A technology employee recorded the meeting, which led to her being fired from her sales role at Cloudflare NET,
It sparked criticism of the company — and a broader conversation about the right way to let employees go.
Viewers described the nearly 10-minute TikTok video, which went viral this week, as “sad” and “disastrous.” Even Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince X answered (formerly Twitter) that it was “painful for me to watch.”
In the video, titled “Personal Perspective: You're About to Get Layed,” Brittany Beach, a former Cloudflare account executive, records a virtual meeting with an HR representative and a manager at the company, both of whom she says she's never met before. In a comment, Beach wrote that she assumed they were meeting to let her go, because she had heard from coworkers who had already been fired.
In the video, company representatives say Pietsch did not meet performance expectations, and that Cloudflare decided to “part ways” with it. It was Beach's response that prompted this clip to be shared all over our social media news feeds: She demands an explanation as to why the company left her, specifically, especially since she was a new employee and hadn't heard anything negative. comment. She also wonders why her manager did not participate in this termination meeting.
“Each one at a time [meeting] Every conversation I've had with my manager, he's given me nothing but, “I'm doing a great job.” “I'm definitely confused and would love to have a logical explanation.”
The director, who cannot be seen in the video, says he “will not be able to go into detail” about Beach's performance.
In a statement to MarketWatch, a Cloudflare spokesperson clarified that the company has not laid off workers, nor is it involved in a reduction in force. “When we make the decision to part ways with an employee, we base the decision on a review of the employee's ability to achieve measurable performance goals,” Cloudflare said in a statement. “We regularly review the performance of team members and let go of those who don't fit our team. There's nothing unique about this review process or the number of people we let go after a performance review this quarter.
Beach did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CEO Prince added on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the company has fired 40 salespeople out of 1,500 in its go-to-market department. “This is a normal quarter,” he wrote. His position. “When we do performance management right, we can often know within 3 months or less of hiring a sales employee, even during the holidays, whether they will be successful.”
But he also added: “We're trying to shoot perfectly.” In this case, it is clear that 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… We don't always get it right.
Many viewers seem to agree, as the video has racked up nearly 200,000 views on TikTok and millions of views on X, as well as going viral on Reddit.
“A complete disaster on both sides,” said attorney Eric Pacifici.
“This is completely unfair to her,” wrote Austin Allred, CEO of Bloom Institute of Technology’s online coding bootcamp. “Very sad across the board.”
On LinkedIn, Beach offered her own response to the social media uproar. She said her manager wasn't aware she was being laid off, and that she asked questions during the meeting not to try to save her job, but to get more clarity about why she chose to be terminated.
“I will never be able to get around this,” she wrote in the post. “We as employees are expected to give two weeks notice, yet we don't deserve even a modicum of respect when the roles are reversed?”
What is the correct way to fire an employee?
It's never easy to part ways with an employee, according to Molly, an HR consultant who runs the TikTok account HR Molly, which has 80,000 followers. She only asked to be identified by her first name for privacy reasons.
However, it is very important to treat affected employees with respect. This can include sharing as much information as possible about why the decision was made.
“I tell people that even if you catch someone stealing, even that termination meeting has to have a level of decorum,” she said. “There seems to be a big consensus on holding the meeting [in the viral video] “He lacked some dignity.”
Molly added that it is also important to understand that this type of conversation will be difficult for the employee no matter what.
“We know that this impacts people and we know that this is emotional and that it's harmful. How can we do this in a way that creates the least amount of additional harm? We know that this is emotional,” she said, noting that she picked up the concept from fellow creative and diversity consultant at TikTok, Ciara Jones. “Businesses need To prioritize the well-being of the affected employee.”
As for recording a layoff or firing meeting, that can be risky, Molly says, and completely illegal in states that require you to get consent before doing so.
But companies and HR professionals would be wise to remind themselves that this can happen in this day and age, she says. If a camera or recording device changes the way you approach an interaction, that's a good sign to re-evaluate.
According to the company's website, Cloudflare has dozens of job postings for open positions across the company, including sales roles.
In her LinkedIn post, Beach said she's not too concerned about any backlash over the video that might hinder her chances of landing another job.
“Any company that doesn't want to hire me because I shared a video of how a company fired me or because I asked questions about why I was let go is not a company I want to work for anyway.” books.
