A workplace expert says Gen Zers posting videos of themselves getting laid off online are seeking 'validation' because they feel lonely

• Some Gen Z workers are recording their layoffs and posting the videos on social media in a new trend.
• Dan Schawbel, a future-of-work expert, told BI they're rewarded with validation and connection.

The youngest generation at work has found a new way to vent its frustrations at working in corporate America: filming themselves getting laid off or fired and posting it on social media.

In January, Brittany Pietsch, a former employee at Cloudflare, uploaded a video on TikTok that appeared to show her defending herself after being let go by human-resources executives at the company. The video has since racked up over 2 million views and ignited a global conversation about why Gen Zers aren’t afraid to call out their employers online.

It’s partly because they’re rewarded with virality and connection on social media, Dan Schawbel, a future-of-work expert and managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, told Business Insider.

"They love the validation," he said. "They don't want to feel alone and isolated. When other people comment saying, 'You go, girl,' or, 'Thanks for being a voice,' or, 'I'm so happy you did this,' that's the validation that makes them not feel alone; that makes them feel almost like a hero."

He added: "There's a reward system attached to doing that."

Young people on TikTok often have negative sentiments about work and hold anti-capitalist views, so content that calls out corporations for bad behavior may be more likely to be pushed by the algorithm.

"From the Gen Z perspective, this woman feels like a hero," Schawbel said of Pietsch.

"She stood up for her generation," he said. "She got commemorated with all these articles, all these great things. She got followers, she got attention because of the algorithm and the echo chamber that surrounds her on social media, and on TikTok especially."

Gen Zers are experiencing a loneliness epidemic after the COVID-19 pandemic forced countless of them to work and study virtually. In a December 2022 survey by the Harvard Graduate School of Education shared with BI, one-third of 18- to 25-year-old Americans reported feeling lonely frequently, almost all the time, or all the time.

They’re even spending thousands on gym memberships and social clubs in hopes of meeting friends.

This problem seems to have been exacerbated by remote work. Young professionals working from home are generally living in shared or small accommodations and have less-established social lives than their older colleagues. As a result, many want to go back to working in the office to build more social connections.

Social-media fame, likes, followers, and comments might create a facade of social connection for some lonely Gen Zers.

There are consequences to exposing employers online

While Pietsch and other content creators who've posted these videos have been inundated with support and solidarity, they may have unknowingly lost out on some job opportunities.

Schawbel said people posting videos such as Pietsch's "can't see that behind the curtain, all the conversations that all the recruiters are having about how they won’t hire her."

A lot of recruiters would be wary of hiring someone like that because companies "don’t want to be the next victim" of a social-media rant, he said.

Such creators could become a "liability for future employment," he added.

Ben Voyer, an ESCP Business School professor who founded the Gen Z Observatory, previously told BI that exposing employers online could be a "double-edged sword" because it could be seen as a betrayal, and whistleblowers are usually stigmatized.

"Maybe people forget about it over a certain period of time," Schawbel added. "But Google doesn't forget."