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Better.com's Founder Returns As CEO After Firing 900 Workers On Zoom (nytimes.com) 47

Posted by BeauHD from the that-didn't-take-long dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Vishal Garg, the Better.com founder, who fired roughly 900 of his workers via Zoom last month and then took "time off," is returning to his position as the head of his mortgage lending company. "As you know, Better's C.E.O. Vishal Garg has been taking a break from his full-time duties to reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great and work closely with an executive coach," Better.com's board said on Tuesday in an email to the staff, which was reviewed by The New York Times. "We are 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."

Better.com has since conducted a "thorough, independent" review of its culture, according to the board's memo on Tuesday. The review was led by Anthony Barkow, a partner at the law firm Jenner & Block and a former federal prosecutor. As a result of that investigation, the company is working to expand its leadership by recruiting a new chairman for the board, a president and a chief human resources officer. In the meantime, a former McKinsey senior partner, Richard Benson-Armer, will serve as interim head of human resources, and the company's chief financial officer, Kevin Ryan, will serve as interim president. Two members of the board also recently resigned, but not "because of any disagreement with Better," according to the memo. Some of the additional measures the company announced Tuesday include a training program on building "a respectful workplace" and a new ethics and compliance committee, reporting directly to the board.
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Better.com's Founder Returns As CEO After Firing 900 Workers On Zoom More

Better.com's Founder Returns As CEO After Firing 900 Workers On Zoom

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  • It's enough in demand that if I worked at a company like this I have the ability to move to something perhaps less volatile somewhere else. I feel for people in careers where they feel trapped and have to continue to put up with cult of personalities like this CEO.

    • Re:I'm grateful to be in IT (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @08:01PM (#62189637)

      If I have a choice of being fired in Zoom or driving in traffic for 30 minutes to be fired in person, walking past the survivors with my cardboard box, and then driving another 30 minutes to get back home, I'll take Zoom.

      I don't see the problem with what this guy did. The same people were going to lose their jobs either way. It was easier for both employees and the company to use Zoom.

      Some may feel that calling someone into the office and firing them face-to-face is more "respectful". I don't see it. Wasting half a day of someone's time is not "respect".

      • It's not so much firing people, but the disrespectful way that he did it, and the way he ran his company. He said stuff like, "You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS... SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME."

        Now, I would be happy to leave that kind of company. I hope it fails.

        • You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS

          This is the whole problem right here. This is a grown adult, presumptively educated, who is unaware of the intellectual superiority and teamwork skills of dolphins.

          He should be fired immediately. His ignorance is an embarrassment to humanity.

      • The problem is only that he was a cold, insensitive jerk in his manner of telling them.

        That's it.

        And people who hate everything seem to think it is something-something about capitalism, or maybe pineapple on pizza.

        Personally, I like pineapple anchovy pizza with olives, and I think he probably should have sent an email. But at least he got an extra 4 weeks of paid vacation out of it!

      • Re:I'm grateful to be in IT (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Baconsmoke ( 6186954 ) on Thursday January 20, 2022 @12:49AM (#62190265)
        You're fixating on the zoom issue, which isn't what I'm referencing. His long term behavior was erratic and narcissistic. He would lash out during meetings and insult/belittle people in strange and childish ways. When your CEO is this volatile it makes for a difficult and unhealthy work place.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )

          You're fixating on the zoom issue, which isn't what I'm referencing. His long term behavior was erratic and narcissistic. He would lash out during meetings and insult/belittle people in strange and childish ways. When your CEO is this volatile it makes for a difficult and unhealthy work place.

          Pretty much this.

          He was a narcissistic prick who accused his staff of "stealing" from him and called them "dumb dolphins" (whatever that means) prior to this incident. And the mass firing was handled wrong, it should have been done personally.

          I'd have no issue with being dismissed via zoom... but I'd expect the courtesy of my direct manager handling it in a professional and courteous manner. Especially if the expect me to serve out my notice period. Being fired by a senior manager who doesn't even kno

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Syberz ( 1170343 )
        Had he or managers contacted each affected employee individually 1:1 via Zoom, this wouldn't be news. He called a meeting with 900 people and told them that they were gone because, presumably, it was easier than having to schedule individual or team meetings. It's how impersonal this was done that is the issue, it has a "you're all just a number and we had to balance a spreadsheet, so bye!" feeling to it.

  • I guess... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @06:09PM (#62189257)

    he got better?

    Still, what a joke. Fuck up enough to drag your company through the mud and you just take some time off.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • he got better?

      Still, what a joke. Fuck up enough to drag your company through the mud and you just take some time off.

      It is probably worse than that. I bet he got paid for his time off.

    • He’ll get a pay raise for saving the company so much money by doing away with 900 salaries.

      • He is trying to ready his company for an IPO. He probably saw certain financial measurements about expenditures on salaries did not flatter the company as much as he hoped.

        What is likely to happen is the stock market will prove poor for an IPO in the near term. So the company will have to hire on another 1000 workers to deal with the workload. When the stock market improves, he will axe more employees to be ready.

      • Even if it were necessary for the overall health of the company he's still an asshole for the way he went about laying those employees off. It's a business and sometimes that means letting people go. That can be hard, but part of the job of management is to do that with a certain amount of decorum.

  • Probably a hero to some, but damaging. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RyanFenton ( 230700 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @06:11PM (#62189263)

    If there were some form of UBI, where loss of work didn't mean a lack of retirement, insurance, ability to feed loved ones, and harming the ability to find more work - then these actions could just be seen as a neutral aspect of free ownership.

    As it is, it's more symbolic about how little agency most people have in the system they allow to function - which is increasingly managed by the market itself, and decreasingly democratic in any sense of the term.

    The power of automation can offer freedoms we haven't been able to realistically consider previously - including a lot of our more libertarian ideals, as long as we plan enough to make sure no one can starve or be similarly left destitute in any emergency.

    Until then, allowing cruelty as policy at increasing rates is going to catch up and destroy most of the stability and benefits society used to enjoy. It's not like we haven't seen that process play out thousands of times into recorded history.

    Ryan Fenton

    • If there were some form of UBI, where loss of work didn't mean a lack of retirement, insurance

      In Maoist China, each employer ran a school for the children of its employees. So when you changed employers, your kids switched to a different school.

      Obviously, that is stupid. But tying your pension and health insurance to your employer is just as stupid. We only think it makes sense because we are used to it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        But tying your pension and health insurance to your employer is just as stupid. We only think it makes sense because we are used to it.

        Pretty much. The only rational reason to do this is to create wage-slavery.

    • Fully agree. Robot productivity can be taxed, so in effect a part of the robots salary can be used as dividends to pay for UBI. In a way that is how a lot of people retire and investors make money today â" except instead of robots it is people making money for the investor or retiree. A pension plan is basically UBI that works from a humans labor. No reason a UBI cant be considered a retirement plan covered by the work of a robot. It is like being an investor in a factory living on dividend income, exc

  • Already shown his character (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ranton ( 36917 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @06:14PM (#62189271)

    Once you have shown someone your character, you cannot put the genie in the bottle. Vishal Garg may get more training on how to hide his true nature, but everyone already knows what kind of person he is. Many people just assume most C-level execs are like him, but that is different than having recorded proof of it.

    • Many people just assume most C-level execs are like him

      He seems to be rather below the normal expectation for C-level execs.

    • The training mentioned in TFS isn't for the likes of him. It's for the minions so they don't dare voice an opinion on how shit they are treated.

    • Many people just assume most C-level execs are like him, but that is different than having recorded proof of it.

      It is better to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

  • I'd say... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by joshuark ( 6549270 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @06:18PM (#62189287)

    I'd say that's better, but toxic C-suite executives seem to be like bad pennies, they keep returning. That's when you know the company culture is toxic. Better will get worse for it.

    JoshK.

  • Talk about working from a standard playbook! Damage is done hopefully though.

  • And found nothing wrong.

  • I find it somewhat disappointing that someone from McKinsey, a firm known for grinding people into dust because of absolutely no respect for any time not dedicated to McKinsey is going to somehow bring any kind of positive morale to the company. Time to pivot to worse.com.

  • Time for employees to move on to different jobs.

  • representative of a power imbalance (Score:3)

    by swell ( 195815 ) <jabberwock@poetic.com> on Wednesday January 19, 2022 @07:37PM (#62189557)

    It seems to me that there are four elements that require balance in a successful economic system:
    1 Producers- companies (and their officers) that provide products and services
    2 Workers- humans who work for the producers
    3 Consumers- humans and companies who use products and services
    4 Regulators- Government & media who oversee the process

    Currently the even numbered elements are vastly overpowered by the others. The entire world is in a state of economic imbalance which has lead to starvation and homelessness for millions so that others may prosper. Vishal Garg is today's exemplar.

    • 5 Bullies- those that make quick easy judgments based on loose information with little rigor or consequence, but sound important doing it. When successful they take credit, however failure is either concentrated elsewhere or disappeared.

  • Of course it's now 'all better', and buzzword will psychological bla bla because buzzword.

    *sigh*

  • I'll never do business with them.

  • Man child back behind the wheel of dog shit.

  • "As you know, Better's C.E.O. Vishal Garg has been taking a break from his full-time duties to reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great and work closely with an executive coach" Our CEO has been laying low until "ish" cools down. We think it's cool enough now.
  • Let's hire more executives!
  • He's fresh from hiding in a bunker in a non-extradition country.
    Must be nice making others pay for your mistakes.
    Better may never recover, in bulk layoffs like this key people have already jumped ship.
    Its usually the political animals who are good at surviving these things and they are usually a waste of air.

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