HR Connection blog

Under the direction of Reed Hastings and Patty McCord, Netflix prospered with groundbreaking HR policies, which Patty wrote about in “How Netflix Reinvented HR.” The first of five basic precepts that drove Netflix’s HR policies is, “Hire, reward, and tolerate only fully formed adults.”

Carol just can’t catch a break. She hustles to get her work done, turns in assignments on time, and does her best to connect with colleagues on the team. But for some reason her teammates and manager don’t believe she’s giving her full effort—and don’t seem to enjoy working with her. They view her late arrival in the office as disrespectful. They don’t appreciate how she likes to chat with colleagues over the cubicle walls. And they just don’t understand why she’s always using e-mail instead of delivering messages in person.

Much has been written about Millennials, and for good reason. Millennials make up 50% of the modern workforce, and the oldest members of Generation Z (those born roughly 1995 to present) are starting their first jobs and internships.

It's hard to read anything about business today and not trip over references to millennials and the changes they are bringing to the workplace. It has everyone in something of a lather. It is true that there are major changes afoot in modern business and they have happened with the influx of the latest generation of workers. But those changes are bigger than any one cohort.