One phone call, 900 layoffs: shortly before Christmas, the head of the Better.com credit platform fired a tenth of his workforce in a questionable manner. And later also publicly insulted those affected as lazy.
With mass layoffs just before Christmas, you can’t expect any applause. But the way in which the head of the US credit platform Better.com has now put part of his workforce in front of the door is felt by many to be particularly cold-hearted. With a single video call, CEO Vishal Garg fired more than 900 employees last week.
“I have no good news for you,” Garg begins the call, from which a filmed recording spread on social media. Sitting at his desk, he first speaks of a difficult decision and economic constraints, only to get straight to the point. “We’re laying off 15 percent of our employees.”
Garg goes on to say, “If you are part of this call, you are part of the unfortunate group that is being laid off. Your employment here ends with immediate effect.” Each of the fired receives an email from the personnel department in which the modalities of the severance payment are explained. In addition to changing market conditions, Garg cites the performance and productivity of employees as reasons for the layoffs. The video recording also shows the reaction of the employee who has apparently just been dismissed and who ventures with a “F * ck you, Dude”.
Big cash injection from investors
“To have to carry out layoffs is painful, especially at this time of year,” Better CFO Kevin Ryan said in a statement to the US media. “But a solid balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce make us ready to act aggressively in a radically changing home market.” The company also specified that 9 percent of the workforce had to leave, and not 15 percent as announced in the internal call. According to the company, these 9 percent correspond to more than 900 employees.
The employee cut-offs are particularly badly received by the public because the company got a big injection of cash at the same time. Better.com is an emerging real estate loan platform in the US that announced it was going public in the spring. In the course of this, the company received $ 750 million from investors just last week, as reported by Forbes, among others. The company valuation is therefore around 7 billion dollars.
Followed by blog post
An anonymous blog post, as the author of which the Better boss later personally outed himself, made matters no better. “Do you know that at least 250 of the laid-off employees worked an average of 2 hours a day while they were posting 8 hours and more per day in the payroll?” Asked Garg. The employees had “stolen” from the company and its customers. As an explanation, Garg told Fortune magazine that Better.com had analyzed its employees’ productivity data and discovered “some alarming statistics”. He had claimed in the release video that he hoped he didn’t have to cry right away.
The Better boss had already earned a certain reputation in dealing with employees before the mass layoff. In an email leaked to Forbes last year, he called his people “bunch of stupid dolphins” who were “too damn slow”. “STUPID DOLPHINS get caught in nets and are eaten by sharks. SO STOP. STOP. STOP IMMEDIATELY. YOU ARE BLAMING ME.”
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Source From: Stern
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
