Ashley Elizabeth Miller

Netflix is the number one streaming platform on the planet. Its success emphasized Christmas Day, drawing 30 million global viewers for the live-stream NFL game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers. And last year, the company’s stock price soared 40%, boosting its market value by $80 billion.

But two recent media stories reveal a different side to the company’s seemingly shiny story. Once revered for its progressive policies, Netflix easily attracted and retained top talent in executive roles. But it’s begun rolling some of those perks back.

The Wall Street Journal reports Netflix, starting in 2015, offered 12-month paid parental leave but did not believe its “type-A employees” would actually take them up on the offer. They were wrong. And realizing that, Netflix quietly changed their policy in late 2024. (One woman is suing for what she says was a wrongful termination related to the policy shift.)

Tides are changing for viewers, too. Netflix just received a Golden Globe for its movie Emiliá Perez. (I’m watching it tonight.) But for all the fantastic films being added, there are just as many, or many more, shitty ones, being pushed out, writes Will Tavlin for n+1 magazine.

Maybe, as The Journal podcast suggests, the company’s inside changes will hurt employee moral, spurring more staff to leave for better pastures, tarnishing Netflix’s M.O. as a harbor for top talent. Or maybe not.

I’d suppose the best of the best will be drawn to work at the number one company, no matter their policies. You don’t see too many young investors turning down opportunities at J.P. Morgan, do you?

(They might not attract the same level of diversity, but that’s a different story.)