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After laying off about 900 employees through a Zoom virtual meeting, Vishal Garg says he “deeply regrets” what happened.
The head of the mortgage company Better.com became known internationally a few days ago after it became known how cut hundreds of jobs from your company virtually.
The dismissals were necessary, he insists, but now he also accepts that he committed “a mistake” on how the massive cut that “embarrassed” its workers was carried out.
“I did not show the proper amount of respect and appreciation by the people who were affected, “he said in a letter on the firm’s website.
“I am deeply sorry and committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you hope me to be,” he said.
He added: “The way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse.”
What happened at the meeting?
Better.com is a New York-based mortgage startup.
On December 2, he summoned his employees to a virtual meeting to which he arrived with bad news.
“The market has changed, as you know, and we have to move with it to survive,” he said at the start.
“This is not news you want to hear, but in the end it was my decision and I wanted you to hear it from me. It has been a really difficult decision to make. This is the second time in my career that I am doing this and I don’t want to do it. The last time I did it I cried. This time I hope to be stronger. But we are firing about the 15% of the company by [varias] reasons: the market, efficiency and yields and productivity, “he announced.
“If you are on this call, you are part of the unfortunate group that is being laid off. Your job here ends. Effective immediately. “
Image source, Getty Images
Employment counselor Rachel Suff says how bad news like a layoff is conveyed is important.
After parts of the video call were shared on social media, criticism began to pour in for Garg for being “cold,” “harsh,” and executing a “horrible” layoff before Christmas.
Is there a “correct” way to make layoffs?
Rachel Suff, a labor relations counselor, explains that “it’s a harsh reality” that organizations have to cut jobs sometimes.
“But The way that I know do and the humane treatment with which I know approaches it can have a fundamental impact on the way people deal with that shocking news, “he says.
In addition, in some countries there are laws that prevent cases such as Better.com from occurring, as they must offer several days or weeks of notice.
While much of the Better.com case has centered on Garg using a virtual meeting to fire staff, Suff says the approach used is even more important.
“If they realize, [Garg] talks about the impact itself. He says, ‘I cried last time.’ But who is losing their job here? “He explains.
“He talked a lot about the impact on himself, but what about them?“.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.