Gabriel Judge's job at a tech company ended not with a whimper or a fuss, but with a video. She filmed a stressful and, in the judge's words, performance review meeting during which she told her managers she was leaving.
The judge, who was doing the job alongside a part-time career as a content creator, posted a truncated version of the online meeting on social media under the moniker “Anti Work Girlboss.” She says the goal was to show viewers that she walked away from the low-stress, relatively well-paying job after her employer began laying off her team and assigning her additional tasks.
The public resignation became a viral hit among younger workers, many of whom also felt dissatisfied and undervalued in their positions.
In another video posted to TikTok, Christina Zumbo looks shocked and teary-eyed — “numb,” she says — after she just pressed send email to inform her boss she was resigning. She says the job has made her unhappy, while words of support from her followers pile in below. The recording includes a call from HR about her decision, and Zumbo is then free.
Such clips, posted with titles like “Quit my job with me” or the hashtag #layoffseason, are part of a wave of so-called “Quit-Tok” videos that aim to take what is usually a private conversation to one side. Room with the managers and make it as public as possible.
Gen Z workers in particular have been posting videos of webcasts in which they quit or are laid off on social media sites like TikTok as they campaign for workplace transparency. Tech workers and school teachers are the source of many of the videos, but they have also been posted by blue-collar workers. The vast majority of the people behind them were women.
“I think Generation Z in general is very skeptical and somewhat nihilistic,” Judge told the Financial Times.
One motivation for those leaving a company is to boost their social media presence – some videos have been viewed millions of times – but the trend is also a way to expose and change what employees perceive as poor working conditions or poor treatment. By the leaders. Some have described this mania as “loud quitting,” in contrast to the pandemic trend of “quiet quitting” in which workers did the bare minimum to keep their jobs.
“He touches on the economic crisis, the disbelief of Nine to Five…all of these are topics he's interested in,” says Shira Gezmian, CEO of Screenshot Media, whose 18- to 24-year-old-focused site has featured many of these stories. Generation Z.
“Every time we touch it, millions of people are watching. In the lead up to it, getting the email, jumping on the call, looking at the computer, you can hear their manager asking questions. It's huge.”
The workers who make the clips usually film themselves on video calls, and their managers on the other end don't know they're being recorded. Others occur within the workplace. For example, a nine-second clip shows an empty McDonald's restaurant, after all employees quit en masse. Another, from KennyMan DMV — whose real name is not given — shows him wearing a blue Walmart uniform angrily telling his manager he won't be stacking the shelves anymore before checking out.
There is a risk that employees will be challenged for secret filming, but most TikTok users seem unconcerned that their employer will file legal action.
Media observers say this trend reflects Generation Z culture: bringing personal and often emotional responses to show “authenticity,” and taking charge of situations that cause anxiety or stress. It also highlights a lack of interest in the kind of long-term corporate relationships and hierarchies that older generations might have respected.
The effects of videos are already being felt in technology companies and the HR sector. CEOs, employment lawyers and outside staffing firms — which sometimes carry out corporate layoffs — don't want to become the target of viral TikTok. This trend has forced some employers to up their game when it comes to communicating with employees and the way they implement job losses.
Nolan Church, former head of talent at tech company DoorDash, and now CEO of pay data platform Faircomp, says layoff videos have become “an accountability mechanism to ensure people are treated humanely.”
The wave of technology abandonment has increased the feeling of mistrust among workers. According to industry tracker Layoff.fyi, technology companies have cut more than 312,000 jobs since the start of 2023. Layoffs without a manager present, without a proper reason given, or without termination can be devastating for the people who experience them. “Employees feel like the social contract has been broken,” says Church.
He believes this trend has been driven by the rise of platforms like Glassdoor and Blind — anonymous forums where tech workers can discuss their companies and pay.
While post-pandemic trends like hybrid work have led some companies to keep a closer eye on employees, TikTok videos of employee layoffs may put workplace surveillance back on management.
“I think the next evolution of this is for someone to have an iPhone on all day while talking to their manager,” Church adds.
In one widely shared video, Brittany Beach filmed herself being fired from her job as an account executive at Cloudflare after just three months. Beach — after hearing from her coworkers about what was happening — filmed the call with an HR executive and another manager who told her, “After completing our performance evaluations for 2023, this is where you did not meet Cloudflare’s expectations for performance. We have decided to part ways with you.” ”
She spent the rest of the clip arguing with the pair about her performance.
The post forced Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare, to respond on social media platform He added: “Any healthy organization needs to get people who are not performing well. That was not the mistake here. The mistake was not to be kinder and more humane as we did.”
Anne Frank, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, says videos can be a “wake-up call to leaders about potential shortcomings in management”.
“Younger employees are more likely to be open and transparent about how they view their employer.”
But this can also bring risks to the worker. “Any employee who publicly disparages their employer could find themselves viewed as a ‘troublemaker’, which could impact their future employment prospects,” Frank adds.
“My advice is to be aware of the potential consequences no matter which side of the camera you are on.”
But did employees get any tangible benefit from these public outbursts? Church says videos have an impact on repetitions, leading to more thoughtful communication and, in some cases, improved breakups.
But Lindsay Witcher, global managing director at outsourcing firm Randstad RiseSmart, says some organizations are distancing themselves from the redundancy process, or providing written notices to avoid potential reputational risks. “It remains shocking to me how little care companies take in planning and implementing layoffs.”
She says employers should spend the same amount of resources on laying off employees as they do on hiring them. Time spent planning the process, appropriate severance packages and helping employees find new jobs can bring benefits to businesses.
If layoffs are done well, former employees can be strong advocates for the company throughout their careers, Witcher says.
Importantly, a botched job termination can also have a strong impact on the morale of the remaining workforce – especially those who are being asked to increase their productivity after others lose their jobs.
Witcher hopes TikTok videos will spark a bigger shift. “I hope this forces it on companies a little bit and moves the needle on the practices and benefits they provide to people.”
