Better.com CEO to take time off after laying off 900 employees over zoom call

Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better.com, will be “taking time off” from his role after firing over 900 employees via a Zoom call last week, an email from the company’s board of directors to employees stated. 

Garg faced severe backlash after he fired employees on the call, saying they “are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off.”

He also wrote about the layoffs under an anonymous account on a professional network, accusing the employees of “stealing” from the company by being unproductive.

“You guys know that at least 250 of the people terminated were working an average of 2 hours a day while closing in 8 hours+ a day in the payroll system. They were stealing from you and stealing from our customers who pay the bills that pay our bills,” he wrote. 

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In an email to employees on Friday, the company’s board called the events “very regrettable” and said the company has contracted a third-party firm to do a “leadership and cultural assessment.

In the meantime, Garg issued an apology saying, “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,” he added.

Christian Chapman, a former trainer at the company, who was among the employees laid off, told CBS News that his firing was totally unexpected and sudden. He said he was promoted in June and received a raise in October and days before the firing, the company had just received $750 million in funding.