In the past few years, we have seen the news of layoffs in various large companies, some of which have been laid off because of suspicion of cheating, such as Deloitte employees.
But if you're laid off for posting a video about the company, you really don't know who to talk to.
1. Google employees were suddenly laid off
In recent years, videos of one's daily work life have become popular among employees of some large factories, and like many people, blogger Nicole Tsai is one of them.
She is an employee of Google's Los Angeles office and often shares her daily life on TikTok. Nicole is proud of herself to work for a tech giant like Google, and she doesn't hesitate to show netizens what it's like to work for a globally renowned company.
Since July 2021, Nicole has been posting Google-related videos on TikTok. From her early videos, you can also see that Google's Los Angeles office was once used as an airplane hangar, so imagine that the place where you now work was once an aircraft storage room.
In addition, Nicole showcased some of Google's special rooms, such as zero-gravity and Peter Pan-themed rooms, libraries, speakeasies, and arcade-themed rooms, all of which are available to employees.
In another of her videos, she also shows art installations, coffee machines, and full-body massage chairs in the office, as well as a free lunch that employees can enjoy. Google is simply a holy place in the hearts of workers.
These short videos also made Nicole a small popularity, and her following quickly grew to 36,000.
However, the bad news came suddenly, Nicole was laid off by Google, along with 12,000 employees, or 6.4% of Google's total workforce.
Knowing that he had been laid off, Nicole immediately took a TikTok video to record his feelings about being laid off. The video was titled "My Day at Google," and the 90-second video was viewed millions of times in a short period of time.
She said when she woke up in the morning to see a very ominous text message from her boss asking her to check the news and email, which also read, "Hey, Nicole, call me anytime." ”
Then Nicole discovered that she had essentially lost all of her work rights and access restrictions. When she tries to sign in to her work email and calendar, she gets a message: "You don't have access. ”
After that, she immediately called her boss, and on the phone, Nicole couldn't help crying, and then the boss also cried and said that he only learned that Nicole was fired today, and then immediately sent her a text message.
Nicole said she thinks the worst thing is that no one seems to have consulted anyone about the decision, and everyone was told about the layoffs at the same time. This layoff is a very bad Russian roulette, and the reason for the layoff is not because of his poor work performance, so it is really random, and no one knows who will be laid off next.
The video then shows screenshots of text messages received by the team and other members of the company who were also told they had been fired. The complaints of these fired employees are the same as Nicole's, and the layoffs are not based on performance.
According to Nicole's LinkedIn page, she has been Google's Partner Services Program Manager in Irvine, California, since July 2021. Nicole also shared the news of his layoffs on LinkedIn, and the post received a large number of responses.
She also wrote that she has always dreamed of working at Google, and she is grateful to be able to make that dream come true, and I thoroughly enjoy every minute of being a Google employee.
Nicole cried for a long time because she was laid off, feeling exhausted from her grief. So, she went to Disneyland, and she also gobbled up a lot of food to ease her grief.
Nicole admits at the end of the video that she really doesn't know what's going to happen next, but she tells viewers that she will continue to document her journey and post more relevant content.
In the comment area, many netizens expressed their support and encouragement for Nicole, and they left messages in support of Nicole. Nicole then posted a video thanking everyone for their concern for her, and she was overwhelmed by everyone's love and support.
Although Nicole said that he would continue to post new works, the account that searched for Nicole on TikTok was already nowhere to be found.
In fact, Nicole is not the only TikTok user who shared videos before and after the layoff announcement.
Blogger Cedoni Francis, who has more than 240,000 followers on TikTok, has been sharing video clips of herself working at Google's New York office.
In the video clip titled "A Day in My Life: Office Addiction", Cetoni arrives at the office just in time and enjoys the breakfast prepared for her, French toast and scrambled eggs with cream. She then filmed herself working on a project on her laptop and said she was starting to feel sick. Cedoni then went to the company's on-site health center to show the crowd another benefit of working at Google.
But the creative, who has been with Google for three years, recently took to TikTok to talk about layoffs. She sat at home and faced the camera and said that she and her entire team had been fired by Google, and that the news had been circulating within the company for a long time.
Cetoni also said the layoffs were not performance-based. She got a "exceeded expectations" rating in her last performance review, and all this was just because the company needed to save money, so someone had to leave.
Cedoni also said that not only the company's small fish and shrimp were laid off, but even vice presidents and director-level managers were also fired. But she also said on camera that she did not express anger or sadness throughout the layoff process and that she knew she would recover quickly from the incident.
She also added that she was financially stable and said she was considering submitting her resignation to the company before the inside broke. So leaving Google is a doomed thing.
2. Gucci employees posted Tiktok videos and were opened
We don't know if Nicole was targeted by Google for posting her work on social media in a high-profile manner, we have no way of knowing, but the next girl did lose her job because she posted TikTok.
After being offered a position as a sales associate at Gucci, Los Angeles-based girl Melanie Moradi couldn't wait to take to TikTok to showcase the luxury uniforms that the luxury brand offers to new retail employees.
The unboxing video released by Moradi, accompanied by the song "Gucci Gang" by well-known rapper Lil Pump, has garnered 11 million views since its release.
In the video, Moradi drags two huge shopping bags filled with shirts, pants, blazers, a bag, a belt, socks, and two pairs of shoes. In the caption of the video, she wrote, "Should I leave my bag and disappear and not go to work?"
However, the excitement of receiving so many luxury items that don't cost money quickly faded. Eleven days after posting the unboxing video, Moradi said she was fired by Gucci for posting a viral video on TikTok and that she also had to return the items. She also wrote in a follow-up video that perhaps she should read the company's guidelines on social media as soon as she was hired.
Unexpectedly, this viral video actually made Moradi lose the new job he had just found, and the news of the girl's dismissal also went viral on the Internet.
Speaking to the media after his dismissal, Moradi said that all new hires get the same items, but the men's clothing is slightly different, and that the longer the employee works, the more items they get.
She also said she was glad that the incident had sparked debate about what standards and conditions people accept at work, and that people are not willing to sacrifice their mental health, happiness or freedom of expression for work. But netizens in the comment section didn't seem to buy it, they were almost all on Gucci's side, and many said that she didn't make this unboxing video in the first place.
But Moradi countered that Gucci fired her not because of the video itself, but because of the title she came up with. She didn't read through the numerous PDF files sent to her by HR before signing them, which outlined the company's policies regarding social media use.
She later learned that Gucci's guidelines were for employees to post about the brand, but they were warned to use their best judgment when posting. Moradi said it was an executive who then reported the TikTok to his store manager.
The store manager asked her to delete the video, which had only 360,000 views at the time, but she didn't take it seriously and didn't delete it, and a few days later, she was told in person that her job as a sales assistant would be terminated. Because this video of hers has had a bad impact on Gucci.
In recent years, everyone always likes to show all aspects of their lives on the Internet in a high-profile manner, showing affection, showing children, payroll, and food.
As more and more people use social media as their primary communication tool, there is an increased risk that what we say online will catch the attention of employers, and many will be disciplined or fired as a result.
The foreign case is not an isolated case, and in China, many netizens have reported that they were fired by the company for posting on Xiaohongshu.
Of course, this has also generated heated discussions, can companies fire employees because they have posted their jobs on social media? Where is the bottom line of everyone's work on social media, and what can and cannot be posted.
Generally, employers have the right to terminate employees for any legitimate reason – including what they post on social media. Therefore, before joining the company, you must carefully read the company's hard and fast rules for social media-related content, and if you do not have relevant documents, you must also take the initiative to communicate with the human resources department and do not step on the thunder.
While employees have more rights to speak outside of work, employers may still penalize or fire you for posting outside of work based on what you say.
Write at the end
Social media is a double-edged sword, it can drive traffic to companies and individuals, and it can also destroy one's career and the company's prospects. Perhaps in such an era of highly developed self-media, it is not too wrong to uphold a cautious attitude of words and deeds. You see, nowadays, even a person who says good things about the company on social media may be fired for being too eye-catching.