We encourage our managers to apply the Keeper Test regularly. But we are very careful to not have any firing quotas or ranking system. Rank-and-yank or âyou must let go of X percent of your peopleâ is just the type of rule-based process that we try to avoid. More important, these methods get managers to let go of mediocre employees, but they kill teamwork at the same time. I want our high-performing employees to compete against Netflixâs competitors, not one another. With rank-and-yank what you gain in talent density you lose in reduced collaboration.
Fortunately, there is no reason to choose between high talent density and strong collaboration. With the Keeper Test we can achieve both. Thatâs because there is one critical way we are not like a professional sports team. On the Netflix team there is no fixed number of slots. Our sport isnât being played to a rule book and we donât have limits on how many people we play with. One employee doesnât have to lose for the other to win. On the contrary, the more excellence we have on the team, the more we accomplish. The more we accomplish, the more we grow. The more we grow, the more positions we add to our roster. The more positions we add, the more space there is for high-performing talent.