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the burden of chrono-reflexivity at work

I was interested to learn that Netflix has a seemingly enlightened approach to the working and holiday patterns of their employees:

Since 2004, Netflix employees have taken as many vacation days as they’ve wanted. They have the freedom to decide when to show up for work, when to take time off, and how much time it will take them to get the job done. As far as I can tell, this hasn’t hurt Netflix one bit. Since instituting the policy, it’s grown its market cap to over $51 billion.

Just because there’s flexibility at Netflix doesn’t mean it lacks accountability. Employees have to keep their managers in the loop, and they’re expected to perform at a very high level. High performance is so ingrained into Netflix culture that they reward adequate performance with a generous severance package.

Netflix employees have unlimited vacation because no one is tracking their time. Instead of micromanaging how people get their jobs done, the leadership focuses only on what matters—results. They’ve found that giving people greater autonomy creates a more responsible culture. Without the distraction of stifling rules, employees are more focused and productive.

http://qz.com/584897/if-you-answer-emails-after-work-you-should-be-getting-unlimited-vacation/

However I take issue with framing this as an antidote to ‘workaholism’, as the author of this piece does. Netflix has previously been described as having an ingrained ‘culture of fear’ in which people are fired for their mistakes and many leave each year. Is this a paradox? Or is the enlightened approach to working and holiday patterns likely to be connected to the culture of fear?

I suspect so and would be keen to analyse this in terms of an organisational response to the demands placed on individual employees: they’re encouraged to use their own reflexivity to structure their working life because the demands placed upon them are so onerous and diverse that to try and dictate ways of working would prove counter-productive.

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