https://www.thestreet.com/employment/cloudflare-under-fire-after-tiktok-video-of-layoff-goes-viral
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IT company Cloudflare has managed to find itself in social media hot water after a former employee recorded herself being laid off from the company and posted it to TikTok. In the viral video the employee is given little to no explanation from HR as to why she is being let go, despite asking multiple times, and it has sparked backlash on social media.
In the Jan. 12 video, Brittany Pietsch, the former employee, is informed by two HR representatives named Rosie and Dom that she is being laid off from the company for not meeting expectations.
“You have not met Cloudflare expectations for performance, we’ve decided to part ways with you,” said Dom.
Pietsch responds that she started at the company on Aug. 25 and that she has had “the highest activity” amongst her team since she joined.
“I have had three contracts out, done a really great job managing my deals up until the very end that decided not to close last-minute,” said Pietsch. “So I don't think that that makes a lot of sense for me in my Cloudflare journey here so far. Also, every single one-on-one I've had with my manager, every conversation I've had with him, he has been giving me nothing but I am doing a great job.”
Pietsch then pushes both representatives to provide a real reason for her being laid off instead of them “making up some bullsh-t” to cover up the possibility that Cloudflare hired too many people and can no longer afford employing them.
“If that's the real answer, I would rather just you tell me that instead of making up some bullsh-t and telling me that right before I lose my job from someone that I've never met before,” said Pietsch.
Pietsch then explains that being laid off with no explanation is “extremely traumatizing for people” and asks for more clarity on what “performance metrics” are as she suspects that it is being used as a vague term given to everyone that is being laid off.
“We're not able to go to specifics, and we won't,” said Dom.
Pietsch then told the representatives that the whole ordeal feels like a “slap in the face.”
The nine-minute video, which also made rounds on X, has sparked backlash as many users admonished Cloudflare’s decision to be non-transparent during the situation.
The CEO of Cloudflare, Matthew Prince, responded to Pietsch’s viral video on TikTok in a post on X claiming that the video was “painful” to watch.
“The video is painful for me to watch, Managers should always be involved. HR should be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them,” he wrote. “No employee should ever actually be surprised they weren’t performing. We don’t always get it right. And sometimes under performing employees don’t actually listen to the feedback they’ve gotten before we let them go. Importantly, just because we fire someone doesn’t mean they’re a bad employee.
Layoffs in the tech industry have been on the rise in recent years. In 2022, 1,064 tech companies conducted layoffs resulting in 164,969 tech employees being let go, according to data from Layoffs.fyi. In 2023, 1,186 tech companies carried out layoffs and 262,582 tech employees got the boot.