HR Chief Magazine June 2026 | Page 77

“ This means setting bandmates up for success by opening new doors to explore creativity and deliver tangible impact, whatever your role.” Netflix, meanwhile, encourages employee autonomy by cutting back on what it considers unnecessary processes. The company explains in its culture memo that managers should“ practice context” rather than control by giving employees the“ clarity needed to make good decisions.”
In practice, this means keeping rules as minimal as possible – its holiday policy is simply“ take a vacation,” and employees have no set hours. Instead, performance is measured largely on output.“ You might think that this kind of freedom leads to chaos,” says Sergio. While we’ ve had our fair share of failures – and a few people have taken advantage of our culture – our emphasis on individual autonomy has created a very successful business.” This approach can be traced back to 2009, with the company’ s initial culture memo criticising company models that are too process-driven. While this may deliver near-term results, the initial memo says, this lack of agility can create a company that could“ grind painfully into irrelevance.” Sergio says:“ Off the beaten path is how we have decided to lead the people’ s agenda at Netflix. By now, I have no doubts this team will succeed in keeping our unusual ways at scale and in doing so, creating the conditions for everyone to do the best work of their lives.” hrchiefmagazine. com
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