You’ve just been fired. You’re outraged. You’re ready to storm into the corner office, pound your fist on the CEO’s desk, and demand an explanation. All you want to do is blame and publicly berate the owner for selling the company to a venture capitalist with no industry experience and then getting you fired as a result.
Instead, take to social media to express your gratitude.
Search LinkedIn or Twitter for the keywords “fired” or “layoff” and “thankful” and you’ll find hundreds of posts using similar language. For example, when Hattie Lindert was fired from Pitchfork, Resident Advisor’s new news editor wrote on Twitter that “the opportunity to work alongside some of the smartest, funniest, most intelligent, and kindest people in the industry is a dream come true that words can’t describe.”
Rachel S. Cohen, a former Military Times reporter who was fired earlier this month, wrote, “Telling the stories of Americans in uniform has been my privilege, and I will miss the talented and tenacious team of reporters and editors who made the last three years so special.” Similarly, Jennifer Locke, former public relations manager at Gearbox Entertainment, posted, “Working with this team has truly been a dream come true and I am so grateful for my time here.”
After 15 amazing years at Pixar, I am leaving the studio as a result of significant layoffs this week. I am incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished during my tenure and deeply grateful for my time working on many Oscar-winning films ❤️
— Cat Hicks (@cathicks) May 22, 2024
As of early June 2024, the U.S. has cut roughly 385,859 jobs this year, with the majority of those in the technology industry, which laid off more than 100,000 people between January and July. That’s 7.6% fewer layoffs than the number from January to May last year, but that’s cold comfort to many, especially since mass layoffs are highly publicized challenges for company executives as they secure their own positions and salaries while firing the people who keep the wheels turning.
Yet when layoffs actually happen, social media seems to be flooded with incredibly optimistic posts — not necessarily lies, but not the whole truth either. Sharing positive post-mortems despite evidence of disorganization, abuse, or overall neglect of employee welfare reflects the fear and desperation that plagues today’s workforce.
Alex Fenstermacher, a longtime tech industry recruiter, said the lack of jobs means anyone vying for a new position must act from a position of self-protection, publicly presenting themselves as workers who can bounce back from adversity and smile through the tears. “Unfortunately, employees understand that if they say anything negative about their previous company, they could be ‘blacklisted’ or lose references from their previous employer,” he said.
I asked Twitter and LinkedIn users to send me farewell messages to find out how they really felt about being fired. They agreed to speak to me on the condition of anonymity to protect themselves from retaliation and to preserve their reputations. They said their messages were very innocuous to minimize risk and save face. Two explained that they had to sign non-disparagement agreements to receive severance pay, a clause that was ruled illegal by the National Labor Relations Board in 2023. Another said it wasn’t stated in the agreement, but it was implied.
Olympic records are getting harder to break for scary reasons. I lost a lot of weight. I didn’t expect the results. I’m an epidemiologist who fact-checks the news. There are kinds of stories I deny all the time. Unfortunately, J.D. Vance’s Spotify is completely
But even if they were given the freedom to shout it from the rooftops, they all said it wouldn’t mean anything. “Being fired sucked, and there’s a lot of criticism of the mismanagement at my store that led to that moment, but I think venting your bitterness on Twitter is generally not a good look,” one journalist told me. “I’m genuinely grateful and I loved my job, but you can get more impact if you’re generous.”
Another source said they were similarly torn between gratitude for their coworkers and the experience and resentment toward their managers, especially when they and their team members were automatically rejected from subsequent job offers within the same company.
When I asked recently laid-off game industry employees what they would have said if they had had the opportunity to criticize without repercussions, they didn’t hesitate to send expletive-ridden emails blasting management’s “outdated ideas about what a company should be” and “tyranny and greed.” They expressed outrage at management’s apparent racial and gender bias and demands for long hours. “Fuck you guys and disappear into the wind so kinder, better leaders can take your place,” they wrote.
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Of course, no one posts anything like that on social media. Instead, they post the kind of nostalgic ramblings that rival Green Day’s “Good Riddance,” more appropriate for the last day of camp than for newly fired adults. But no one was having the time of their lives, even if they said they weren’t.
Unfortunately, as anyone who has been fired knows, risking future employment, especially if you’re currently unemployed, almost always doesn’t work in your favor. Going after management’s lifeline may earn you hero status among your coworkers, but with a few exceptions, it’s more likely to work against you than against management. Future employers may view you as a liability, former coworkers may no longer want to serve as references, and company management itself may retaliate.
“The only real option people have right now is to post something on Glassdoor and hope their boss doesn’t think they wrote it,” Fenstermacher said.