For the employees involved, the message came completely unexpected. One of them, Christian Chapman, tells CNN that after the call he tried to find out what was going on with colleagues via chat channels of the company. But soon access to his phone, email, and Better.com messaging services was blocked. He had to track down his colleagues via Facebook.
“It was a surreal experience,” Chapman describes. “One of those things you don’t believe is happening.” A few hours later, he received confirmation of his resignation in his personal email.
‘Theft’
An unpleasant surprise awaited the dismissed employees. In an interview with Fortune they were accused of theft by their former boss for being “unproductive” and not working more than two hours a day. “I got promoted and he paints us all as lazy money thieves,” said another fired employee, who recently won an award for his achievements at the company. “That makes no sense. I’d rather be broke than walk around with those kinds of thoughts.”
Now that the video has been massively shared, Garg also says he is aware of the impact of his Zoom call. In a leaked letter to the employees who were allowed to keep their jobs, the CEO apologizes for the way in which the mass layoff was communicated, reports Business Insider.
“I have not shown the due respect and appreciation for the individuals affected by this and for their contributions to Better.” He still supports the mass layoff, but acknowledges that he has “blunted” in communicating it. “I embarrassed you because of that.” Some executives at Better.com have resigned out of dissatisfaction with the events.
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