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Everyone knows HR isn’t an employee’s friend, but this story took that fact to a whole new level.

One employee got an email from their HR department asking for a few kind words about two senior employees, supposedly for a recognition project. The team happily obliged, and one worker poured real feeling into a note about his longtime mentor.

Then HR laid off both employees and stapled the team’s letters to their exit paperwork, hoping the kind words would “soften the blow.” Nobody on the team had been warned, and every heartfelt line they wrote ended up in a goodbye packet they never knew they were writing.

Nobody on the team had been warned, so they had unknowingly helped deliver the news.

When the mentor texted to ask whether everyone had known, the worker was disgusted to realize what his message had really been used for.

Keep reading for the full story.

HR made us write thank you notes for coworkers they were about to fire

Last Thursday, HR emailed our department asking everyone to write a few sentences about two senior employees and what they’d contributed to the company.

They said it was for some employee recognition thing.

One employee enthusiastically complied, but soon they learned HR’s true motivations.

One of them trained me when I first started, so I wrote a pretty heartfelt message. The guy’s been here 11 years.

Monday morning, both of them got laid off.

Turns out HR printed our messages and included them with their exit paperwork because management thought it would help “soften the transition.”

Now this employee feels terrible for going along with it.

The coworker who trained me actually texted asking if we all knew beforehand. He thought we’d been told and were basically writing goodbye letters.

Nobody knew a freakin’ thing.

I can’t stop thinking about how they made us participate in firing our own coworkers without even telling us. Who comes up with this stuff?

How heartless can HR be?

Redditors take to the comment section.

One employee caught on to a similar scheme just in time.

This user thinks HR is even more cruel because they should know better.

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HR seriously violated everyone’s trust.

This user takes a hard line against this kind of behavior.

HR used a team’s goodwill and used it for their own sick gain. Eleven years of loyalty to a company deserved better than a recycled letter packet.

Leadership with a sense of accountability would have handled this difficult process with a real conversation and a real thank-you. Instead, they chose a cheap trick.

This is what heartless leadership looks like.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.