This techie couple got laid off from US jobs 15 days after marriage, but how managers broke the news changed their outlook

In a viral Instagram reel, Roshni Chellani, a techie with over 10 years of experience, shared that she and her newlywed husband were both laid off after 15 days of their marriage.

Techie couple gets sacked on same day, managers inform in different ways - here's why it mattered

The Indian-origin tech couple were working in the US and had just started celebrating life when both were laid off from their workplaces.

“May 2 is when I got married and experienced the biggest high of my life. On May 13, I returned to the US,” she shared, adding that she only joined work on May 17, that too from home because of travel sickness.

However, as soon as she joined work for the day, she was met with a dreadful message from her manager — “You're impacted by workplace reductions.”

Completely shocked by the news, Roshni said she switched off her camera as she tried to wrap her head around the news. “I asked, ‘How much time do I have? Is it because of my performance? because I had a 4/5 in the last rating’,” she said.

However, the manager kindly reassured her that her layoff “wasn't performance-based, but headcount-based”.

“He really tried to console me and make sure I was doing okay. I was cracking up so he asked me to take the rest of the day off. He even sent me resources after the call to make sure I am doing fine,” Roshni said.

Soon after, her husband, Shubham, who was trying to console her, received a text from his manager — “We both knew what it was,” she added.

In total contrast to Roshni's manager, Shubham's manager asked him to report to the office immediately, despite his request for an online call, “because his wife was going through something”.

“His manager was like No, you have to come to the office. I need to deliver the news to you in person,” Roshni shared.

When Shubham reached the office, Roshni said, “His manager just put the brochure in front of him and said, ‘You are laid off’ and it was such a cold-hearted delivery.”

“It was so sudden and confusing. It bogged Shubham down,” she added.

Roshni Chellani remarked that the two managers had such different ways to break the same painful news that day.

“One manager broke the news but did not break the self-confidence or self-worth of the other person. The other manager deliberately broke the news in a way that breaks the self-worth of the other person and makes him question himself,” she said.

“Same company. Same day. Same outcome. Two managers, two very different deliveries. One broke the news with empathy and protected my self-worth. The other didn’t,” she noted.

“All the interviews I gave, I carried that strong sense of self with me, but with him, it was a different experience,” she revealed.

“Bad news is inevitable. Cruel delivery is a choice,” the techie said.

In a message for managers, she further said, “When you are breaking tough news to someone, please remember that you might be shaping how someone remembers the toughest day of their life. So the least you could do is do it with kindness.”

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Also read: Ex-Jet Airways CEO questions Zomato's Deepinder Goyal on 10-min deliveries, says “Would 30-min or 1 hr delivery be the end of the world?” (startuppedia.in)