![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-388919-100x100.png\")
The high definition employees also return with slight cracks at the edges.
1 replies
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@PunditGuy: I thought that the HD employees often returned as a lower quality version of themselves, hoping no one would notice.
The high definition employees also return with slight cracks at the edges.
@PunditGuy: I thought that the HD employees often returned as a lower quality version of themselves, hoping no one would notice.
Wow...treating educated grown ups responsible for your success like adults! That is an outrage!
As a manager I always try to offer as much flex as i can, within the limits of policy (and sometimes out of policy). You would be amazed at how much flak i get from the old line. Even with better than budget performance, high staff and customer satisfaction and low turnover. I constantly get smacked around for letting grown ups act like grown ups. There is a reason the old guys need to get out of the business ASAP. Tech savvy newcomers just dont enjoy being treated like idiots.
@Sidecutter: im a designer and my boss actually lets me work from home since he found out that if im at home i work twice as fast (slow computers at the office, plus im comfortable at home more than at the office, regardless of the fact that the office is quite awesome). I say it´s due to my +5 boxers of productivity, unfortunately they take up all my equipment slots.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-871030-100x100.png\")
Wow, I want to work for Netflix.
@MooseOfReason: I'd prefer to do that in a decent work environment that respects me as a person than what I'm doing now.
@ViperBorg - SpaceBat hates Facebook: Me too.
I wish more companies would treat their employees like adults. So many places refuse to allow telecommuting even a few days a week because some people can't deal with the concept and want to watch employees every move.
Best Buy did something akin to this in their corp office where staff could work from anywhere and were based on workload, not 9-5
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-90561-100x100.png\")
What is this \"9-5\" you speak of?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1564088-100x100.png\")
I have a heard of a 8 to 5+(stay until work is done), but never a 9-5.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-770835-100x100.png\")
So they get paid for any time off they take? What if someone takes a few months off to travel? They still get paid?
I can take unpaid time off at my job if I want to travel too. The only difference is that my I bill my hours so I would have to make them up during the year. Bleh.
@barb95: It's not about getting paid for time off: they're paid to get things done. If they can complete the tasks that they're supposed to do AND take a month away from the office, that benefits the company--work is completed and the employee is happy.
@Packy Anderson: \"If they can complete the tasks that they're supposed to do AND take a month away from the office, that benefits the company\"
*Sigh* I wish more companies realized this. I hate that when you are an hourly employee, you get rewarded (with overtime) for doing your job slower. And you get punished (possibly hours cut or laid off) if you get things done faster. It sucks to be efficient sometimes.
@barb95: I work there and can tell you it's 100% paid. If you try to take 2 months off and you've only been there 2 weeks you're going to get smacked down, though.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-954103-100x100.png\")
@barb95: I bet they don't get unlimited paid vacation. I don't work for Netflix, but I imagine that they have some sort of vacation-time bank you can accrue hours to, and get paid for. If you want to take extra time off after that, that's probably up to you, but without pay.
The progressive thought is that a month to go on a refreshing trip will reap multitudes more in benefits, in the form of a productive, refreshed employee.
@bender123: That may be the progressive thought, but I took a 2 week vacation 4 years ago and when I got back to work I could barely remember how to turn on my computer. It took 2 weeks to get back up to speed.
I will grant you that I may be a special case and not the norm.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-210047-100x100.png\")
Check in with them when legitimate competitors emerge. Or just ask Googlers where tea service went after the stock dropped a few hundred points. All it takes is five seconds of legitimate hardship and all of this non-standard stuff goes away completely.
@ADismalScience: or, they realize (like many European companies) that treating your employees like humans with a civilized vacation policy results in greater company loyalty and productivity. Sounds crazy, I know.
@ADismalScience: I don't know what this \"tea service\" is that you're talking about but Google still provides free meals to employees and still has well-stocked kitchens near the offices with, yes, free tea and coffee. I ate at Google's main campus last night as an employee's guest, so I am very sure that my information is up-to-date. The only change I've seen in recent months is that they've done away with to-go containers in the cafeterias to make it harder for people to take food home to feed their entire families (which has always been against the rules).
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-537475-100x100.png\")
@ADismalScience: To be fair to Google, they decreased in things that while nice, were ultimately unnecessary. It's not like they cut health care for their employees - they ended some of the freebies that were considered to be perks. I'd rather live without free coffee in my office if it means that my employer keeps me on their payroll and continues to supply decent health insurance.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-156301-100x100.png\")
@ADismalScience: the company i work for is suffering through these times, but we still have unlimited sick days....no one really wants to use a lot since the recently layoffs, but no policy has changed to take that away.
@ADismalScience: Actually, I've heard Google still treats their employees pretty well, even if not as well as they used to. Also, GoDaddy treats their employees VERY well.
They do okay. The point is, it's all fun and games until a lean competitor forces your board to answer uncomfortable cost questions at a shareholder meeting.
@ADismalScience: I think NetFlix will be fine. They've been doig this for a while, yes? And there is no real direct competition out there for NetFlix, and I don't see any competition coming any time soon.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-25844-100x100.png\")
@nakedscience: Lets not forget that ten years ago nobody thought Blockbuster could be brought down. Then, seemingly in a blink of an eye, some upstart rental company appeared out of nowhere and has nearly destroyed them with a better model.
Who was that company?
There is always a better model.
@humphrmi: The thing is, NetFlix is unique. Blockbuster wasn't. NetFlix offers a LOT more than just online DVD rentals now.
@nakedscience: I agree with you, but I would substitute \"first to market\" for the word \"unique\". When someone else comes to market with something even more \"unique\" or a lower price, NetFlix will either adapt their model or be forced to cut costs to remain competitive.
Well, they're sitting there with costs that most companies just don't have. If I'm Google, I'm looking at offering video on demand - they have the infrastructure and the YouTube brand, after all. Why not sell a premium service?
If I'm Amazon I'm thinking about taking them on. I have the huge delivery infrastructure, the prime service, and the network capabilities to both stream video and deal with packages - why not?
It's a profitable market space. Competition is inevitable now that the business model has proven success. I guarantee you that there are big-money people out there looking to take Netflix on. And when they do, let's see what happens to those bennies!
@ADismalScience: meanwhile, as the linked article states quite clearly, other strong companies at the time (2007) were also adding benefits even in the face of competition.
Meet the new business, not the same as the old business. Hope you're used to change!
As I stated, these benefits are a FUNCTION of being a strong company - they disappear in adversity and competition. Your counter is circuitous. Controlling costs isn't just \"stodgy\" or \"old-school,\" it's the finest hedge available. You can succeed during the idylls by claiming that pampering genius, entitled employees is key to your profits, but that fantasy has a way of ending badly. Just ask someone who works at Yahoo or Microsoft.
@ADismalScience: Microsoft was adding benefits while I was there with a partner company, much like they did in the early 90s.
Smart new-school executives have often been seen increasing those low-cost, low-impact benefits like time off and telecommuting. mythago said it best below.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-483565-100x100.png\")
@ADismalScience: What about Zappo's? They're actually in a fairly competitive market, and their culture still is pretty generous toward employees.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-321187-100x100.png\")
@ADismalScience: Perhaps their benefits are one of the reasons they ARE a strong company. When everybody wants to work for you and you have your pick of employees, and when your employees don't want to leave because of the great benefits, that's good for your company. People who abuse the system or weaken the company through taking advantage of it know they have a hundred others waiting for their job, and what's out there is worse.
@mythago:
Maybe. Hey, I'm all for a world where you treat grateful people like gold and in response they defeat leaner, hungrier competitors. Ford once paid $5 an hour, right? And of course this whole \"China as the engine of world growth\" thing must be because they all ride unicorns to work.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-288368-100x100.png\")
So if I take a job with netflix, i can take vacation every morning from 9-10:30am?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-22777-100x100.png\")
Wait wait wait... the company trusts its employees? Really? Without micromanagement?
Holy crap, how do I apply?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87183-100x100.png\")
My guess is 99% of employees will be fair, honest, and \"adult\" about using these perks. Unfortunately, for us normal, law-abiding \"adults\", there's always one who has to buck the system, get more than they give, abuse the system, and ruin it for everyone.
I really wish those 1% would be treated as a minority instead of ruining it for everyone. I never did get why that happens (mass punishment for the act of one or a small few who abuse the system).
Bravo to Netflix. Let's hope they have no problems dealing with those who will abuse the system eventually.
@citking: It's because no one knows who will be in the 1% until they've already abused the system.
Suppose the company fires all those people, and also has some normal losses due to people finding jobs elsewhere. They have to hire a new batch of people... and it's inevitable there will be a couple of people in that group who abuse it as well.
There's simply no way to offer flexible benefits like that without people taking advantage of it. In a perfect world (for example), movie theaters would stop paying people to sell and check tickets, and lower the ticket price because of it. Instead they could put a box outside where people would deposit the correct amount of cash. Everyone wins and money is saved on both sides.
But since people suck, if that happened in the real world everyone would just go to the movies for free and someone would steal any money that was actually left in the box.
@chocobo: Kind of like the Halloween ritual where someone isn't home and is told to take 1 piece of candy out of the dish. I do understand that.
Perhaps the smart, honest people should devise some sort of trap to catch these people and do like a Logan's Run: You get caught (instead of old), your hand turns red (red handed, get it?) and we hunt you down and kill you or something.
@citking: I bet they fire those 1% pretty quickly. If that's the case, thent hey really ARE treating them like minorities.
I work in a department of three, and love to travel. We arranged it a few years back to all be involved in each others' work, and use one email for clients to send.
the result is a more \"help desk\" work environment, which lets one person leave early, come in late, take days off without needing to notify the whole world or have work missed, because another one of us will just take over and cover without the ouside needing to know.
people don't like taking vacations because of the prep work and worry - but since we've transitioned to that workset nobody cares when or where we go - and our boss is cool with us maximizing our time - and then some
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-183296-100x100.png\")
I normally refrain from pointing out typos, but... \"fly the coupe?\" Unless you're literally talking about flying cars -- in which case where do I get one? -- the expression is \"fly the coop.\"
And yes, I wish I worked for a company with a vacation policy like that.
Fly the coupe, huh?
Seems like a bad business model to work in a car.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-462867-100x100.png\")
This sounds great. I could see it being annoying though, depending on the corporate culture. I'd hate having to guess how much vacation a passive aggressive boss really thinks is ok. If you want me to wear 27 pieces of flair, tell me to wear 27 pieces of flair!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-190860-100x100.png\")
@Magspie: Honestly I've heard about this policy and I'm much happier having three weeks of scheduled allowed vacation- I wouldn't ever take any time off if I had unlimited vacation.
I have unlimited sick days now and in the last 4 years I've never stayed home and not worked while sick - which is no different than telecommuting. I'm sure if I had five sick days when I felt crappy I'd lay in bed and leave my laptop in the bag.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-121828-100x100.png\")
@Magspie: Well technically, 27 is the minimum number of pieces of flair. You don't want to do just the minimum, do you?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-2688-100x100.png\")
@Magspie: You nailed it right on the head. That happens where I work since we have this policy. It's pretty fantastic.
/sarcasm
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-175610-100x100.png\")
And in my job, I'm afraid to take vacation.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-488475-100x100.png\")
@MyPetFly:
I don't like taking mine because we have no sick time. I get paid by the hour and if I'm sick and have no time, I don't get paid.
I'm taking two days off next week because my boss is going on maternity leave, and when she does I can't take any until she's back. So a five-day weekend it is.
@MyPetFly: I technically have it, but since there's nobody else to do the work and the weekly and monthly deadlines have to get met to keep the unit viable, I'm working the full days even if I go away. So not much point. A month off sounds fabulous.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-137408-100x100.png\")
I would wager most employees end up taking less vacation, and those that take more vacation days than they otherwise would have still get their work done. When employees have a set number of vacation days, especially when those days are lost if not used, you can bet an employee is going to take all the days they can, and probably not worry too much about missing the work when they aren't there.
@ianmac47: thats how my old company was as well. For salary positions, you could take pretty much as much time off as you wanted, and even if you hadnt accrued the time off you could request Paid time off if you have a vacation or something coming up. Salary positions were typically those where people actually care about their job and are responsible, so they dont take off for 2 months for no reason, so it works out.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-74847-100x100.png\")
@ianmac47: A friend of mine works for a company with a similar policy and says this is exactly what happens. No one wants to be seen to be taking more time off that others, so overall people take fewer vacation days. It makes her company look all cool and flexible, but in reality it causes a lot more angst about taking vacation than if there was a set number of days each year.
I currently work for a company that has the same policy. It was announced that this would be our new vacation policy, and that some big name companies had already instituted this policy with great success so we would be following suit.
All told, it's worked out fine so far. Everyone behaves like adults, and no one disappears for 3 months at a time. I like being able to take as many days off as I need (it's really great when you're sick and you don't have to worry about conserving those precious few sick days you typically get per year).
The *only* disadvantage that I've been able to discern from this policy is that you don't get that nice payout when you leave the company, for accrued but unused PTO. That's kind of a bummer.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1504-100x100.png\")
And when you leave, how much vacation do you get paid for?
@RandomHookup: We have this policy at my place of employment. You don't get any payment since you don't accrue vacation time. It looks really good on the books for the company since they don't have that financial liability hanging over them all the time.
@Mobius: But what if you get screwed over by a manager who won't let you take vacation? I don't argue that you are right, but I'm not sure our laws have caught up with creative ways of doing business like this. I could see a judge awarding someone vacation pay anyway.
I doubt this is exactly as it appears. My employer (another high tech company who draws from the same set of prospective employees that netflix does) also offers \"unlimited time off\" as a benefit. But, if we want more than six weeks a year, we have to ask permission from our manager, and then his manager. Who knows if you'd actually get the permission or not, I don't think anyone I know has been brazen enough to ask for more than the allowed six weeks.
So despite the \"unlimited\" policy, it's really a six-weeks-a-year policy, in practice. Not that I'm complaining, six weeks isn't bad.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-223835-100x100.png\")
If any of my employees left for a month it would probably occur to me that I don't need them...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-181751-100x100.png\")
IIRC, Xerox employees get unlimited sick time, which includes time off to care for sick kids and other loved ones. While unlimited vacation seems like a great concept, I can't help but think like ianmac47 - many of my coworkers would turn this into a nut-off to see how few vacation days they take per year. After all, the company can't spare the really important employees for weeks at a time.
Unlimited sick days, though, would keep contagious employees from spreading the SARS/Hamthrax/disease of the moment to their coworkers, and also reduce stress levels of parents scrambling to find alternate arrangements for sick children. Add in work-from-home flexibility, and that's a company culture I'd apply for.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-334007-100x100.png\")
awesome yet sucks at the same time!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-425602-100x100.png\")
I haven't had a day off since I was hired except for Christmas and New Years.
Is Netflix hiring?
This is probably more due to the fact that companies have to carry accrued vacation time as a liability from an accounting perspective.
\"Unlimited\" vacation means that there is no set amount of vacation that the company has to pay out when you quit either.
Realistically, people still have to listen to their managers and it's unlikely that they can take off for a month like that.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
Some studies have shown that workers in other countries are more healthy because they get to take more vacation and rest time. American workers are some of the most overworked in the world, and have the vacation time below a lot of 3rd world countries. We are absolutely terrible at preventative medicine...both physical and mental. Is it a wonder we are also the most over-medicated?
@Saboth:
We also have the highest rates of burnout. I was in my chat room once with some other Americans and some Europeans and when we Americans said we were lucky to get two weeks a year, the Europeans EXPLODED. They thought that was the most barbaric thing they had ever heard.
At the time, I only had one week; now I have two, but that's still not enough.
My old job didnt have unlimited paid time off, but I was given so much that I couldnt possibly do my job and use all of it within the year. (a believe me I tried). My first year there, I took over a month paid time off over the course of 12 months. The thought is that as long as you can do your job, there is no problem with it. I was a systems admin, so even when away I could remote in and fix things with a company provided laptop and a company paid for sprint broad band card, or they could call me on my company paid for phone, which also got email all the time.
There were caps on how much vacation you could have stocked up at once, I think it was like 32 days for your first year, once you hit that cap, you had to use some and then you could accrue back to the cap, so you ouldnt take more than a month straight off, although it is likely that if you did, you would be fired for not doing your job anyway.
They also gave a 6 month paid sobatical for employees 10 year anneversary, and by your 5th year, you accrued paid time off to work 4 days a week, taking the 5th as paid time off every week, and still have enough for a 2-3 week vacation.
The cut these benefits dramatically right before I quit (part of quitting was the cut in benefits, since they pay was lower than average for the position, but when I took the job the benefits made up for it)
Paid vacation? Or just vacation?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-391270-100x100.png\")
Well no wonder they have such excellent customer service. They're wonderful to work for. Wonder if they're hiring.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-46738-100x100.png\")
I presume they don't get unlimited paid vacation time...
Wait - it's \"semi-enraging\" that a private company can make decisions on how well to treat it's workers? This is actually enraging to people? What in the hell for - because you're jealous? I'll bet Netflix doesn't have a problem attracting and retaining talented employees. Ergo, the extra expense is worth it, much like how Google treats their employees.
I would gladly trade paid vacation time for more vacation days, and an environment that allowed me to actually use them.
that whole situation where some people are afraid to take time off because other people are not taking time off....screw that. I'm taking my time off regardless of what everyone else does.
\"The executives trust staffers to make their own decisions on everything - from whether to bring their dog to the office\"
STOP DOING THIS PEOPLE.
I am allergic to dogs.
ALLERGIC.
I have had two different jobs where despite telling everybody that I am allergic they have felt it was fine and dandy to bring their dogs and puppies in whenever they feel like. For me, the allergy isn't so bad that a few minutes while everybody coos over the cute puppy will kill me.
But there are people whose allergies are much, much worse than mine and just because you think it's fun to have your dog follow you around all day doesn't mean it's a very kind thing to put other people's health at risk.
I'm sorry, but I've known plenty of people who had no qualms ignoring my issue to think that employees could just police that themselves.
The unlimited sick days though? I actually have no problem with unless somebody is abusing it to the point of infringing on their co-workers. Because I know I desperately have needed to call out sick for the last two weeks to nurse a cold and heal so that I wouldn't spread it to the whole office/all of our customers. But I couldn't because our sick leave policy is so restrictive.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1162726-100x100.png\")
\"The unlimited sick days though? I actually have no problem with unless somebody is abusing it to the point of infringing on their co-workers. Because I know I desperately have needed to call out sick for the last two weeks to nurse a cold and heal so that I wouldn't spread it to the whole office/all of our customers. But I couldn't because our sick leave policy is so restrictive.\"
It's getting even MORE restrictive where a relative works here. It's a pretty big company for the area, and they just recently introduced the rule that if an employee takes a sick day off, they are REQUIRED to bring a doctor's note. There's been something particularly nasty floating around the area lately and he got it two weeks ago. (One older neighbor down the street ended up in the hospital with this.) So, rather than dealing with taking a day off, he went to work sick. Sneezing his head off, dribbling from his nose all over his keyboard, sweating/freezing from the fever, face swelled up from the sinus infection. There was a 4 foot \"quarantine\" radius around his cubicle that no one else would dare cross walking through the office. His boss would only talk to him through his closed door. He eventually just couldn't take it anymore and did take the day off. He had to drag over to the walk-in clinic for the note, and the doc diagnosed allergies (??!!??). When he went back the next day, one of the other bosses had a \"talk\" with him about how badly he was needed and that he shouldn't take any days off. Asshole. (Next time he's sick I told him to purposely puke on that bosses desk.) Within the next couple of days of coming back to work, people were dropping like flies. Half of his office and about 15 of the floor workers were out. The two bosses were out for 3 days. Serves them right. This is what those restrictive policies cause.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-355288-100x100.png\")
\"Employees sometimes return all scratched up and unplayable\"
Bravo. Bravo.
@LordSkippy:
A++ would lol again.