Co-founder Mitch Lowe reveals the people most likely to get hired — and fired

IF YOU utter this phrase at Netflix HQ, you’ll be out the door in no time — no matter who you are, or how senior your position is.

IN JUST 20 years, Netflix has gone from laughing-stock to a global powerhouse that has changed the way we watch TV and movies — forever.

But that revolutionary approach is only part of the reason for the company’s phenomenal success.

Speaking at the 2018 Online Retailer trade event, Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe said the business was extremely focused on hiring the right people — and firing the wrong ones.

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He said Netflix recruited people who were self-motivating, self-aware, self-disciplined and self-improving — and that employees needed to “behave like owners and pick up trash”.

But most importantly, he said the company had a very strict “no assholes” policy, and that staff were required to “act like leaders” — and “never say ‘that’s not my job’.”

It’s a sentiment that was echoed by Myer’s stores general manger Tony Sutton when he wrote in a leaked internal memo in May that an “I don’t work for Myer” attitude from staff manning concession stalls located within the Aussie department stores had taken hold.

Mr Sutton said that poor customer service mindset was “unacceptable” and frustrating for customers — and that staff who held onto that attitude in future could be barred from entering the shopfloor.

But Mr Lowe said a healthy work environment ensured every Netflix employee performed to the best of their ability.

“Staff come to work and know they’re going to have a great day without having to deal with someone who will make their day awful — whether it’s a boss or a peer, it doesn’t matter,” he said in Sydney on Wednesday.

“You could be the best engineer in the world, but if you disrespect people and treat them badly, you’re gone immediately.”

Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe has revealed the people most likely to get hired — and fired. Picture: Twitter

And it seems Netflix isn’t just paying lip service when it comes to a healthy corporate culture.

When sexual misconduct allegations were levelled against Kevin Spacey last year, he was soon dropped from his major House of Cards role — a move which reportedly lost the company upwards of $52 million.

And last month, the company’s top communications executive Jonathan Friedland was also stood down thanks to his use of the N-word “on at least two occasions at work” which showed “unacceptably low racial awareness and sensitivity”, CEO Reed Hastings explained in an internal memo.

It’s a strategy that seems to have paid off.

Mr Lowe revealed that almost exactly 20 years after it was first founded, Netflix has around 125 million global subscribers watching 100 million hours of content a day.

It also raked in a staggering $US3.7 billion in the first quarter of 2018 — not bad for a company that only got off the ground because its founders — including Mr Lowe along with Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph — were annoyed by Blockbuster’s late fees and limited movie selection.

But after coming up with the idea, the families of all three founders thought it was destined to fail — and so did movie studios and Blockbuster itself.

Nevertheless, the trio persisted, originally running the company by physically mailing DVDs to customers.

Later, DIY kiosks were added, and in 2008, the company’s streaming service we now all know and love was finally born, adding the terms “binge-watching” and “Netflix and chill” into our vocabularies.

But now, Mr Lowe has a new passion project — and he wants to encourage viewers to switch off their TVs and devices, and head to the cinema instead.

That’s the idea behind his latest venture, MoviePass, which is a subscription service that charges members a monthly fee for movie tickets at theatres.

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