"I Just Bought A House": Employee Records Herself Getting Laid Off

A few days after instant messaging platform Discord declared that it would be laying off 17 per cent of its workforce, an employee shared a video of the company terminating her. Chloe Shih recorded the moment when the company announced that she was also among the 170 employees who were fired by Discord.

Ms. Chloe, who worked for the company for a little over two years, shared her reaction video on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.

The popular messaging service widely used by gamers informed all their employees that after the virtual meeting, they would all get an email.

The clip begins with Ms Chloe narrating the actual announcement by Discord. She said, “Today we are making the unfortunate and difficult decision to reduce the size of Discord's workforce by 17 per cent. This means that we are saying goodbye to 170 of our talented colleagues. By 10:30 AM PT, everyone will receive an email. In the email, you will learn whether or not your employment has been impacted by this reduction enforced.”

After the narration, Ms Chloe, with a nervous smile on her face can be heard saying, “I find out if I'm laid off in 20 minutes.”

Sometime later, Ms Chloe received an email from HR that read, “Dear Chloe, it is with heavy hearts that we inform you that your role has been impacted by our company-wide reduction-in-force, and your employment with Discord is ending.” It even included the details about her last working day.

While reacting to her layoff, Ms Chloe also revealed, “I just bought a house too!”

Sharing the video, she wrote, “End of an era.”

end of an era ???? @discord #layoffs #Techlayoffs pic.twitter.com/3jxIYitx8T

— chloe shih (@colorsofchloe) January 12, 2024

After being fired, Chloe Shih penned down a detailed note on LinkedIn that read, “Well that was a fun run, Discord…Got the news this morning that I'm part of the 17% that got laid off. Definitely had anxiety nightmares in December about this and braced myself for impact, but I seriously did not anticipate the emotional rollercoaster I'd go through. Ngl - this is traumatic, but it's also not a reflection of our work, merit, and value. In fact, some of the most GOAT'd people at Discord also got laid off across all functions.”

Check out her complete post here:

As per a report in The Verge, these layoffs are Discord's largest to date after the messaging app cut 4 per cent of staff last August.

The report revealed that Discord CEO James Citron claimed that this move is meant to “sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization.”