Three leading executives at Better.com resigned from their posts after CEO Vishal Garg was criticized for controversially firing at least 900 employees via Zoom.
In a recent Breitbart News report, Garg laid off over 900 employees in early December.
Garg accused “at least 250” of the fired employees of stealing from the company by only working two hours a day.
As of this writing, Head of Marketing Melanie Hahm, Head of Public Relations Tanya Hayre Gillogley, and Vice President of Communications Patrick Lenihan have resigned from the company.
Since then, Garg issued an apology for the way he carried out the layoffs on the company’s blog, writing: “I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week. 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.”
In addition, further insensitive communications from Garg were leaked to the public. In the email, Garg allegedly wrote: “You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS and…DUMB DOLPHINS get caught in nets and eaten by sharks. SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME.”
This email points to growing tensions between Garg and employees over performance issues.
Despite this message to staff, in his apology, Vishal Garg stated: “At Better, your dedication, focus and expertise are essential in the vital work we are doing to unlock the value, joy and opportunity of homeownership for our customers across the country. I couldn’t be more grateful for all you are accomplishing for the customers we serve.”
More can be read about the layoff at Forbes.