A TikToker goes viral after secretly recording herself getting remotely laid off from computer and network security company, Cloudflare.
Brittany Pietsch recorded the nine-minute-long clip on January 12 after about 4 months with the corporate and said she knew that the layoff was most definitely coming, which prompted her to start out recording.
But as a substitute of gracefully accepting her fate, Pietsch was able to fight back.
@brittanypeachhh Original creator reposting: brittany peach cloudflare layoff. When you realize you are about to get laid off so that you film it 🙂 this was traumatizing truthfully lmao #cloudflare #techlayoffs #tech #layoff ♬ original sound – Brittany Pietsch
“I got let go by two people I didn’t know: a lady from HR and a director man I’ve never heard of,” Pietsch wrote. “I desired to get up for myself because what did I actually have to lose?”
The HR team explained that her performance was lower than par and that many individuals were being let go, including her. But Pietsch told the people on the decision (an HR rep and a director) that she had the “highest activity” amongst her team and that “things have been going really, rather well” for her. She then questioned why her manager, or someone she had not less than met, was not on the decision.
Related: Barbara Corcoran Shares What to Do If You’ve got Been Laid Off
“I disagree that I have never met performance expectations. I really want a solution and a proof as to why Brittany Pietsch is getting let go, not why Cloudflare decided to rent too many individuals then at the moment are actually realizing that they can not afford this many individuals they usually’re letting them go,” she said bluntly — and within the third person.
Pietsch continued to keep off and ask for direct answers about why she was really being let go, but HR didn’t budge.
“I will be honest with you, there’s nothing that we’ll say on this call and the time that we have now, that is going to undo the best way that you are feeling right on this moment,” the unidentified person said. “I personally, I’ll do every thing that I can to present you as much specific information as I can, after this call, I can not make any guarantees.”
Still, Pietsch asked for answers, to no avail.
“Despite constant positive praise from my manager, great meetings that I’m having, the quantity of activity that I actually have has all been positive, I actually have not received any negative inclination, I actually have not been placed on a performance improvement plan,” she said in frustration. “It just doesn’t make any sense that you simply guys have still not been able to present me a reason why I’m being let go.”
Pietsch’s video garnered mixed reviews from commenters, with many praising her for asking for justice and explanation when most are afraid to talk up.
“You handled this so well,” one person wrote. “They tried to gaslight you into it being based in your performance and never their company issues.”
Related: How Do Corporations Resolve Who to Lay Off?
“Good for you speaking up and being so composed with such little time to organize,” one other said.
Others weren’t as impressed with Pietsch’s attitude.
“The corporate just didn’t make cash and if it’s sales you simply didn’t make enough money to justify them keeping [you]. It’s business,” one person wrote.
“The points she made were valid, but it surely’s a foul profession move to post this online,” one other said.
The now-viral video, which has been viewed over 1.37 million times on TikTok, prompted a response from Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, who wrote on social media platform X that the corporate laid off roughly 40 out of 1,500 staff in Pietsch’s round.
He also noted that the corporate doesn’t all the time “hire perfectly,” and said that the corporate can often tell inside three months of a hire whether or not the worker goes to achieve success or not.
We fired ~40 sales people out of over 1,500 in our go to market org. That is a traditional quarter. After we’re doing performance management right, we will often tell inside 3 months or less of a sales hire, even through the holidays, whether they will achieve success or not. Sadly,…
— Matthew Prince ? (@eastdakota) January 12, 2024
“The video is painful for me to observe. Managers should all the time be involved,” Prince wrote. “Any healthy org must get the individuals who aren’t performing off. That wasn’t the error here. The error was not being more kind and humane as we did.”
Cloudflare was up over 69% yr over yr as of Tuesday afternoon.