Published in News

CEO fires people on Zoom group

by on07 December 2021


Just when you thought capitalism could not get worse

A dot com mortgage company fired nine percent of its workers in a single Zoom call without warning and just before Christmas.

The ironically named Better.com flogs mortgages and its website touts its success as being due to its “superior customer service”.

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg cited market efficiency, performance and productivity as the reason behind the firings. However, the company seems to be doing rather well.

The Softbank-backed mortgage lender announced in May it was going public through an SPAC and last week received $750 million in cash as part of the deal. The company is prepared to have more than $1 billion on its balance sheet.

Fortune later reported Garg accused the employees of "stealing" from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive and only working two hours a day.

Garg’s way of handling the issue was to call in everyone he didn’t like into a Zoom group and tell them: “If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately."

"This is the second time in my career I'm doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried", Garg said on the call, which remained short and emotionless.

High on Garg’s hit list was the diversity, equity and inclusion recruiting team which does not look very good either. In August that one of Garg's most "loyal lieutenants" received massive perks, such as millions of dollars worth of stock options that could be vested immediately, not comparable to other employees. That person was later placed on administrative leave for bullying.

Garg has been involved in other controversy, as evidenced by an email he sent to staff that was obtained by Forbes.

"You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS... SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME", he wrote.

 

Last modified on 07 December 2021
Rate this item
(4 votes)