A former Google employee went viral on TikTok after documenting the day she was laid off by the tech giant.
Nicole Tsai, who worked as a Partner Services Programe Manager for Google, had been posting several videos about “a day in my life” at the company.
However, on 20 January, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced it was cutting 12,000 employees. Nicole happened to be one of them.
In a viral video with over 4.2 million views, the TikToker revealed that she woke up to a “really ominous” text message from her boss.
Former Google employee finds out she was laid off
Nicole claimed her boss told her to “check her email,” adding: “So I rushed downstairs to find out that I had lost access to basically everything,” including her work email and calendar.
The former Google employee admitted she “honestly had no idea” that she would be one of thousands who would lose their jobs.
“I called my boss back and we just sobbed over the phone because she was also finding out about my layoff for the first time today too,” she said.
The account has now been made private on TikTok, but the videos have been shared widely on social media.
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Things changing fast in big tech. From ‘day in life’ to ‘day in life getting laid off.’ Wish her best moving fwd. pic.twitter.com/Wcw0JaYO3G
— TTI (@TikTokInvestors) January 22, 2023
TikTok users in the comments expressed sympathy for Nicole and the 12,000 employees who lost their jobs.
“Blows my mind how big [tech companies] like Google will always have endless revenue and still lay-off people. Just shows how little they care about their workers,” one user commented.
“It’s wild to me [that] companies as wealthy as Google do this. At the very least they should give a two-week notice and a generous severance package,” another added.
“My heart goes out to you and your co-workers,” a third said.
Posting on LinkedIn, Nicole said she was “completely blindsided by this decision, but there is some comfort knowing I’m not the only one.”
“I’ve always dreamed of working at Google, and feel grateful to have fulfilled that dream. I’ve certainly enjoyed every minute of being a Googler,” she wrote. “I’ll be spending some time looking for new opportunities and enjoying this time off.”