Three of Better.com’s top executives are said to have resigned after the online mortgage lender was slammed with a wave of backlash following a leaked Zoom conversation in which the CEO callously fired off approximately 900 staff.
Melanie Hahn, the company’s head of marketing, Tanya Hayre Gillogley, the company’s head of public relations, and Patrick Lenihan, the company’s vice president of communications, have all quit, according to Confidential.
According to Confidential, the high-level resignation is directly connected to CEO Vishal Garg’s handling of recent layoffs at the firm and his notoriously contentious management style.
“Anyone who is leaving right now is someone who has tried to make it work and given their best to a firm they believe in, but who is ultimately undermined by a CEO who doesn’t listen to anyone and feels he’s always right,” a source close to Garg told Insider.
Vishal Garg, CEO of Zoom, is receiving outrage after cutting off 900 employees and accusing them of “stealing” by not being productive.
Better.com and the three former executives did not respond to The Post’s request for comment right away.
Garg laid off 900 employees on a Zoom call, then criticized hundreds of the ex-employees for claiming “stealing from our clients” by not being productive.
On the now-viral call, Garg struck an unapologetic tone when announcing the mass firings to affected personnel, a recording of which was then released on TikTok, YouTube, and other social media accounts.
“This isn’t going to be news you want to hear… If you’re receiving this call, you’re among the unfortunate people who are being laid off. “Your employment here has been terminated with immediate effect,” he added, adding that he “does not want to do this.”
“I’m doing this for the second time in my career, and I don’t want to do it.” “I sobbed the last time I did it,” Garg remarked over the phone.
The 43-year-old stated that the “market has changed” and that the company needed to slim down in order to remain nimble enough to adapt to the evolving housing market, which appears to be cooling after a pandemic-fueled boom — though Garg did not mention the company’s $750 million cash infusion from investors last week on the call.
According to a source, Garg told the remainder of the company’s employees shortly after the layoffs were announced, “We should have done this three months ago.”
The CEO was eventually identified as the anonymous author of a nasty blog post on the professional network Blind that criticized Better.com staff.
“Did you know that at least 250 of those fired worked an average of 2 hours per day while clocking 8 hours or more in the payroll system?” The father of three children wrote.
“They were stealing from you and our consumers who pay the bills that pay our bills.” “Educate yourself,” he added.
Garg confirmed to Fortune that he wrote the critical post.
Garg is said to have a reputation for having high expectations and penalising employees for minor offenses.
According to Forbes, office managers were once chastised for failing to maintain the mini-fridge filled with Fiji and Perrier water.
“Why do we have biscotti like this here?” he once asked office supervisors.
Garg stated in another email published by Forbes last year: ‘You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a swarm of DUMB DOLPHINS, and… DUMB DOLPHINS become entangled in nets and are eaten by sharks. STOP IT NOW. STOP IT NOW. STOP RIGHT NOW! YOU ARE ANNOYING ME.”
Earlier this year, the Daily Beast claimed that one of his deputies, Elana Knoller, was granted large stock options that vested immediately, $8,000 per month for two homes, and other goodies.
Regardless of the favorable treatment, Knoller was eventually placed on administrative leave for bullying.
As city inhabitants aspired to migrate to greener and larger spaces in the suburbs, Better.com became a national favorite, spurring a boom in the housing industry and associated lenders.
The company started in May that it intends to go public via a SPAC, or special-purpose acquisition company, at a valuation of $7.7 billion.
Add Comment