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US CEO lays off 900 employees over Zoom call

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US – Vishal Garg, the CEO of mortgage company Better.com, has apologised for how he laid off 900 workers during a Zoom video call, saying he made a blunder and failed to show his employees respect.

"I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week," he said in a statement posted to the company's website.

Garg explained that he had failed to show the "appropriate amount of respect and appreciation" for those who had contributed to the company.

Garg added that he owns "the decision to do the layoffs" but admitted he could have executed it better.

"I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be."

In the Zoom call, he said he was sharing "not great news", and that this was the second time in his career he had to do this.

Some of the reasons Garg cited in the video for the layoffs included market efficiency, productivity and performance.

@wanderellaco #fyp #laidoff #savage ♬ original sound - Wanderella

 

He said: “If you are on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here has terminated, effective immediately."

After firing some 900 staff members, Garg held a town hall meeting with the remaining workers, according to Business Insider, where he reportedly told his staff: "Today, we acknowledge that we overhired and hired the wrong people, and in doing that, we failed. I failed. I was not disciplined over the last 18 months."

 

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