Is your company a family or a sports team?

Ex-HR Netflix Party McCord, in her book The Strongest, indicated a rather interesting thought: “Business doesn’t owe its people anything but the confidence that the company makes an excellent product that serves customers well and on time.” That's all. Will we exchange opinions?



The stated position is, let's say, quite radical. It is all the more interesting that she was voiced by a man working for many years in Silicon Valley. Netflix's approach is that the company should be like a sports team, not a family. On this basis, decisions about who to take and who to say goodbye to should be made solely on the basis of the results that had to be achieved in order for the company to succeed.



In general, it cannot be said that this contradicts the Western mentality. Many note that, for example, for the American management culture, it is characteristic to be "soft on the outside, but hard on the inside." They can compliment you and take care of the psyche in every way in everyday working communication, but if the business requires it, radical decisions will be made on you with the speed and efficiency of the guillotine, with lightning speed and without unnecessary emotions.



According to Party McCord, battles for high retention rates have lost relevance and are harmful to the workers themselves. All kinds of additional staff motivation systems lead to people getting stuck in jobs they don’t really want to be at. “Promoting and educating people is often not the best choice for team performance.” Career growth is not a corporate priority. "At Netflix, we advised people to take responsibility for their career growth, taking advantage of the rich opportunities that they provide, to learn from celebrity colleagues and managers, to pave their own path, be it going up inside the company or a great option elsewhere!"



It’s all the more interesting because in Parallels everything is exactly the opposite. Throughout our history, we "bother" with those with whom we work, on the principle of "first CTO, and only then WHAT." This means that it is important for us that a person meets the team spirit, his willingness to be part of it, keep his word and fight for the result. It is no coincidence that all employees who come to the company are interviewed by one of the founders of Parallels.



Of course, it is difficult to compare a project of 300 employees distributed around the world with a multi-thousandth global corporation, but the basic values ​​make it clear how we differ.

Family or Chelsea

In general, there are a lot of interesting things in the book by Party McCord. For example, contrasting family and corporate values. In particular, those who claim that the company is a “family” for them is asked how often did they fire people and how many of them were relatives? The main idea of ​​the author is that you build a team, not create a family. You are constantly looking for talents and reviewing the current roster.



Probably, this has a rational grain, but what if your team has people with whom you are familiar with the student bench? If over the entire time of your work they have repeatedly proved their loyalty, significance and professionalism, what can you rely on? Someone is ready to grow vertically upwards, and some, on the contrary, are productive by developing horizontally.



An equally important question is whether it is worth spending time and resources on creating comfortable working conditions for staff. All these bonuses, compensation, insurance, Class A offices and other benefits ... Maybe you should not spend effort and money on such "excesses"? In terms of numbers, these are additional “bones”. Minus from NUT - plus EBITDA. The task of the business is to develop the product and markets, the development of employees in their area of ​​responsibility. Is not it? In any case, the key tenets of the Strongest say so.



Who knows, for example, at Parallels we believe that comfortable working conditions contribute to the creative process. We believe that a talented programmer is like an artist. And if he does not have a brush and paints, and instead of a bewitching landscape, there is a blank wall outside the window, he will have to wait for the masterpieces for a long time. This does not mean that we are striving to create a “branch of paradise on earth,” but we are striving to use the best practices. This also applies to the equipment of the premises, and the general working conditions in the office, including relaxation areas, a corporate dining room and coffee points.



It is clear that nothing replaces interesting tasks. And here we are able to offer, indeed, curious projects, at the junction of world-famous operating systems and devices. But still, we believe that people need to be treated humanly, otherwise the soul disappears from the company. And then put out the light!