Rabat – On January 9, Brittany Pietsch, 27, formerly an account executive at Cloudfare, found herself in a position that no one wants to be in; she got laid off.
In a video shared last Friday on TikTok, Pietsch, from her home in Atlanta, engages in a conversation with two human resources representatives from the San Francisco-based company, delivering the news of her job termination.
Defending her performance, she highlighted some of her accomplishments, mentioning that she’s had a “three-month ramp” upward. “I have had the highest activity amongst my team, I’ve had three contracts out, and done a really great job managing my deals,” she added.
Pietsch further insisted on understanding the uncharacteristic absence of her manager during the call.“Every one-on-one I’ve had with my manager, he has been giving me nothing other than I am doing a great job,” expressed the former Cloudfare employee.
Amid the conversation, Dom, one of the HR representatives, explained that the dismissal was part of a “collective calibration for Cloudfare.”When Pietsch pressed for a specific reason, Dom expressed limitations, stating, “I won’t be able to add any specifics for numbers.”
Rosie, the other HR representative, offered to follow up, saying she would be willing to find those numbers but cryptically added, “I cannot share that with you now.”
Pietsch refrained from tagging Cloudfare in the video, although the company’s identity was disclosed during the conversation.
The CEO of Cloudfare, Matthew Prince, commented on the incident, sharing on X, formerly Twitter. “Sadly, we don’t hire perfectly. We try to fire perfectly,” he wrote. He went on: “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. No employee should ever actually be surprised they weren’t performing. We don’t always get it right.”
Pietsch received significant support on TikTok, both from those empathizing with her situation and individuals who had experienced similar misfortune.Words of encouragement and empathy flooded the her comment section.
Comments such as “The silence on the other end is LOUD. Good for you girl!” and “I am so sorry to hear this. I was let go after 7 years of loyalty to a company I worked for. It literally almost killed me. I’m so sorry,” reflected a mix of shared experiences and genuine sympathy.
Brittany Pietsch’s video was a digital testament to her experience, with over 50.4k likes and 3013 comments.
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