Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is temporarily stepping away from his position one week after firing 900 employees during a Zoom conference.
The mortgage lender company’s board of directors announced that Garg will be “taking time off effective immediately” in an email Friday morning, according to Vice.
BREAKING: https://t.co/msXw0HwsWa CEO Vishal Garg is “taking time off effective immediately,” as employees revolt over a mass layoff he executed in brutal fashion at the start of the month https://t.co/pjKJYN7P4W
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) December 10, 2021
The email also disclosed that Better.com has employed an outside firm to “do a leadership and cultural assessment” of the company, the outlet added.
Garg has received criticism for his decision to terminate the 900 employees during the Dec. 2 meeting. (RELATED: CEO Fires More Than 900 Employees On Video Conference)
“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” he told the employees.
“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off.”https://t.co/bmtdxpWtto CEO Vishal Garg laid off more than 900 employees on a Zoom webinar just before the holidays. https://t.co/dVucv3vb6i pic.twitter.com/zg78vTnIH6
— CNN (@CNN) December 7, 2021
“Your employment here is terminated effective immediately,” he added.
Garg later blamed the termination on the employees themselves, citing allegations that “at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while clocking in 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system,” according to Vice.
Garg later told the organization’s remaining employees that “[they] will not be allowed to fail twice,” the report added.
Garg later apologized after several of the company’s top employees resigned in response to the incident, according to Business Insider.