the keeper test🎣

why high-performers might quit before you can fire them 🏃‍♀️

July 29, 2025

In partnership with

Howdy HR friends!👋

Hope you’re all having a great start to the week!

For the second time in 7 days, we’re taking some inspiration from Netflix. This time it’s not about their famous HR handbook that we covered last Tuesday.

Rather, it’s about their keeper test: a powerful but controversial decision making tool for talent retention.

No time to hang around, so let’s hit play shall we?

🚦Coming up

In today’s edition

🎣 The Keeper Test: Netflix's Controversial Talent Strategy - Should Your Managers Be Using It?

🛋️ The Break Room: Would you implement Netflix's approach to talent management at your organization?

📚 Human Readsources: Hiring slowdowns, Intel's workforce reduction plans, and Astronomer flipping the viral HR controversy on it’s head.

💭Opening thoughts

If it ain’t a hell yeah, is it a hell-nah?

goalkeeper GIF

I think this robot might have failed his keeper test?!

Would you fight to keep 87% of your team if they resigned tomorrow, or is the Netflix "Keeper Test" creating a culture where only 13% feel truly valued?

The Keeper Test's binary approach to talent management might drive short-term performance metrics, but often undermines psychological safety and collaborative innovation that sustainable organizations require.

Are managers using this in your workplace? And if so as HR do we need to reframe the Keeper Test from a threat-based assessment into a development-focused conversation?

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🧠Let’s unpick

Catch and Release Talent Retention

Netflix's "Keeper Test" asks managers a simple but loaded question: "Which employees would you fight to keep if they were leaving?"

This approach, pioneered by CEO Reed Hastings (and named after his father's fishing practice of keeping only the best catch), treats the workplace like a sports team rather than a family.

So obviously it’s not right for every organization.

In simple terms it’s a case of prioritizing star performers and showing others the door. It's gained attention as both a revolutionary talent strategy but in the wrong hands a potentially toxic management practice.

And as such, it can create workplace challenges. While Netflix defends it as maintaining "talent density," critics argue it fosters a culture of fear that undermines psychological safety.

According to Fortune, employees report feeling constantly on edge, wondering if they'll be the next to go, creating an environment where collaboration suffers as colleagues compete rather than cooperate.

So what’s a better, fairer middle ground?

Rather than adopting the Keeper Test wholesale, consider using it as an internal leadership reflection tool while focusing on upskilling existing talent.

Implement structured performance conversations with clear improvement paths, and balance high expectations with genuine support.

Remember that constantly replacing employees comes with significant costs. Financial and cultural. And that can often outweigh the benefits of maintaining "perfect" talent density.

You can read more at...
👀Too long didn’t read

TLDR

Netflix's "Keeper Test" might sound like a smart way to maintain top talent, but creating a fear-based workplace rarely delivers the results you want. Focus instead on building a high-performance culture through development and support rather than constant evaluation and threat.

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🎬Lights, camera, action!

Takeaway and try

🌱 Implement quarterly "Development Dialogues" where managers discuss how they're actively growing their team members rather than who they'd let go – this shifts focus from evaluation to cultivation.

🔄 Create clear improvement pathways with specific milestones and support resources for struggling employees before considering termination – this balances high standards with genuine development.

🛡️ Build psychological safety through "no-stakes" feedback sessions where employees can share concerns without fear of repercussion, countering the anxiety that high-pressure evaluation systems create.

💰 Calculate and share the true cost of employee turnover with your leadership team, including recruitment, onboarding, and lost institutional knowledge – this often reveals the value of investing in existing talent.

🤝 Establish cross-functional mentorship programs that encourage collaboration rather than competition, helping break down the silos that form when employees feel they're competing to survive.

📚Additional reading

Human Readsources

📉 Hiring Outlook Cools as Employers Recalibrate Growth Plans (HR Dive) - Hiring optimism declines as employers recalibrate workforce plans for 2025.

💻 Intel Slashes Workforce 22% in Radical Restructuring (HR Grapevine) - Intel cutting 22% of workforce amid strategic restructuring efforts.

🎭 Gwyneth Paltrow Rescues Tech Firm After Viral Scandal (HR Grapevine) - Astronomer turns CEO scandal into PR win with Gwyneth Paltrow video.

That’s it for today.

Thanks for reading to the end and we hope today’s edition sparked some new ideas for your workplace! 🧠

We know you’re super busy and really appreciate you saving some room for us in your inbox 😀

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