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Netflix Replaces Vacation Policy with Trust and Responsibility

by | 7:30 pm, September 2, 2010 | 2 Comments

The Telegraph is running a story about Netflix's rather unusual vacation policy ... or more to the point, lack of policy.

At Netflix, the vacation policy is audaciously simple and simply audacious. Salaried employees can take as much time off as they'd like, whenever they want to take it. Nobody – not employees themselves, not managers – tracks vacation days.

In other words, Netflix's holiday policy is to have no policy at all.

The article goes on at length about how well it's working for the company. I love this quote from the article though.

The idea is that freedom and responsibility, long considered fundamentally incompatible, actually go together quite well.

Most people know that you can't have freedom with responsibility out but few seen to realize that without responsibility you can't have freedom. Without responsibility, freedom is rapidly lost. Just ask any teenager.

Netflix has learned what a lot of dot-com companies have learned over the years. You don't have to have hard-nosed policies in place to get production from your employees. Happy employees are productive employees and they're more likely to stick with you even if they get offered more money from someone else. Those companies with more Dilbert-like policies tend to have high turn-over and low morale.

Guess what? The same things it true in "Real Life." When citizens are free and responsible, there is impressive growth. When you remove their freedom and responsibility there is stagnation. Guess which policy Obama and company are using?

Category: Colorado Politics, Politics, PPC
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Comments

  1.   Kevin J Jones
      September 3rd, 2010 @ 7:34 pm

    What’s the demographic profile of Netflix employees? I’d say they are likely overachievers who take initiative, who are highly trustworthy to begin with and who feel ashamed of mooching. I’d say they attract the top 30 percent of employees.

    Netflix is a lot younger than almost every town and city in the country. If Netflix gets too big, it will attract free riders who will ruin it for everyone else.

    So too with government and society in general. With half the country being below average in competence and trustworthiness, there will be inevitable problems.

    Liberty is only good for a competent self-governing people. Most of us don’t achieve that minimal standard until after the age of majority, and many of us never do.

    If one’s general philosophy can be summarized as “in my libertarian wonderland, this would not be a problem,” you need more experience with dumb or dishonest people.

  2.   T.L. James
      September 3rd, 2010 @ 8:41 pm

    If one’s general philosophy can be summarized as “in my libertarian wonderland, this would not be a problem,” you need more experience with dumb or dishonest people.

    I find myself frequently thinking much the same thing.

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