Cloudflare Termination: The Importance of Culture and Communication

You’re probably aware of Cloudflare, the web performance and security company.

You may already be aware of the video that’s been circulating that gives the company a truly bad look. 

I’m talking about the termination video shared by former employee Brittany Pietsch.  (If you’re not familiar, the link is below). 

While this video creates a master class on what not to do as an organization, I actually want to start by talking about Brittany. 

Throughout the entire interaction, Brittany is amazing. She is the model to follow in this type of situation. What makes her the ideal? 

• Going in knowing the reality
• Armed with facts and data
• Does not accept vague and meaningless statements
• Pressures for answers on communication and chain of command
• Maintains composure
• Sets clears expectations 
• Controls the conversation 
• Is a constant advocate for herself 

Brittany was fantastic even though she was put in a no win scenario. She knows her skill set, but also shows resilience and leadership skills. 

Now, as far as Cloudflare, their practices, their HR team, their communication, and their culture. This is where things get blown up and where other organizations can learn. 

There are 8 points this video raises, all of which are organizational red flags. All of which are avoidable. And, when corrected, set companies and their employees on the path to thrive. 

• Over hiring
• Surprise performance based termination
• No cited performance issues 
• No history of performance issues
• History of positive feedback
• Direct manager not involved 
• No documentation
• Appearing to Violate organizational core values

Over-hiring in tech I’m going to just touch on briefly. It’s an endemic issue. It’s an avoidable cycle. But it means being reality based vs projection based. 

I’m going to put the other seven issues into two buckets. Culture and communication. And the two do have overlap creating a Ven bucket. The overlap is why individual spot fixes don’t work and to create change, things have to be addressed in their entirety. 

The communication issues are straightforward. All the pieces have to do with the actual discussion, feedback, and documentation. 

Culture is shown being an issue with Brittany’s direct manager not being involved in the process and two people who don’t know her and whom she does not know proceed with a termination that isn’t understood by any party, these types of actions affect morale, engagement, and productivity.

They also create a culture conflict by seeming to violate the company’s first two core values. 

Trust and Transparency: Cloudflare values trust and transparency in all aspects of the company, from communication with customers to internal decision-making processes.

Empowerment: Cloudflare empowers its employees to take ownership of their work and make decisions that drive the company’s success. 

(from tealhq.com Cloudflare company page)

When communication and actions are out of alignment with values and goals, a toxic culture is created. This environment costs organizations money, talent, and clients. 

If you see this type of misalignment in your organization, correct it early. 

If you want your organization and employees to truly truly thrive, a coaching culture will help get you there. Up to 55% increased retention, doubled sales, and up to 75% increases in net profits, all over 5 years. 

If you’re ready to avoid Cloudflare’s pitfalls and establish a coaching culture for your organization to thrive, contact me for a discovery call.