NEW DELHI: The chief executive officer (CEO) of mortgage lender Better.com has apologised for the way he handled layoffs at the company after a video of him firing 900 people last week in a three-minute long Zoom call went viral on social media.“I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse,” Garg said in a letter.
“I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better. I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you,” Garg said in the letter leaked on Blind app by a verified Better.com employee. Garg came under criticism across the world for the way he communicated the layoff decision to the 900 employees just ahead of the holiday season.
The sacked employees, mainly in the US and India, comprised about 9% of the digital mortgage lender.TechCrunch speculated that the lay-offs may have been a condition for Better.com’s backers — which include SoftBank — greenlighting a sooner-than-expected cash infusion of $750 million. Several Indian CEOs also expressed shock and criticised the layoff incident on social media.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners through its online platform.