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Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

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Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#411

Post by makeitdouble »

olalonde wrote: post #107

Uploading a private conversation with HR to TikTok surely isn't going to help her job hunting. Prospective employers might view such behavior as a red flag... It might even be illegal given that the HR people are likely located in California, a "two-party consent" state.

I totally see how a company could go after her in a legal battle to punish for that behavior, so it's definitely not a recommended move.

But on prospective employers, perhaps she doesn't need future employers who'd be pissed at their shitty HR drones getting exposed on social media ? She might not need to go work at a Fortune 500 company lawyered to the teeth, and could find a nice place that is willing to commit to higher standard of communication with their employees ?

I had a coworker go shout insanities at the CEO at a meeting after the company pushed a few of his buttons, it was totally unprofessional and a hot headed move, but I'd still see him as a good hire in a different setting. People can have flaws and bitch too much publicly and still be valuable workers in the right contexts.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#412

Post by op00to »

bamboozled wrote: post #195
outcoldman wrote: post #188

The thing is... Those two people on the call, I mean... They are just doing their job as well. Don't understand what is the point to actually argue with them. Nothing they can do or change. And yes, Brittany is going to be internet famous for a day. But a lot of people going to watch this video and recognize her on the next loop of interviews. Just not the best solution for this situation. It is just sad to see. And…

They are just doing their job as well. They are, but we could say similar things about cartels, drug smugglers etc.To you they're just criminals, to them, they're trying to survive and just doing their jobs. It doesn't mean it's a noble thing to be doing for a job.

IF you don't understand the difference between a murderous drug cartel and HR, I think you are probably not the right fit for corporate work.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#413

Post by makeitdouble »

olalonde wrote: post #216
hpaavola wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's really good that some are ready to do what is right instead of just bending over.

I generally agree with this sentiment, but I'm uncertain about its relevance in this specific case. CloudFlare decided to terminate her employment, what's wrong with that? Unless there's evidence to suggest otherwise, it seems reasonable to assume that their decision was based on letting go of employees who were perceived as the least valuable or lowest performing.

The assumption going on is that they're trying to skimp on severance and unemployment by maskerading it as a perfomance issue.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#414

Post by op00to »

c0nducktr wrote: post #205

Takeaway seems to be if you receive an invite from a rando HR person, decline that meeting. Edit: Also PR speak is one of the most unbecoming things I've heard in my life. I know there's HR people here in this thread, so to them: Try to at least act like your human.

> Takeaway seems to be if you receive an invite from a rando HR person, decline that meeting.

Uh, you'll still get terminated if you skip the meeting. It's not like that's the One Big Loophole companies don't want you to know.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#415

Post by j4yav »

kqr wrote: post #136
IvyMike wrote: post #25

I get why Brittany's mad: Cloudflare appears to be handling this about as bad as possible. But those two HR randos aren't gonna have anything worthwhile to say, either. I don't want to be judgmental of Brittany because it's a sucky call to have to take. But my recommendation in this situation is to say "I disagree with that assessment of my performance, but I understand you are terminating my employment. What details…

I get that this type of situation is emotionally difficult, but advice for anyone willing to take it: if the point is getting information, a confrontational "you can't do this to me" type tone is probably less helpful than a curious "you owe me nothing but if you want to brighten my day a little here's what I'm curious about" attitude.

There was obviously no information to get. There were just two clueless people who were paid to fire people they didn't know for reasons they didn't know, and repeat platitudes until they can successfully end the call.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#416

Post by makeitdouble »

op00to wrote: post #412
bamboozled wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are just doing their job as well. They are, but we could say similar things about cartels, drug smugglers etc.To you they're just criminals, to them, they're trying to survive and just doing their jobs. It doesn't mean it's a noble thing to be doing for a job.

IF you don't understand the difference between a murderous drug cartel and HR, I think you are probably not the right fit for corporate work.

TBF they're both terminating people.

Joking aside, drug smuggling isn't murdering people. It will often be mostly run as a very bland and boring transportation business, the same way people go back and forth across countries to go buy locally produced artisanal accessories to sell to select shops.

Funnily enough the first thing that came to my mind for "cartel" was bog standard market collusion among dominant players.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#417

Post by makeitdouble »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #212
bamboozled wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are just doing their job as well. They are, but we could say similar things about cartels, drug smugglers etc.To you they're just criminals, to them, they're trying to survive and just doing their jobs. It doesn't mean it's a noble thing to be doing for a job.

Noble jobs are rare. Doing any job with honor is absolutely possible. I found the exchange very much "outsourced". The not manager were trying to convey the message. They have no skin except delivering the message in their best manor. They likely were given a script. They didn't make the decisions and were hired to be the buffer for emotions that would naturally develop. I'm thinking the best way is to quick rip the…

Is there some legal obligation for this to be a call ? It looks like it could have been an email (that they'll have to send anyway)

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#418

Post by Loggias »

sanderjd wrote: post #306
krainboltgreene wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because they're people who are also just trying to do a job. Then they should not do that job.

What do you suggest for making this statement realistic? People who work in HR do useful things. I have leaned on "people operations" support in most companies I've worked for, they do recruitment and policies on employee behavior and performance management and a bunch of other things. This is all valuable work. I'm glad it's not what I do for work, but it would be a much suckier world if nobody chose to do this work…

[dead]

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#419

Post by sanderjd »

op00to wrote: post #403
sanderjd wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who , exactly, do you think is going to "think twice" next time? It's a bummer, but this is how this has been done for decades (generations?) and everybody knows it's how it's done, and that has in no way made companies "think twice" about business leaders assigning fairly low level employees or consultants to do these meetings just like this. There was a whole gag about exactly this in one of the last few episodes o…

I certainly won't apply to CloudFlare. Perhaps I was considering it.

That's fine and all, it's your choice, but I think it's a mistake to conclude from a single viral video that this is a problem that is in any way specific to this one company.

If your goal is "I never want to work for a company that might let people go in this manner", then that's going to be a lot more difficult to accomplish than not applying to Cloudflare.

I guess if this has been an eye opening experience to people - as it seems to have been for many in this thread - then that's a good thing. But a lot of people seem to be drawing a very narrow conclusion about Cloudflare's corporate culture, when, to me, this just seems like a video of an interaction that could have happened at pretty much any company at pretty much any time.

Re: Cloudflare employee posts layoff call with HR and goes viral [video]

#420

Post by hyperdimension »

paledot wrote: post #377
berniedurfee wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I made that rookie mistake early in my career.

I gave something like 6 weeks notice at my last job and by mutual agreement spent most of that time doing presentations and updating docs to sunset my bus factor. The mistake isn't on the part of the worker who has the courtesy to minimise the disruption of their departure, it's the employer who poisons that well. Of course, power dynamics being what they are, it's the worker who pays the price.

> "sunset my bus factor"

Completely OT: I absolutely know what you mean, but ugh, corporate jargon.

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