Layoff Nightmare! Reddit User Shares How US Firm COO Fired Indian Workforce In 3 Min: ‘No prior intimation...'

Imagine starting our day like any other, getting ready for work, preparing for tasks, only to be blindsided by a "mandatory meeting with the COO" that leaves you jobless. As tech firms recalibrate strategies amid ongoing US trade tensions, H-1B visa uncertainties, and shrinking profits, layoffs have become a common tool to stay afloat.

A Reddit user, recently, shared the harrowing experience, of being laid off over an online call. The user claimed of working for an American company in a work from home set up. Sharing the experience of being fired without any notice, the Reddit user wrote, "I work from home for a US based company and it was literally like any other day, woke up at 8:30, logged into work at 9 and saw a calendar invite for 11. It was a mandatory meeting with our COO for all India employees."

The mandatory meeting didn't even last for five minutes, but left an indelible impact on every single employee present in the meeting. "I joined it at 11, he joined at 11:01, disabled everyone's cameras and mics, casually let us know that they had "made the difficult decision of letting most of their Indian work force go" and that "it wasn't a performance based assessment but just due to internal organisational restructuring," added the user in post.

Layoff In Three Minutes

The US Firm's COO didn't took anyone's question, neither explained the reason behind layoff. "He said everyone whose role was impacted by the layoff would receive a mail after the meeting and that he wasn't taking any questions at that time. He said all this and left the meeting at 11:04, with all of us shocked, stunned, frustrated, stressed. It just took three minutes of his day. He also said today (1st Oct) would be our last day at work. Sure enough, the mail was sitting in my Outlook when I checked next. No prior intimation, no time to prepare," the Reddit post further explained.

As per the social media post, the US firm didn't give any prior intimationt of the firing neither there was any reason shared for the action. The company had offered October's salary as severance package and mentioned that pending leaves can also be encashed. The social media user shared how he was left clueless about his career's future amid uncertain times.

The reddit post sparked a myriad of comments from social media users. Many even tried to help by sharing information about available jobs in the industry. Many social media users shared their personal experiences of being laid off over a call or without any prior intimation.

Uncertainty Due to Layoffs

Several multinational companies have announced layoffs, and performed mass termination to manage costs amid shrinking profits. In September, US-based Oracle, report3edly began removing Indian workers amid attempt to cut costs and optimise the workforce. According to an Economic Times report, over 100 Indian employees were removed from their positions in the company. The development came nearly a week after the company had laid off over 3,000 employees across the offices to streamline its work force, reported ET.

Other than Oracle, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Microsoft, Intel, Salesforce, Amazon, etc have also announgced significant layoffs in 2025. The IT industry has seenover 1,00,000 job cuts across the sector by September.