Netflix Is Ignoring Its Employees?
Netflix, ounce touted for its exceptional treatment of employees, has seemingly taking a big step back from its former company ethos.
This article is more than 2 years old
For quite some time, Netflix has been running the show in the streaming service industry. Their epic and sensational miniseries collection bolster top hits like Stranger Things and Squid Game, each international successes in their own right. As Netflix has grown, the number of employees has grown with it, creating a vast distance between executives and workers. Since Netflix‘s inception, the company has had an open Q&A policy so that all its employees could ask the higher-ups meaningful and brutally honest questions about the streaming service. After years of providing this option for employees, the company stated it’d be shutting down the Q&A program for good.
The recent removal of Netflix’s employee-led Q&A may be from a years-worth of problematic original programs from the streaming service. Much critique lies in the stand-up specials Netflix has recently distributed, with comedians like Ricky Gervais and Dave Chapelle spewing bigoted rhetoric throughout their routines. These decisions have gotten exceptionally unanimous condemnation from the public, calling on Netflix executives to vet their specials before release. This opinion is also shared by many employees who have been thoroughly honest with the Q&A portion about their disapproval of recent content.
The questions from Netflix employees about the company’s ethics were increasingly scathing after the release of Dave Chappelle’s special The Closer. Social media platforms were in an uproar due to the senseless, transphobic jokes that occurred throughout the comedian’s set. While many employees used the allotted Q&A service to ask Netflix executives to remove the special from its streaming platform, many higher-ups failed to budge. Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sandoros was vehemently against removing Chappelle’s special altogether. According to an October 8th email to fellow executives, Sandoros reiterated that the special would not be taken down in the foreseeable future. Many suspect this decision was due to the success of Chappelle’s previous Netflix special, which is the most-watched stand-up special in the streaming service’s history.
This tone switch at Netflix is highly hypocritical to the company’s ethical foundation, outlined in a viral 2009 PowerPoint. Chief talent officer Patty McCord published an extensive presentation on hiring, management, and content, deviating from a profit focus to highlighting the importance of sharing valuable content. The PowerPoint quickly circulated around Silicon Valley, with other tech company executives praising McCord and Netflix’s ethical exaltation. But as Netflix’s users dwindle, a new mindset has infiltrated the company ethos that looks to viewership and attention to gain profits despite repugnant language and bigotry.
In over a decade, Netflix recently announced that the platform started losing users. This is an issue with its competitors like HBO Max and Apple TV pumping out successful TV shows and movies without public uproar. When the news broke that Netflix’s users were declining, its stock fell immediately by 25%. The streaming service laid off 450 employees after that, with many expecting more layoffs in the upcoming months.
Netflix’s new marketing objective isn’t doing the company any favors. The public and its employees have showcased disdain for the platform’s recent content, but executives remain resistant to overhaul ideas.
