While the COVID-19 pandemic has seen many companies, including Netflix, transition to allowing employees to work from home full time, Netflix founder Reed Hastings isn’t a fan. While Netflix’s work from home arrangements will continue as long as necessary to keep its employees safe from COVID-19, Hastings has said he sees no benefit to the practice.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hastings was asked whether he saw any positives to staff working from home. “No. I don’t see any positives,” he said, “Not being able to get together in person, particularly internationally, is a pure negative.” Despite this, he predicted that most employees would continue to work at least one day from home even after the pandemic ended.
Netflix has almost 20 offices around the globe, not including the locations where Netflix-led productions are shot. On the topic of those productions, Hastings indicated that they were “up and running in much of Europe and much of Asia,” with a few productions starting up in Los Angeles as well. “The hope is that, through September and October, we can really get – with proper testing – a lot more running,” he said.
