Woman Gets Fired, CEO Contacts Her And Asks Her To Do Some More Work For A Pay Where She Would Be Losing Money

Recently, the TikTok creator Kiki (@kikirough) shared an incident with her CEO, joining many people online who are calling out employee mistreatment and disrespect across various work industries.

Captioned “Treat your employees like human beings”, Kiki’s video amassed 603.4k views and counting. “In short, I was one of tens of thousands of people laid off a month ago,” the woman explained in the video.

“My CEO reached out to me and he says, ‘Hey, I need something done that no one knows how to do.’” Now, Kiki responds to him by saying that “she’ll lose her unemployment if she helps him” and asks for something she deserves–a week’s pay. Turns out, the CEO is convinced that Kiki is simply not worth it.

"I had to calm down before making this video because of the audacity. In short, I was one of the 10s of 1000s of people laid off a month ago. And my CEO reaches out to me and he says, 'Hey, I need something done that no one knows how to do.'"

"And I was like, 'Sure, these are all the things that need to be done, but I'll lose my unemployment if I do this for you. Can you at least give me a week's pay?'"

"So he essentially says, 'you're not worth a week's pay. You can do it for me hourly.' He doesn't care if I lose my unemployment. So I said, 'Send me a check for a week's pay or it's not getting done.'"

"The only reason I don't feel bad about professionally sharing this is because this is exploitation. If he can't afford to give me severance or notice, then I can't afford to do things at the expense of myself anymore. The fact that we're still not treating employees as people with lives makes me very upset. Back to work."

The pandemic set off nearly unprecedented churn in the U.S. labor market. Widespread job losses in the early months of the pandemic gave way to tight labor markets in 2021, driven in part by what’s come to be known as the Great Resignation. The nation’s “quit rate” reached a 20-year high last November, Pew Research center reports.

Today, two years later, we find people at a crossroads. Some of those who quit are not willing to return to work, citing low pay, no opportunities for advancement, feeling disrespected. No wonder more and more people are standing up to speak against the employee mistreatment by sharing their experiences online.

Kiki is one of them. She commented to the press that her job wanted to pay her 2-3 days’ worth of what she used to make for a task that takes her longer than that. “I’ve never been a consultant, so I didn’t realize that I could bump up the rates, but… I asked for a week’s pay and was asked to reconsider — as if my value was no longer equivalent to what I was making a month ago.”

In numerous instances, we see how the modern economy has allowed CEOs to reap the rewards of their success while leaving their employees behind. With a focus on profits and shareholders, many CEOs have prioritized their own enrichment over the welfare of their employees.

This attitude has had devastating consequences for employees across the country, with wages stagnating, benefits being cut, and job security continually eroded. The problem is further compounded by the fact that many CEOs are insulated from the realities of their workforce. It is not difficult to understand why CEOs might not value their employees when they are not directly affected by decisions that can have drastic implications for those same employees.