Internet divided after woman secretly records nine-minute video of herself being fired by two HR employees instead of her manager as CEO of company admits footage is ‘painful’ to watch
- Brittany Pietsch posted videos of her resignation call from Cloudflare on January 10 and 11
- Her videos have gone viral and were posted to X by another social media user
- The viewership of all three videos amounts to almost 6 million viewers
Social media users aren’t sure what to make of marketing manager Brittany Pietsch and her decision to document her layoff experience.
Pietsch, a former mid-level account executive at Cloudflare, went viral after posting a video to TikTok on Jan. 10 of her Zoom call with two HR employees.
She reposted the TikTok video on January 11, and X (formerly Twitter) user Alex Cohen posted the video to his profile later that day.
The viewership of all three videos amounts to almost 6 million social media users.
Social media users aren’t sure what to make of Brittany Pietsch and her decision to document her layoff experience and post it on social media
Pietsch, a former mid-level account executive at Cloudflare, went viral after posting a video to TikTok on Jan. 10 of her layoff Zoom call with two employees she has never met.
According to Pietsch LinkedInshe had been working in their Georgia office since August of last year.
The former employee noted in her video that she “knew what was coming” after her work friend was fired by the company earlier that day.
“I was let go by two people I don’t know: a woman from HR and a director guy I’ve never heard of,” she wrote in the video.
‘I wanted to stand up for myself, because what did I have to lose?’
The man in her video told her she was being fired for not meeting Cloudflare’s expectations based on 2023 performance evaluations.
Pietsch told them she had “the highest level of activity within her team” and had done an excellent job “managing her deals.”
“I don’t think there’s anything we can say right now or today to Brittany that will change the way you feel,” the female HR employee said.
“It will not change the outcome of this situation,” she added.
The man in her video told her she was let go because she didn’t meet Cloudflare’s expectations based on 2023 performance evaluations
Cloudfare CEO John Prince confirmed on social media that the company has laid off 40 of the more than 1,500 sales employees in their company in his response to the video which he found “painful” to watch.
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince wrote in an X-post that Pietsch’s video was “painful” for him to watch.
‘We try to shoot perfectly. In this case, we were clearly far from perfect,” he wrote.
‘HR needs to be involved, but it shouldn’t be outsourced to them. No employee should ever be surprised that they are not performing.”
He went on to write that it wasn’t their fault to let go of someone who wasn’t performing well, but that it “wasn’t nicer or more human.”
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Others on the social media platform who commented on the video have sided with her, while others have questioned her decision to record the video, seemingly without the knowledge or consent of the other two participants on the call.
According to Pietsch’s LinkedIn, she had been working in their Georgia office since August 25, 2023. Pietsch told them she had “the highest activity among her team” and was doing an excellent job “managing her deals.”
Social media users were debatable about what happened, with some even unhappy with the Cloudfare CEO’s response to the matter
“I actually applaud her. It shows you how shady larger companies can and will become,” Ethan Andrews wrote.
“She stood up for herself and had facts and data to support that her dismissal was due to overstaffing, and not because of any real performance.”
Other users who weren’t as helpful wrote that what she did was “a crime in some states” and that it would be difficult for her to find a job.
“This certainly violates any potential severance agreement with a standard non-disparagement clause,” John Lloyd wrote.