Brittany Peach Cloudflare Layoff [video] | Hacker News Reader

Brittany Peach Cloudflare Layoff [video]

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16 pointsngrilly20 comments

This young lady has been in the job for roughly 3 months and focused on understanding the technology, understanding the territory, creating pipeline. She keeps talking about activities which is clearly what her manager has been measuring during her ramp. The manager hasn’t raised performance concerns. HR are unable to give her clear data as to why she’s being terminated. In many places, it wouldn’t be legal. It’s clearly immoral. Doesn’t make you want to work there or consider buying their products!

I'm not sure why people are so surprised by how at will employment works when it's clearly in their offer letter. A company can let you go at any time, for any reason, or any lack of reason.

And what do people expect her manager to do? "Hey Brittany, if you don't close these deals, you would be underperforming and we're going to do layoffs soon." That would make her perform even worse and stress her out. Her manager probably didn't even know layoffs were happening until a few days before, so there wouldn't be any time for a PIP.

Honestly, sounds like Cloudflare dodged a bullet. This girl seems like a nightmare to have work for your company. Recording a private company conversation for the internet, unable to take responsibility for her own failures in not closing her deals, outing all her work friends and using them as examples to defend her situation - she was seriously a liability.

There's nothing wrong with defending yourself from unfair work practices, but this was every bit fair for Cloudflare. Take a stance against work sexism, unfair compensation, unfair working conditions, hazing, etc, but this isn't one of those cases.

If you find asking the question of why one is being fired threatening, you’re the exact target of videos like this, and I hope they keep coming up and calling out people like you and the Cloudflare HR. There is at-will employment, and then there is treating people like literal shit by not telling them why they’re being fired or having the processes in place where the news comes from those who are actually accountable for any discrepancy between perceived performance and actual performance - the line managers. And if your company doesn’t feel like it owes the employees that level of candor and treatment, then expect the younger generations to blast them on TikTok & avoid them like the plague, because the same way at-will employment works, at-will quitting and company blacklisting works.

She literally admitted in the video that she did not hit the expected sales target. She did not close a single contract. If you 'put a lot of effort' into something, but your efforts do not reflect on the stats/figures in the management report, you are let go. Simple as that. Yes, it's a competition. No, you don't have to like it. If you accept to be a part of it by signing the employment agreement, you're in if you perform, you're out if you underperform.

I used to have a very positive opinion of Cloudflare, especially when it comes to their engineering, but watching Cloudflare handling this layoff doesn't reflect well on the company's culture. John Graham-Cumming, if you read this, what are your thoughts on this?

Based on the video, I'd say the company's culture is safe. She admitted on camera to having underperformed. She did not close a single contract, while working in sales, which translates as 'the company did not make any money as a result of her presence'.

What is the expected dealmaking rate for these folks? Her manager did not express dissatisfaction with her performance. She said she was ramping up for three months and properly working for one month, how many deals are they supposed to make in a month?

I’m not in sales so I have no idea about the expected dealmaking rate, but if she really were subpar, the people doing the firing would have had a much easier job. They wouldn’t have hemmed and hawed and said they couldn’t discuss particulars, etc, they would have said exactly what you said, “by your own admission you failed to close any deals, the expected dealmaking rate is X many deals, etc”

I was fuming while watching it...

Brittany, if you ever read this, I admire you my dear for your integrity and your incredible professionalism.

You handled it like a real professional, well done.

I felt like I was watching a firing squad execute the wrong person for no real reason without negotiating or identifying that person's details.

True brutality!

She admits in the video that she hasn’t closed a single deal. I think her firing is more than reasonable. I would fire a newbie at my company if they couldn’t make a single sale in months

You must be pleasant to work with, I mean miserable. If someone does not close because the opposite party did not move forward with the deal that does not make them a weak link. She could not have controlled the outcome of a sale.

Anyway. That was really heartbreaking to watch. She really composed herself and kept it professional. I know my call would have ended fast because you would not hear anything but bleeps. Sucks. She sounds smart, so I doubt it has anything to do with her performance. Sounds like she was still under the 90 day mark. EZ target to dissolve. Welcome to Murica baby.

Often times, these big corporations outsource the parting task with other organizations. I experienced two since 2020. My advice to anyone reading this. Do the bare minimum. They do not give a f about you. 2024 is going to be a shit show. Good luck to everyone. Remember, whoever you are, whatever the circumstance you are facing, you matter!

Imagine working in sales and not understanding that you are expected to actually sell.

PS - she obviously did not matter enough.

First of all, no need to call somebody miserable when they were polite in their comment to begin with.

I agree they might not be a weak link, but if a company needs to cut costs and the data shows they're not performing, it makes sense for them to be cut. It's not anything personal -- we're in a tough economic environment and living in a capitalistic society means that this can happen.

Did you just create a new account so you can defend your own comment lol.

But then they should be able to tell her that's the reason why she is fired, which they don't. I don't which Cloudflare products she was selling, but some likely have a sales cycle that amounts to a few months, perhaps even more. Most companies on the buyer side need months to make that kind of buying decisions, and she has been in the role for less than that, if I understood correctly.

They are under no obligation to give that information to her, which could be the subject of a lawsuit. Every HR department need to do their best to protect the organization against frivolous employee lawsuits

There is an obligation to give a clear rationale for terminating the contract in many countries. I'm not sure where she's based though. But Cloudflare is UK based, if I remember correctly, so they should be used to that. And although, all the things we do are not always done because we have an obligation. We can do them out of courtesy, and/or to protect the employer brand.

Nope. Just because the company is based in the UK does not mean that this employee is subject to Uk law. She is subject to the law of the country in which she is based, which is clearly the US. She is taking this far too personally. The whole tech sector is currently undertaking massive layoffs in the face of stagnant earnings and a high interest rate environment. Her firing has nothing to do with her abilities so she shouldn’t take it so personally. I’m just arguing that if she was an over the top stellar employee with multiple closed sales, there would be a need to keep her. In the absence of any overwhelming accomplishments, she finds herself the victim of market trends, a common occurrence in today’s market.

When your ability to feed yourself, keep a roof over your head, and see a doctor without going into debt is taken away, I would argue that getting fired is a very personal thing. Please stop suggesting that people not take it personally. It's always personal for the person being fired, even if the company doesn't "personally" care.

Her job is to sell she clearly says hasn't sold anything yet she keeps saying that doesn't effect her performance lmao that's your whole job and you failed trying and doing are two different things

since when does any company gaf about employees? this is 2024. theyre al sociopath and completely chaotic and random in their firing and hiring/

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