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A woman is receiving mixed reviews for secretly recording a nine-minute video of getting let go from her job and sharing it on social media.
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Brittany Pietsch, a former account executive at IT company Cloudflare, has gone viral after posting a video on social media of her firing on a Zoom call.
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Pietsch posted the video twice to her TikTok account with the caption, “When you know you’re about to get laid off so you film it. This was traumatizing honestly lmao.”
The former employee, who worked at the company’s Georgia office since August 2023, noted in her video that she “knew what was coming” after her work friend was also let go that same day.
“I got let go by 2 people I don’t know: A woman from HR and a director man I’ve never heard of,” she wrote in the video as the two unknowns introduced themselves to Pietsch.
“I wanted to stand up for myself because what did I have to lose?”
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One of the employees told Pietsch that after completing “evaluations of 2023 performance,” it was determined she had “not met Cloudflare expectations for performance” and the company was deciding “to part ways with” her.
Pietsch went on to list some of her accomplishments with the company and the work she had been putting in, explaining, “I have had the highest activity amongst my team.”
She also added that during one-on-one time with her manager, she was told she was “doing a great job.”
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However, the HR employee replied, “I don’t think there’s anything we can say in this moment or today, Brittany, that’s going to change the way that you feel. It’s not going to change the outcome of this situation.”
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince took to X to respond to Pietsch’s video, claiming it was “painful” for him to watch.
“We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect,” he wrote.
“The video is painful for me to watch,” Prince continued. “Managers should always be involved. HR should be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them. No employee should ever actually be surprised they weren’t performing. We don’t always get it right.”
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He went on to write that their mistake wasn’t letting go of someone who wasn’t performing well, but it was “not being more kind and humane.”
While many social media users sided with Pietsch, calling her brave for standing up for herself, others questioned whether it violated a potential severance agreement with Cloudflare.
“Firing someone because of poor performance and not being able to cite any performance metrics is BS,” one person wrote.
“Getting fired is tough, but it’s important to handle it with dignity,” one X user argued. “Firing someone is also hard, requiring compassion and respect. Total disaster on both sides here.”
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Tyler Fields is your internet guru, delving into the latest trends, developments, and issues shaping the online world. With a focus on internet culture, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, Tyler keeps readers informed about the dynamic landscape of the internet and its impact on our digital lives.
