Netflix has updated its 15-year-old code about company culture on Monday. Unlike the original 125 pages The presentation, which the company popularized in 2009, is much shorter, but in response to co-CEO Greg Peters, that doesn’t mean it’s any less essential.
One of the most important changes was the introduction of the company’s famous “retention test,” a process introduced in 2009 that goals to find out whether a manager should hire or fire an worker.
This original the test was: “If X wanted to leave, would I fight to keep him?”
The updated memo keeps the original query but adds an extra dimension: “If I knew everything I know today, would I hire X again?”
While it could appear stressful to consistently evaluate in this manner, Netflix’s latest memo says the company will work with employees on short-term bugs or latest solutions that do not work.
Peters said Edge in an interview this week, it was reported that the memo added a latest section titled “dream team,” a concept that explains how Netflix seeks out high performers and the best people for each position.
This could spell the end of “personality hires” at the company. According to the memo, a “dream team” involves swapping someone you want for someone who does a higher job.
The common characteristics of dream team members are selflessness, creativity, and resilience.
“We try to be clear that this is more of a sports team model than a family model,” Peters said. “We’re going to look for the best player at every position.”
Greg Peters, co-CEO of Netflix. (Photo: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Netflix harvested over 1,500 points of feedback from its employees and inside a 12 months it created an updated memo.
The document now has 2,264 words, which is 1000’s of words lower than previous versions. It reintroduces concepts from the original 2009 set that were lost in the 4 previous updates, including each worker’s sense of private responsibility for the betterment of the company.
Peters explained why the memo on Netflix’s culture is essential: He said Netflix’s culture is a top priority for him, more essential than strategy and execution, because a strong culture allows the company to change into higher in every other way.
Culture is “a tool for improvement, which is why we attach so much importance to it,” he explained.
When asked why the culture memo gets shorter with each iteration, Peters said it’s because the company has gotten higher at shortening and clarifying it over time.
As Peters says, Netflix is “continually trying to better articulate the practices that we can use as a company to grow and become better.”
Read Netflix’s latest documentary on culture Here.