Absolutely terrible and soul-crushing - Customer Service Representative Netflix Employee Review

1.0
4 Apr 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Free bananas, apples, coffee. Low priced soda. Free Netflix account. I worked with (not for!) some amazing people. If your supervisor likes you, you will be treated very well and have some degree of leniency when it comes to meeting stats and time spent on the phone.

Cons

Pretty much everything else not noted above. Most days the "What's working?" list is shorter than the "What's broken?" one. No communication between departments. Customer service is forced to make things up because the Netflix "engineering" or "research" teams don't give any sort of information to the reps regarding estimated time to service restoration during outages. I put engineering and research in quotes because, as a CSR, you never actually speak to them. They are merely referenced, like mythology or fairy tales. Reps are given goals that are nearly impossible to consistently meet, in what I believe to be a fairly obvious system that gives Netflix an opportunity to fire virtually any employee for not hitting their metrics. You basically are there by the grace of your boss, if they want to find a reason to get rid of you it will be fairly easy for them to do so. The customer dissatisfaction is worded in such a way that many people are leaving feedback on Netflix, not the individual rep, but this DSAT number must be below a certain percentage or you risk losing your job. You are basically encouraged to burn through as many calls as quickly as possible, placating the customer or flat out lying to them (blaming their ISP, home network, or device manufacturer) enough that they'll be compelled to say that they're satisfied after you say "please stay on the line for a one question survey" and then promptly hang up on them. There is absolutely no way that you are going to have consistent, quality interactions in 4:30 minutes or less, ESPECIALLY after the missteps that Netflix has made this year. But if your numbers drop, or you spend too much time trying to help out, be prepared to be "coached". Coaching is such an absurd term, because it implies that there is a sort of team camaraderie or human aspect. My last coaching session with my boss involved being told that I was not giving my all. I was only supposed to be a contractor for 59 days. I was supposed to have health insurance by now, and some security as an employee. Instead we are told that they can only afford to hire on so many people, and better luck next time, but you're welcome to stay on as a temp if you like! So yes, I don't really feel like giving my all. Despite putting in consistently good numbers, multiple people on my team have told me (independently) that they are afraid of being fired at any time. I get the feeling that many people are there only until they find something else. Netflix was actually a considerable pay cut from my last job, but even if the pay was higher the way they treat their employees is at the top of the list of the worst employers I've ever personally experienced. Work / life balance is non-existent. While going through some personal issues in my life, my supervisor told me to "leave it behind me" when I walked in the door, not offering anything close to a compassionate response. One last observation: the people I've noticed who seem to be TRULY happy there are the ones who are too young to know any better. I'm not old by any means, but I'm also not an 18-24 year old kid who doesn't realize that jobs don't need to be like this, that you can actually be treated like a human being and be *inspired* to perform, rather than doing it because you fear for your job on a daily basis. Eventually Netflix will chew them up and spit them out, too. Ask yourself why anyone should give loyalty to a company where an employee celebrating a 6 month anniversary is considered a veteran? Also, the positive reviews on here are probably left by Netflix management. It cites things they don't even offer anymore at the Hillsboro facility (like free mac&cheese, and, oh I dunno, BENEFITS for most of the people here). You will most likely be a temp with Netflix (meaning no benefits) until you quit or get fired. I've been lucky enough to work for some truly amazing companies, and Netflix is definitely not one of them.

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Pros

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Cons

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3.0
20 Sept 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Paycheck - So many good people - Such a great service - Hope

Cons

I have been working for a year at Netflix. I've seen what was supposed to be very mature people, sharing absolutely almost no contact that anyone would qualify as "human". Sure, that sounds hyperbolic, let me develop (and maybe cherry-pick a little). Have you heard about our culture? The one about giving candid feedback? - I have seen people complaining of behavior they literally demonstrated themselves in the following days. But I have also seen these feedbacks resulting in tears both in the eyes of HR persons or fellow engineers. How human does that sound? Have you heard about our culture? The one about not tolerating brilliant jerks? I have nonetheless seen angriness and frustration, expressed in private, public and meeting. People rejecting new ideas by default, like, any ideas they wouldn't have worked themselves on for days wouldn't count. Even if those ideas are from the best examples in the industry or academics. How many publications/contributions have you seen from Netflix to computer science in general? How does it compare against any other company of that size in the Bay Area? Can you imagine either the real insecurity (x)or the lack of innovation that could lead to this situation? Except for a few managers, directors or VPs feeling free enough to behave at work in the same way than how they live, almost every engineer I have been interacting with, have shared as little as possible about their private life. The rare exceptions of interpersonal exchange ends up around some sort of competitive behavior: Who is the most geeky, sportive, owns the fastest car/biggest house/visited the strangest place. I've heard workaholic people complaining about ambitious peers who were over-managing, over-working to get even more work to do after. I feel like we're past workaholism at this point. Maybe there are a lot of shy people! Maybe there is a culture of fear, not only of being fired, but also a fear of interacting with people going to be fired. Maybe it's all in my head, maybe people giving 5 stars to their experience here don't care the human aspect of a company. And maybe they're right. What about your crush, your fears, your desires for the future, your appetite for life? I've been blessed to work in enough large companies to know that the behavior that I'm seeing in Netflix is not a healthy one. I've also been lucky enough to work in other industries more socializing than tech and I can tell that Netflix has a lot to do on that side, and off-sites or team meeting won't solve that problem. I am afraid about the tragic, but inevitable consequences of the ways people operate in this company: I guess that the day the worst will happen, it will be addressed in an impersonal memo by Reed; followed-up by 1 or 2 reminders during offsites. Possibly commented by HR in a Q&A document. And move on. This company seems as reactive in its management of people as it is proactive in its business operations. I still work at Netflix though, not only for the paycheck, but because I hope. I hope it will change. The needed change can't happen from a candid feedback, a Q&A, or only from inside. Change has to come from everyone, including people who take time to read comments like this one. Netflix has so many good people and offers such a great service. As a curious Netflix employee reading this review: think about your past, isn't there a big human thing that you would love to feel again in your current company that you've felt in the past? As a candidate: think about what would be a good question to ask to that HR partner once your package is almost here to be offered to you, think about that comment you make at the end of an interview when you're being asked by an engineer: "Do you have any question for me?" What Netflix needs is an inception, something that anyone and everyone would think about after leaving the call or the room they were sharing with you. Ask yourself, and then the others, the question you should ask if you think you want to spend a good amount of your life and energy in the place you're applying for. - Will I learn and contribute to the knowledge of other's? Even outside the company? - Will I see emotional responses from my peers? Will that be for other reasons than being fired or bluntly criticized? - Will I find a friendly environment that will nurture my appetite for life? - What is the amount of emotional interaction (celebrating, sharing, playing) to expect from a company whose service is the best to "entertain"? - Do androids dream of electric sheep?

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