Laid off from Deloitte turns out to be a 'blessing', says young analyst: Report
After losing her ₹76 lakh job at Deloitte, Cierra Desmaratti was devastated at first. But a year later she found a new job that gave her a good work-life balance
When 24-year-old actuarial analyst Cierra Desmaratti was laid off from Deloitte in Chicago in September 2022, she was devastated and she admitted that she had cried herself to sleep during that "dark" time. Though it wasn't her dream job, the $90,000 (₹76 lakh) salary was her lifeline.
However, a year later, she described the layoff as a "blessing in disguise".
Fast-paced hustle culture
Desmaratti told Business Insider that in Deloitte she had often felt out of place. She felt like she had to "dim" her personality to fit in with her peers and struggled to fit in with the consulting firm's alleged "fast-paced hustle culture". Coming from a low-income family, she struggled to fit in with colleagues in designer clothes, while she wore items she considered "a splurge".
The fast-paced, high-pressure environment led to burnout, she said, as she found herself working 11-hour days. This reportedly impacted her mental and physical health and she gained weight, felt exhausted, and experienced severe back pain.
Her back ached from being glued to her seat all day, and she depended on snacks to get her through stressful assignments.. And she had gained 9 kgs in just a few months and felt the most physically unhealthy she had ever been, she told the publication.
Dark times
Then she got laid off. "It was a dark time," she admitted, but it ultimately made her realise what she needed from her career.
During her performance review, she was surprised to hear she hadn't done well, as she had received no prior feedback. Just as she began focusing on improvement, she was laid off. "I cried myself to sleep that night, worried about losing my $90,000 (₹76 lakh) salary and what that meant for my survival," the report quoted her.
But it all turned out for the good in the end.
Work-life balance
For after two months of job searching, Desmaratti secured a remote job as an actuarial analyst for Transamerica.
It finally gave her the work-life balance that she had been craving. Her superiors encouraged her not to take work home and "to leave work at work" and she finally found time to nurture her hobbies and relationships.
It's a lesson well learnt for this young woman, who now finally feels "alive".