Shortly after Discord, an instant messaging platform, revealed plans to reduce its workforce by 17 per cent, an employee, Chloe Shih, posted a video recording her reaction on her services being terminated by the company.
In the recording, Chloe shared the moment when Discord announced her dismissal, along with 169 other employees. Having been with the company for slightly over two years, Chloe uploaded her reaction video on X (formerly Twitter) last Saturday.
Discord, a widely utilised messaging service within the gaming community, communicated to the terminated employees that they would receive an email following a virtual meeting.
Chloe’s video begins with her recounting the specifics of Discord’s announcement. She voice-overs the actual announcement saying, “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.”
Soon after the announcement, Chloe says with a nervous smile, “I find out if I’m laid off in 20 minutes.”
After a while, Chloe receives an email from HR that reads, “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.”
Chloe is heard being anxious and in disbelief after the announcement. In reaction to her layoff, Chloe is heard saying, “I just bought a house too!”
Sharing the video, Chloe wrote, “end of an era”
Later, Chloe penned down a detailed note on LinkedIn. She wrote, “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. 😔”
She added, “With that said…my DMs are open. 📩 Let me know if your company is hiring!! (I’m also asking on behalf of all the other friends/coworkers who got laid off as well – these are hidden gems in the industry!) In other news, I’ve been cookin’ up a few side projects – my product management course, my podcast, and just more kickass content to launch this year…I was going to announce this later, but I just enrolled in design classes at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. Entering my back to school era pursuing design! Hope to share more about my journey. For now, I’m gonna go process this layoff. Happy baby Friday~”
According to a report in The Verge, these recent layoffs mark Discord’s most extensive workforce reduction to date, following a 4 per cent staff cut in August of the previous year. The report states that Discord CEO James Citron stated the intention behind this decision is to “sharpen our focus and enhance the way we collaborate to introduce greater agility to our organisation.”