Woman records getting fired from Cloudflare, CEO reacts

A video of an employee who secretly recorded herself getting fired is going viral. The clip captures her conversation with two members of Cloudflare HR. Throughout the video, the now ex-employee was trying to understand the reason why she got fired from her job. Originally shared on TikTok, the video made its way onto other platforms too and received a response from the company’s CEO Matthew Prince on X.

“Getting fired is tough, but it’s important to handle it with dignity. Firing someone is also hard, requiring compassion and respect. Total disaster on both sides here,” an X user wrote and shared the video that shows Brittany Pietsch getting laid off over a call.

Also Read: Company fires top performer to teach a lesson to employees

In the video, the HR informs Pietsch that she has been laid off after failing to meet the company’s performance standards. However, Pietsch counters them by saying that all the reviews she has received from her manager were positive. She also questions why two people from HR, whom she has never met before, are giving her the news instead of her manager.

Take a look at the entire video here:

Since being shared a few days ago, the video has gone viral with over 23 million views. The share has also prompted X users to post varied comments.

How did netizens react to this viral video?

“This is what happens when you expand too quickly and can’t afford the overhead. Seems like too many employees without any business,” shared an X user. “So much corporate double-speak, I would have fired myself,” posted another. “I’m on her side. Based on the timeline presented this is a failure of company leadership and the ‘re-calibrating blah blah’ was just the company looking at employees they could let go to reduce overhead costs to report better earnings after one-time restructuring expenses,” commented a third.

Also Read: Boss fires employee first, later asks about work update

“Rough watch,” expressed a fourth. “I think she handled it fine. Don't tell her its performance with no actual data or reason with HR people she's never met who know nothing,” wrote a fifth.

What did Cloudflare's CEO say?

The CEO Matthew Prince took to X to share a response to the now-viral video. In a long post, he explained about the layoffs. Addressing the viral video he added, “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.”

Brittany Pietsch later took to LinkedIn to address the speculations that her video raised among people. “I’ve also read some comments about how I’ll never be able to find a job now because I’m a 'loose cannon employee'. I’ll tell you what, any company that wouldn’t want to hire me because I shared a video of how a company fired me or because I asked questions as to why I was being let go is not a company I would ever want to work for anyway. If I don’t stand up for myself… who will?” she added. She concluded her post by thanking everyone who extended their support to her.