BusinessWeek.com’s playbook section offers a very short, but highly intriguing article title How Netflix nets and keeps talent. Here it is in it’s entirety:
PAY LAVISHLY Higher-than-average salaries—and tying bonuses and raises to the market, not a pool—can make stars less likely to bolt. Money is no object in hiring.
PROVIDE COMPENSATION CHOICE Employees are more likely to excel if they can pick how much of their compensation they get in stock rather than cash.
FOSTER TALENT HUNTERS Encouraging everyone to hire the three people they’ve loved working with most during their careers creates an intense, fun workplace.
LET THEM GO Don’t give B performers a middling raise. Give them a decent chunk of cash and show them the door. And don’t surprise them. The laid-off leave with their dignity.
LIMIT RULES They reduce error. But they also stymie innovation. At Netflix, employees are responsible for their choices, even in how much vacation to take
Let Them Go is one we often see in companies…that is they accept mediocrity and do not let B performers go. In sales this approach is cancerous. The mediocre performers often have a negative effect on the top performers.
How progressive is Netflix’s management? Employees determine how much vacation to take? That is the first time I have encountered that approach. That is an intriguing approach, isn’t it?