Popular streaming service Netflix and its CEO, Reed Hastings, recently sent out a directive to managers about a test that would determine the fate of their teams. For employees who didn’t pass, their future at the company would be called into question.
With sweeping layoffs an almost daily occurrence, the idea of a secret “keeper test” determining the value of employees doesn’t even seem as jarring as it should. It’s honestly no wonder that a recent survey found 1 in 3 Americans has anxiety about potentially losing their job.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings asked managers to do a ‘keeper test’ and fire all employees who failed.
In a memo sent out to its employees, Netflix explained that it viewed everyone at the company as a “dream team,” writing, “We model ourselves on being a professional sports team, not a family.”
“A family is about unconditional love. A dream team is about pushing yourself to be the best possible teammate, caring intensely about your team, and knowing that you may not be on the team forever,” Netflix informed its employees.
The billion-dollar company claimed that it wanted to strengthen its “dream team” and encouraged managers to use a “keeper test” to determine whether or not an employee should be fired.
The ‘keeper test’ requires managers to judge every employee based on whether they are integral to the Netflix team.
“To ensure they have the right player at every position, we ask [managers] to apply what we call the ‘keeper test’ — asking, ‘if X wanted to leave, would I fight to keep them?’ Or ‘knowing everything I know today, would I hire X again?’ the memo stated. “If the answer is no, we believe it’s fairer to everyone to part ways quickly.”
“Our Dream Team is driven by performance — not seniority, tenure, or unconditional loyalty,” the memo bluntly noted.
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The memo, which was originally seen as being too harsh for a public corporate document, has undergone several revisions since its first release and is now only five pages. In an interview with The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the memo got shorter because the company became “better at articulating” its practices.
Peters explained that the original memo may have incorrectly communicated that Netflix “was a harsh and maybe cutthroat place,” which he claimed it wasn’t. In the three versions since, Peters said the company may have swung too far on the other side of the pendulum and become too soft.
He added that the memo applied to all employees, not just managers. “We encourage everyone to speak to their managers about what’s going well and what’s not on a regular basis,” the memo stated. “This helps avoid surprises.”
Netflix isn’t the only company to have overly high expectations for its employees.
In a 2022 survey from Resume Builder, 63% of managers said employees should exceed expectations on the job, while 35% said they are OK with employees meeting only expectations. The survey also found that 75% of managers are OK with firing an employee who isn’t exceeding their expectations, while only 25% said that it is not justified to fire an employee who only does the bare minimum because they are technically still doing their job.
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It’s a bit unrealistic for big companies, CEOs, executives, and other managers to expect perfection from their staff. Especially when the staff is expected to overperform consistently.
On top of that, resorting to firing employees that managers don’t see fit to keep at the company instead of giving them a chance to remedy any mistakes won’t build trust between managers and their employees, especially when new people join the staff.
There needs to be open communication, and instilling a “keeper test” only promotes fear. It doesn’t account for biases that exist in companies, and makes keeping a job more like a popularity contest. There should be a more thorough and productive way to assess an employee’s performance without the threat of being fired hanging over them.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
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