Indian-origin CEO who fired 900 staffers over Zoom call back at work

IANS

San Francisco, 19 Jan 2022: Indian-origin Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, who was massively trolled for laying off 900 employees over a Zoom meeting call, is back at the helm as employees are reportedly not at all happy that he has not been asked to step down as CEO.

 

According to an internal memo seen by TechCrunch, the board of directors at Better.com said it was "moving forward with strong, dynamic CEO leadership."

 

The board said Garg would be officially resuming his full-time duties as CEO at the digital mortgage company.

 

It was "confident in Vishal and in the changes he is committed to making to provide the type of leadership, focus and vision that Better needs at this pivotal time," the board said in the memo.

 

The move, however, has not gone well with employees.

 

"Everyone is upset, and many people have already quit or are planning to," the report mentioned late on Tuesday, citing sources.

 

In December, Garg laid off nearly 900 employees even after his company, which is a digital mortgage lender, had announced it received a cash infusion of about $750 million from Aurora Acquisition Corp and SoftBank.

 

A couple of days after that Zoom meeting, senior communications and public relations executives stepped down.

 

Garg later issued an apology for the embarrassing act that made headlines globally and hundreds of memes on social media platforms.

 

According to the internal memo from the board, Better will be "implementing a company-wide training program on ensuring a respectful workplace."