all of the things that the company offers employees, becomes much more
meaningful because they’re tied to this sense of competitive advantage, this sense of purpose,
and this sense of culture.”40 Meanwhile, Ken Banta41 and Michael Watras42 went a step further
and dismissed the concept of employer branding in the manner mostly followed. In their
opinion, cultivating a separate employer brand disconnected from corporate brand was not a
wise business decision. They contended, “Based on our experience with hundreds of
organizations as both executives and advisers, we believe what has been called ‘the employer
brand’ should in fact grow out of the established company brand. To encourage this

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integration, we advocate abolishing the ‘employer brand’ label and focusing instead on
building out a talent dimension as a key part of the corporate brand. We recommend a three-
step process, led by the CEO and the executive team — not delegated to lower-level HR or
communications people.”43 Was this line of thinking right? Could this logic be applied to Netflix
which had taken years and efforts to cultivate a compelling employer brand?
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Annexure IA
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Netflix: Company Timeline

Year Milestone
1997 Netflix founded
1998 Launched the first DVD rentals and sales website
1999 Introduced monthly subscription
2000 Introduced a personalised movie recommendation system
2002 IPO launched
2003 Reaches 1 million subscribers mark
2006 Awarded $1 million to a developer who introduced video recommendation algorithm
2007 Introduced online streaming services
2008-09 Partnered with electronics companies to stream on internet connected TVs, Xbox 360, etc.
2013 First original content made: ‘House of Cards’
Netflix officially available worldwide (nearly 190 countries) including India, Germany and
2016
Japan
 The company won the first Oscar for ‘The White Helmets’; a big leap for the company
2017
 Netflix users more than cable subscribers in US
 The streaming services became the biggest revenue generator—with more than 130
million subscribers; the rental division remained profitable
2018  The company offered approximately 1,000 original titles; that included series like
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Stranger Things, Narcos, and The Crown. Movies were
also produced.
Compiled by the Author from different sources

40
Sundberg Jörgen, “The value of culture to an employer brand”, https://linkhumans.com/value-culture-
employer-brand/
41
He is the founder of the Vanguard Network, a leadership-development and networking membership program
for high-potential senior leaders.
42
He is the chairman and CEO of Straightline, the strategic branding agency.
43
Banta Ken and Watras Michael, “Why We Need to Rethink ‘Employer Brand’”, https://hbr.org/2019/06/why-
th
we-need-to-rethink-employer-brand, June 7 2019

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Annexure IB
Netflix Stock Chart after IPO

Source: Owens C. Jeremy, “15 years after IPO, Netflix has changed drastically—and is worth nearly
22,000% more”, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/15-years-after-ipo-netflix-has-changed-
th
drasticallyand-is-worth-nearly-22000-more-2017-05-23, May 24 2017
Annexure IC

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Netflix: Expanding Subscriber Base
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Source: Dunn Jeff, “Here's how huge Netflix has gotten in the past decade”,
https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/heres-how-huge-netflix-has-gotten-in-the-past-
th
decade/articleshow/56674820.cms, January 20 2017
Annexure ID
Netflix: Revenue Growth

Source: Srivastava Shrikant, “51+ Netflix Statistics & Facts Worth Knowing in 2020”,
th
https://appinventiv.com/blog/netflix-statistics-facts/, September 30 2019

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Annexure II
Netflix Culture Deck: Highlights
Nine Values Behaviours Nine Values Behaviours
1. Judgement 6. Impact

2. Communication 7.Curiosity

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3.Innovation 8. Courage
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4.Passion 9. Honesty

5.Selflessness

Source: Compiled by the Author from - Hastings Reed, “Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility”,
https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664/2-Netflix_CultureFreedom_Responsibility2,
st
August 1 2009

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