Employers Want to Fire Workers without Getting Shamed on TikTok

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Videos of disastrous layoffs accumulating on TikTok are prompting companies to seek help in delivering the bad news.

Posted by LampLighter at 08:32 AM | 14 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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More from the article...

... More people are sharing intimate details and recordings from workplace conversations that used to transpire behind closed doors. TikToks about getting laid off are now routinely dissected in public -- from CEOs' mea culpa memos to awkwardly timed announcements and the precise intonation used by human resources managers.

Fear of social-media backlash has executives, especially from smaller tech firms that don't have big HR operations, looking for advice on how to lay people off without it blowing up in their faces. Onwards HR, a startup specializes in layoff logistics, says its customer base grew 300 per cent last year. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-02-05 07:24 PM | Reply

Maybe don't treat your employees like excrement and they won't feel the need to post the proof.

#2 | Posted by TaoWarrior at 2024-02-05 07:44 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 5

@#2

Yeah.

In this particular area (i.e., employees being fired or laid off), I view TikTok in a similar aspect to what I have said about the proliferation of smartphone video cameras and police brutality.

What is done may have a wider audience and more consequences than those performing the act may realize.

Much to their chagrin and, possibly, prison sentences.

Inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 times is charged with attempted murder, prosecutors say (December 2023)
apnews.com

#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-02-05 08:00 PM | Reply

It's obvious you people don't understand the value and importance of corporate culture

" with smarm
Gasbageberly

#4 | Posted by ChiefTutMoses at 2024-02-05 08:57 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

Jim Carroll Band - City Drops into the Night (1980)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt.

genius.com

...
t's when Billy's whores are workin'
They're workin' with the skeleton crew
It's when the sky over Jersey
That sky starts to drain from view
It's when my woman pawns her voice so
So she can make her old excuses sound new

But I just want one clue

'Cause when the city drops into the night
Before the darkness there's one moment of light
When everything seems clear
The other side, it seems so near
What seemed wrong?
I think it's gonna be just about right
Before the city drops, the city drops
Into the night
...

Yeah, an interesting song that just popped up on a playlist (don't ask about the theme of that playlist... :) ) here as I am tackling the scripts to run NUT o( networkupstools.org on my home servers.

#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-02-05 10:27 PM | Reply

"slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit"

#6 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2024-02-05 10:43 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 3

"could be applied for their personal benefit"

That is a negative, not a positive.

I'm not buying slaves for their personal benefit

I'm buying slaves for my benefit.

It's a whitewash of history to say the economics of slavery was a benefit to slaves.

#7 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-02-05 10:48 PM | Reply

Maybe don't treat your employees like excrement and they won't feel the need to post the proof.

#2 | Posted by TaoWarrior at 2024-02-05 07:44 PM | Reply | Flag

I love reading the AITA of reddit section of people who quit when the workplace is toxic.

Some of the examples:

Demanding someone to come in to work on the day of their wedding after approving the day off.
Demanding an employee stand on a broken foot despite them using a stool and beating other employees in productivity.
Cancelling an employees day off for the day of their father's funeral.
Hiring an employee after they told you they had booked a $3000 vacation and then immediately demanding they cancel their vacation.

#8 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-02-06 09:39 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Corporate has always used weasel words to try and sound regretful they are taking the action of laying off. Mostly the way they do it shows it isn't a concern. The way they did it was always closed door, personal. No audience to show just how crappy they were about it.

PR is one of those things corporate wants to control. They hate it when the tide turns against them. Now that they are being exposed, often with camera feeds on it, proving how it was handled, maybe, just maybe, corporate will get the message that the people they lay off, it's affecting their entire life from lack of funds. Not having a job does that but corporate in many cases has just been cold blooded about it. Since it's been put out for public viewing how it was handled, corporate has found they are no longer have the isolation shield and I think it's about time it was exposed.

#9 | Posted by BBQ at 2024-02-06 11:02 AM | Reply

Fear of social-media backlash has executives, especially from smaller tech firms that don't have big HR operations, looking for advice on how to lay people off without it blowing up in their faces.

Simple: 1) Hire experienced HR people; 2) Fire people for the right reason i.e. incompetence, theft, etc. and make sure the reason for firing is included in the reasons for termination.

#10 | Posted by FedUpWithPols at 2024-02-06 11:28 AM | Reply

Yeah, an interesting song that just popped up on a playlist (don't ask about the theme of that playlist... :) ) here as I am tackling the scripts to run NUT o( networkupstools.org on my home servers.
#5 | POSTED BY LAMPLIGHTER AT 2024-02-05 10:27 PM | FLAG:

The whole Catholic Boy album is a gem.

#11 | Posted by ScottE at 2024-02-06 01:53 PM | Reply

A family member was recently terminated. They fired a whole team for a "restructuring", including people who had been hired as recently as 2 weeks prior. Some of these people had relocated and signed leases for this job. They did it on the last day of the month so they lost their health insurance immediately. It took two months to get COBRA coverage retroactively, what a nightmare. The part that really bothered me was that their policy is to refuse to put the reason for termination in writing, refused to provide a letter of recommendation, or even something so simple as confirming through HR that the employees left in good standing. They wouldn't even provide copies of employee evaluations or other employment documents, all of which were stored on their work laptop which was collected immediately. Moral of the story, keep copies of anything you might need. I was pretty upset about this, thinking that would make it harder to explain a resume gap, but I learned that is normal these days.

#12 | Posted by Miranda7 at 2024-02-06 07:05 PM | Reply

#12 Which state?

#13 | Posted by snoofy at 2024-02-06 07:15 PM | Reply

#12 | Posted by Miranda7 at 2024-02-06 07:05 PM

That's all pretty standard unless you're working for a very large corporation. Some states make the employer put the reason for termination in writing. Also, on the letter of recommendation thing, I've worked for 3 large companies over the last 25 years and no one in the company was allowed to give references of any kind (good or bad) for former employees.

The bigger the company, the more likely you would be to receive a severance package and some money paid to a placement company to help you get employed again.

#14 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2024-02-07 02:12 PM | Reply