Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Better.com sacks 900 workers via zoom call

CEO Vishal Garg accused the sacked employees of “stealing” from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive.

• December 6, 2021
Vishal Garg
Better mortgage CEO, Vishal Garg

Better.com, an online mortgage lending company, has laid off 900 of its workers. The CEO Vishal Garg announced the mass sack on a Zoom webinar.

“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” Mr Garg said on the call, a recording of which was later posted on YouTube and other social media accounts. “Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”

While on the Zoom call, Mr Garg told the dismissed employees that the company would provide four weeks of severance and one month of full benefits, citing low productivity and changing market conditions as the reason for the mass sack. 

Fortune later reported that Mr Garg had accused his employees of “stealing” from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive and only working two hours a day.

The report notes Mr Garg saying that, in the last month, the firm started reviewing employee productivity data.

This included missed telephone call rates, number of inbound and outbound calls, employees showing up late to meetings with a customer, and other metrics.

In May, the online mortgage lending platform announced that it was going public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company and in October, Better.com became a unicorn company and was valued at $6.9 billion.

However, TechCrunch reports that the company received a $750 million infusion from Aurora Acquisition Corp. and SoftBank.

This is as both companies amended the terms of their financing agreement to provide Better.com with half of the $1.5 billion they had agreed to initially.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Naira and Dollar

Economy

Naira loses 5.3% against dollar at official market

At the Investor’s and Exporter’s (I&E) window, the naira traded between N1,317.00 and N1,000.00 against the dollar.

Germany

World

Germany has world’s highest leadership approval rating; Russia lowest: Report

Germany boasts of a 60 per cent leadership approval rating, a significant increase from 2023 approval ratings, which stood at 46 per cent.

Baba Ijesha

Showbiz

Sexual Assault: Appeal Court reserves judgment as Baba Ijesha challenges conviction

Baba Ijesha, in his notice of appeal marked CA/LAG/CR/544/23, asked the appellate court to set aside the lower court’s judgment.

Chelsea vs Arsenal

Sport

Goals rain as Arsenal demolish miserable Chelsea to keep title hope alive

The Gunners easily tore through Chelsea’s defence line, scoring 5 to set a new record against London rival.

Abdullahi Ganduje

Politics

Ganduje lauds Ododo for ‘good job’ in Ondo APC governorship primary

Mr Ganduje gave the commendation when he received the state governorship primary election committee report from Mr Ododo in Abuja on Tuesday.

Fire (Credit: PM NEWS)

States

Fire guts office of Governor Soludo’s aide

A part of the office of the special adviser to Anambra governor on political matters, Alex Obiogbolu, was gutted by fire on Tuesday.