Most of your employees have been with your company for years. They’re highly skilled, and team cohesion is as strong as ever.
But unfortunate circumstances are forcing you to let someone go.
In line with company policy, you apply the Keeper Test. You look at your employees and ask yourself: “Which of these people would I fight to keep?”
By the end of the day, you end up with your longest-serving employee clearing their desk. The rest of your staff are hurt and anxious about their jobs. They think their former colleague could have turned their performance around, given a chance – but now they’ll never know. Their loyalty and tenure couldn’t protect them.
Although it sounds impossibly harsh, the Keeper Test is a real talent management technique used in major companies. And while it’s been hailed as a bold way to improve team performance, it can do serious damage to company culture.
Luckily, it’s not the only way to effectively influence performance. Read on to learn how you can use upskilling, cultural change, and skills-based hiring techniques to develop a more compassionate approach to managing talent.
Table of contents
What is the Keeper Test?
Who invented the Keeper Test?
The advantages of the Netflix Keeper Test
The disadvantages of the Netflix Keeper Test
The alternative: 5 best practices for building a healthy talent management approach
Develop an evidence-based approach to talent management
Source
What is the Keeper Test?
The Keeper Test is an ongoing method of talent assessment that enables a company to prioritize its highest performers. It was pioneered by Netflix, the streaming service and producer of series such as Stranger Things and House of Cards, and popularized by a set of slides that went viral in 2012.
The Keeper Test requires managers to ask themselves, “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a competitor or peer company, would I fight hard to keep?”
But it isn’t just for management. Employees are also encouraged to ask their leaders and managers, “If I told you I was leaving the company to work for a competitor, how hard would you fight to keep me?”
It’s designed to encourage reciprocal feedback between employees and management.
The idea is that Netflix workers are empowered to inquire about their position at work, and management is empowered to make difficult decisions that improve team performance. Who invented the Keeper Test?
The documentation for Netflix culture, including the Keeper Test, was developed by its co-founder Reed Hastings and former chief talent officer Patty McCord.
The test reflects Netflix’s company policy and values that have been outlined in Hastings’s and co-author Erin Meyer’s book, No Rules Rules – in particular, the cultural belief that Netflix should function like a professional sports team, not a family.
In a family, members expect unconditional love. But a sports team aims for high performance and is only as good as its individual players. Every player, regardless of how senior they are, is expected to give their best every day or risk being cut.
On a team, players understand that they may be benched if their performance lapses. And as managers of a team, leaders know they need to make hard choices about which player suits which role best. A good coach would never hold onto a team member who was absent for sentimental reasons. The Keeper Test challenges managers to choose the best players for their team, disregarding any factor other than performance to maintain high talent density. Of course, different managers may have different ideas about what makes an employee “the best.”
The majority of your employees have been with your business for a long time. They are extremely skilled, and the unity of the team is as strong as ever. But unfortunate circumstances are forcing you to let someone go.
In line with company policy, you apply the Keeper Test. You look at your employees and ask yourself: “Which of these people would I fight to keep?”
By the end of the day, you end up with your longest-serving employee clearing their desk. The rest of your staff are hurt and anxious about their jobs. They think their former colleague could have turned their performance around, given a chance – but now they’ll never know. Their loyalty and tenure couldn’t protect them.
Although it sounds impossibly harsh, the Keeper Test is a real talent management technique used in major companies. And while it’s been hailed as a bold way to improve team performance, it can do serious damage to company culture.
Luckily, it’s not the only way to effectively influence performance. Read on to learn how you can use upskilling, cultural change, and skills-based hiring techniques to develop a more compassionate approach to managing talent.
Table of contents
What is the Keeper Test?
Who invented the Keeper Test?
The advantages of the Netflix Keeper Test
The disadvantages of the Netflix Keeper Test
The alternative: 5 best practices for building a healthy talent management approach
Develop an evidence-based approach to talent management
Source
What is the Keeper Test?
The Keeper Test is an ongoing method of talent assessment that enables a company to prioritize its highest performers. It was pioneered by Netflix, the streaming service and producer of series such as Stranger Things and House of Cards, and popularized by a set of slides that went viral in 2012.
The Keeper Test requires managers to ask themselves, “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a competitor or peer company, would I fight hard to keep?”
But it isn’t just for management. The question, “If I told you I was leaving the company to work for a competitor, how hard would you fight to keep me?” should also be posed to managers and leaders by employees. The Keeper Test questions
It’s designed to encourage reciprocal feedback between employees and management.
The idea is that Netflix employees feel empowered to ask about their position at work, and management feels empowered to make tough decisions that help the whole team perform better.
Who invented the Keeper Test?
The documentation for Netflix culture, including the Keeper Test, was developed by its co-founder Reed Hastings and former chief talent officer Patty McCord.
The test reflects Netflix’s company policy and values that have been outlined in Hastings’s and co-author Erin Meyer’s book, No Rules Rules – in particular, the cultural belief that Netflix should function like a professional sports team, not a family.
In a family, members expect unconditional love. But a sports team aims for high performance and is only as good as its individual players. Every player, regardless of how senior they are, is expected to give their best every day or risk being cut.
On a team, players understand that they may be benched if their performance lapses. And as managers of a team, leaders know they need to make hard choices about which player suits which role best. No good coach would hold onto a lacking team member for sentimental reasons.
The Keeper Test challenges managers to choose the best players for their team, disregarding any factor other than performance to maintain high talent density. Of course, different managers may have different ideas about what makes an employee “the best.”
The best insights on HR and recruitment, delivered to your inbox.
Biweekly updates. No spam. Unsubscribe any time.
Email*
The advantages of the Netflix Keeper Test
Though Netflix’s Keeper Test may seem brutal, it does have some advantages that perpetuate its usage.
Here are the biggest reasons why leaders still choose to use it, both at Netflix and beyond.
Retains top performers
The Keeper Test forces managers to focus their attention on their top performers, encouraging those good employees to stay with the company. It ensures that the strongest members of the team are prioritized.
Firing underperformers also frees up managers to seek out more top talent for their teams, always raising the performance floor. At least in principle, the Keeper Test empowers leaders to build a business in which everyone is an MVP.
Improves employee performance
If an employee’s job security hinges on top performance, of course, they will work harder and do their best at work.
Netflix’s company policy notes that long-term high performers are given leeway when they slip up. Employees are assessed on their whole record, not their most recent mistake. The test encourages consistently high performance, not erratic peaks and valleys.
Lower performers are also given plenty of opportunities to ask for feedback and identify ways to improve. The Keeper Test is premised on managers being forthright with their staff so that underperformers aren’t caught off guard by an unexpected firing.
Benefits the bottom line
Implementing the Keeper Test saves the money you would otherwise need to pay an underperforming employee.
Netflix has eliminated control processes like the performance improvement plan (PIP). Employees don’t need a PIP to act when they are told they are underperforming because they already receive regular feedback from managers. The money saved on PIPs gives Netflix the funds to offer generous severance packages to underperformers and avoid wasting money on employees who aren’t as efficient or effective as they should be.
aids crisis decision-making Netflix had to make significant layoffs last year after experiencing rapid growth during the worst of the pandemic. While it’s never easy to decide where to make cuts to a business, the Keeper Test offers a simple, seemingly objective metric for evaluating which employees are worth keeping.
When cutting back a company to navigate a lean period, it makes sense to focus on keeping high performers. At least in theory, this approach enables companies to stay efficient in spite of lower staff numbers.
Negative aspects of the Netflix.
The Keeper Test: A controversial talent management technique
