Woman Records Herself Getting Fired On Call, Hits Back At HR For 'Unfair Termination' & Earns Praise

Most people would prefer to downplay the horrible experience of being fired. However, one recently laid-off worker¡ªwho was abruptly fired from her tech position with internet security business Cloudflare¡ªchose to record the "traumatizing" incident on camera, and then publish her predicament on social media.

Who is the woman in the viral video?

Brittany's post has been viewed over a million times on TikTok and X | Screengrab/X

In the now-viral clip, Brittany Pietsch can be seen talking to two HR executives who discuss the fact that she didn't perform well and had to be let go as a result.

"Can you explain for [sic] me why Brittany Pietsch is getting let go?" Brittany asks the virtually-gathered human resources staff.

Her post, which has now been viewed over a million times on TikTok and X, appears to show corporate executives from the San Francisco-based company firing her for failing to achieve the company's performance objectives.

What did she say?

Pietsch was hired on August 25 | Image: X

"I've been on a three-month ramp," Brittany who was hired on August 25, told the assembled suits, defending her performance. "I have had the highest activity amongst my team, I've had three contracts out, done a really great job managing my deals."

"Also, every single one-on-one I've had with my manager," the Atlanta resident went on. "He's given me nothing but 'I am doing a great job, have had amazing activity, great meetings, and I'm picking up the items very rapidly. I build excellent relationships with my clientele. So, I disagree that I haven't met performance expectations."

During the 15-minute video conversation, the remote firing squad was unable to clearly express the reason for her booting, instead burying her in murky discourse about figures and data. HR representatives did pledge to contact the former employee with additional information at a later date.

Only a day ago, she even shared her thoughts on LinkedIn:

"Brittany Pietsch, you¡¯re very articulate and brave to have stayed so calm," wrote a user on linkedin. "Revenue leadership was fully aware of the layoffs and had a say in how they would be carried out. Your manager may not have been made aware of these moves but certainly should have been," wrote another.

A third wrote, "People who haven't experienced a layoff don't understand how traumatic it is." "What I saw was a pretty poor showing by the company in communicating a layoff as a performance issue," a fourth added.

How did the company's CEO react to the viral video?

Meanwhile, Matthew Prince, the Co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare had this to say: "We try to fire perfectly. In this case, clearly we were far from perfect. 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 fired ~40 sales people out of over 1,500 in our go to market org. That¡¯s a normal quarter. When we¡¯re doing performance management right, we can often tell within 3 months or less of a sales hire, even during the holidays, whether they¡¯re going to be successful or not. Sadly,¡­

¡ª Matthew Prince ? (@eastdakota) January 12, 2024

He further wrote, "Importantly, just because we fire someone doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re a bad employee. It doesn¡¯t mean won¡¯t be really, really great somewhere else."

Check out the viral video below:

Here¡¯s a video posted by a Cloudflare account executive getting laid off that she recorded as she argues with HR team.

It¡¯s painful to watch on both sides and which is why other big techs just send an email or provide an error when you try to login.
pic.twitter.com/3Yo2B6MxH7

¡ª Dare Obasanjo? (@Carnage4Life) January 12, 2024

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