'Happy I got laid off': Ex-Deloitte employee who earned Rs 76 lakh salary

Losing a job often creates stress among people. However, a 24-year-old woman, who was laid off from her company, says she is happy that her employer fired her. But why? Cierra Desmaratti worked as an actuarial analyst with Deloitte in Chicago, US. She was getting USD 90,000 (about Rs 76 lakh). When the 24-year-old was informed by HR that she was being laid off, she cried herself to sleep.

However, after a year, Desmaratti said that the layoff was one of the best things that could have happened to her. "I felt anything but normal at Deloitte," she told Business Insider. 
Desmaratti hailed from a low-income family and joined Deloitte in September 2022 alongside 80 to 90 fresh hires. However, she found her peers dressed in pressed suit jackets and designer pieces and felt "immediately out of place". Desmaratti said that she always felt out of place at the company.

"I felt like I had to dim my personality to fit in with my peers and struggled to hit my stride in the consulting firm's fast-paced hustle culture. Then I got laid off. It was a dark time, but it ultimately made me realise what I deserve from my career," she said.

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The ex-Deloitte employee said that she had started to work for 11 hours and started to fall ill mentally and physically. "My back ached from being glued to my seat all day, and I relied on snacks to power through stressful assignments. I gained 9 kg in just a few months and felt the most physically unhealthy I've ever been," she said.

After looking for another job for two months, Desmaratti finally managed to get a remote job as an actuarial analyst for Transamerica. It allowed her the work-life balance that she had been craving.