The Better.com boss who fired 900 workers at Zoom is taking time off
If you were looking for the “Worst Boss of the Year” nominee, look no further than Better.com boss Vishal Garg, who apparently “takes time off” in response to the setbacks he has received for behaving like garbage.
Garg landed in warm water earlier this month when he somehow decided that it was OK to lay off 900 of the digital mortgage company’s employees, or about 9% of the workforce, in a Zoom call before the holidays. But wait, the story does not end there. Garg da continued to accuse “at least 250” of the laid off employees to “steal” from their colleagues and customers on the anonymous social media forum Blind, saying that they only worked two hours, but clocked in for more than eight hours.
After facing setbacks for his cruelty, including resignation of top executives, Garg apologized in one public message on Tuesday. While standing by the layoffs, he said he “missed the execution” when he communicated them.
On Friday, Vice reported that the board of Better had sent an e-mail to employees informing them that Garg would take leave “in force immediately”. Meanwhile, Better CFO Kevin Ryan will run the company from day to day. The board also announced that it had hired an independent third-party company to conduct a “leadership and culture assessment” and provide recommendations for building a better corporate culture.
“We have a lot of work to do, and we hope that everyone can focus on our customers and support each other to continue to build a great company and a company we can be proud of,” the board wrote.
Gizmodo contacted Better to ask for confirmation of Garg’s withdrawal and further comments, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. We will make sure to update this blog if we hear back.
As for the company, it announced earlier this week that it is postponing the SPAC agreement to be listed.
Garg’s behavior unfortunately is not surprising. Last year, a Forbes report shared a stressful and aggressive email he had sent to employees.
“HELLO – WAKE UP BETTER TEAM,” Garg wrote. “You’re TOO FUCKING SLOW. You’re a gang of Dumb Dolphins and … STUPID DOLPHINS are caught in nets and eaten by sharks. SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU PLAY ME. ยป
In addition, as pointed out by Vice, Garg has also allegedly called one of the company’s best investors “sewer”. With regard to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the CEO told employees that they should not take the day off, but rather work to earn “capital, and therefore our freedom. “
I ask to stand out: In this case, and no doubt countless others that the audience is not aware of, Garg is embarrassed. Only a villain would treat people the way he does, and I’m glad the staff left at Better get a well-deserved respite from him. I just hope that the company management reconsiders having someone like Garg as a leader and makes an example out of him. Wait, money.
