The head of the American mortgage company Better.com, using the Zoom platform used for video conferencing, convened a meeting with 900 employees to announce that he was firing them – with immediate effect. Workers are now complaining about particularly brutal “dismissals”, the French radio and television station BFMTV said on its website.
The case also caught the eye of the American television CNN, which pointed out that workers, who make up nine percent of the company’s approximately 10,000 employees, were fired shortly before the Christmas holidays.
“If you’re on this call, you’re part of an unfortunate group that is being laid off,” Vishal Garg told CNN, which refers to a video conference recording. “Your employment here ends immediately,” added the company’s founder and boss, adding that employees can expect an email with severance pay details.
Garg justified the dismissal of hundreds of employees by changes in the market that the company must adapt to survive. “It simply came to our notice then. The last time I cried. I hope to be stronger this time, “he said according to BFMTV. According to her, employees criticize the boss for the “brutal way” he fired them. According to CNN, Garg did not show any emotion during the entire brief meeting.
The company said in a statement that “a solid balance sheet and a smaller, purposeful workforce will allow us to go on the offensive in the real estate market, which is changing radically.”
Workers in the United States and India in particular are being laid off. According to CNN, the recruitment team for diversity, equality and inclusion was among those released.
In Fortune magazine, Vishal Garg also explained his decision by analyzing employee productivity. According to him, 250 people, who are among the 900 released, worked on average only two hours a day instead of eight.
Better.com, backed by Softbank, raised $ 750 million in cash last week (about $ 16.9 billion) after announcing its intended listing in May. It is set to take place next week with an expected appreciation of $ 6.9 billion, BFMTV noted.
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