Netflix’s CHRO Talks Operating Within a Culture of Trust & Accountability With Sergio Ezama

CultureCareer
Written By Naomi Haile
 

Listen to the episode on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts

Listen to the episode on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts

Sergio Ezama is Netflix’s Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). He recently joined the team in September 2021. Previously, Sergio served in several HR leadership roles at PepsiCo, and spent 20 years exploring many learning opportunities.  

In this episode, Sergio delves into some of his HR, life, and work. He also speaks to the culture of freedom and accountability at Netflix. And one of my favourite pieces was Sergio’s musings about keeping your values at the forefront of your decisions. And if you are curious about the Netflix aspect of his story, he also speaks about what it has been like to navigate his new role as Netflix’s Chief HR officer.


This episode is for you if:

  • You’re a people leader and are interested in learning about an unconventional approach to HR

  • Netflix’s culture intrigues you

  • You want to learn what it really means to operate with little rules

  • You’re interested in empowering your leaders and employees to make sound decisions

Looking for something specific?

  • [3:30] Raised in a traditional Spanish home with three brothers in Bilbao, Spain

  • [4:00] How Sergio makes career decisions

  • [6:00] Not knowing where your path can lead you + realizing that your early career demands trial and error, intuition & a bit of luck

  • [9:00] Navigating a massive P&G company

  • [9:55] Looking for a new challenge

  • [11:00] Joining Netflix in 2021

  • [14:00] What it means to operate a company with few to no rules?

  • [16:00] Hiring the best people in the market

  • [17:34] The 3 questions that every people manager asks themselves to make compensation decisions

  • [18:37] As a company scales, typically this means more hierarchy and structure, how Netflix mitigates some of the risks that come with operating a company with so few rules

  • [20:25] The hard work that comes with entering a new company at the executive level

  • [21:52] Sergio receiving feedback and the culture that allows ongoing feedback to thrive through repetition

  • [23:40] The “Great Resignation” and the “Great Retirement” – those who are between 50 and 60 years of age who are leaving the workforce, as well as employees in the hospitality and retail industries

  • [24:00] Why Netflix has not seen too many adverse impacts of people leaving their organization (low attrition rates)

  • [26:02] Recruiting starts with managers reflecting on what they need

  • [30:00] The nuances of hiring for “culture-fit” and “culture-add”

  • [32:00] Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) in the workplace

  • [33:39] How they built DEI capacity in their organization

  • [34:30] Conducting an annual pay equity analysis to ensure legitimate drivers of compensation align with the employee’s pay package

  • [36:40] Values that Sergio embeds into his life + work decisions

  • [38:00] The best investment that Sergio made early in his career was international travel, education and health priorities

  • [41:21] Personalization at scale and how we can use data analytics to bypass the need for process (and the default to create processes).

In 2009, the CEO and founder of Netflix (Reed Hastings) released a PowerPoint presentation on Netflix’s corporate culture

Listen to the episode on Spotify / Apple Podcasts / Google Podcasts

Connect with Sergio

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Naomi Haile
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