[dghlsakjg]

HR is in charge of minimizing risk to the company. One thing that is very risky is claiming performance reasons are a reason for firing when it’s really a layoff. Depending on where they are the state will not be happy that they are trying to game the unemployment system, and federally they may be in violation of the WARN act.

HR is the department responsible for knowing this and not allowing this sort of bs.

[selfportrait]

Having worked for years in the HR space and at the intersection of compliance, recruiting, legal, and business tech, it's not a complete argument to say that HR is to blame here. Executive leadership, shareholders (and likely consultants) are responsible for these "layoffs". They are the root cause. It most likely still holds true that their decision making is "bigger picture" nonsense based on budgets and short term gains. It also might hold true that they targeted the "low performers" even if that's an incredibly unfair judgment. Anyone who has worked with or knows Sales/AEs understand that 3 months over holidays is not a fair timeframe.

How HR decided to use the reason "low performance" doesn't look great at all, but from my collaboration with HR compliance folks in the past I don't think it's a violation because it's technically the "truth".

[dghlsakjg]

I have no doubt this came down from higher up. The reality is that telling someone that they are being fired for unspecified performance reasons when you could just as easily tell them that their position is being eliminated through no fault of their own is outright cruel. In their attempts to make it look like they aren’t doing layoffs they have made the whole internet aware that they are doing layoffs, and that they are treating their employees terribly.

And now they have created a bit of a pr snafu. How many talented people with good performance reviews at Cloudflare are now looking for the door.