‘Unhinged’ Better.com Boss Forced to Take Time Off as Employees Revolt
Noah Kirsch
Fri, December 10, 2021
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Linkedin
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is “taking time off effective immediately,” as employees revolt over a mass layoff he executed in brutal fashion at the start of the month.
In an email obtained by The Daily Beast, the company’s board of directors—which had previously granted Garg exceptionally wide latitude—announced that it will bring in a third party firm to conduct a “leadership and cultural assessment.” Vice first reported the news.
Better’s chief financial officer Kevin Ryan, who recently joined from Morgan Stanley, will manage day-to-day operations in the interim.
Fox News Host Cheers Better.com CEO’s Mass Zoom Firings: ‘I Love This So Much!’
“Employees are calling for a head,” a company source told The Daily Beast, arguing that Garg stepping down is a cosmetic fix more than a meaningful one. “It’s the entire leadership team. Vishal’s a large part of it, but there’s a lot more there,” the person said of Better’s fractured culture.
Ryan is an “unknown quantity,” to the rank-and-file, a current employee at the SoftBank-backed mortgage startup said. “We haven’t gotten a real look at his leadership style or personality yet.”
Still, the employee said, “Vishal being forced on leave is one of the best pieces of news to come from this fiasco and I’m hoping it’s announced he resigns soon.”
Ryan’s name was attached to a frosty statement the company sent out on Dec. 1 acknowledging the layoffs.
“A fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving homeownership market,” he said at the time.
Better later amended the statement to include acknowledgment that “having to conduct layoffs is gut wrenching, especially this time of year.”
Better.com Executives Flee After CEO’s Viral Self-Own
Reached via text message, Garg said he was “at the playground” with his children and that it was too loud to comment. He directed The Daily Beast to his media team, which did not immediately reply to emails.
Over the past two weeks, multiple high-ranking Better executives have fled the company, including the head of marketing, vice president of communications, and head of public relations.
More resignations are expected. “[The] company culture took a DEEP dive and everyone I’ve spoken to is looking to leave,” another current worker told The Daily Beast earlier this week.
The person was skeptical that Garg could be forced to resign for good: “My guess is after the media coverage dies down, nothing is going to change and he’s just going to go back to his unhinged sociopathic self.”
SoftBank-Backed Mortgage Startup Better.com Lays Off 900 Workers Just Before Holidays
The controversy began at the start of the month, when Garg hastily summoned 900 workers into a webinar; many assumed they would be meeting about a $750 million cash infusion Better had announced the day before.
Instead, Garg told the American workers affected that they were out of jobs. “Your employment is terminated effective immediately,” he said, while emphasizing how difficult it was for him to fire them. “The last time I [fired people], I cried. This time I hope to be stronger,” he added.
Garg later declared that many of the terminated staffers had been working two-hour days on average, likening them to thieves.
That message didn’t go over well internally, particularly since many high-performing employees had been laid off, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
Garg tried to win back his staff with an apology letter he emailed on Tuesday. “I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse,” he wrote. “I am deeply sorry and committed to learning from this.”
Many inside the company were skeptical of Garg’s sincerity.
One current worker said that members of the sales team were asked to distribute his apology note to clients, in an effort to dampen a customer revolt.
“It was 1000 percent a PR move, no actual apology,” the worker said.
Noah Kirsch
Fri, December 10, 2021
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Linkedin
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is “taking time off effective immediately,” as employees revolt over a mass layoff he executed in brutal fashion at the start of the month.
In an email obtained by The Daily Beast, the company’s board of directors—which had previously granted Garg exceptionally wide latitude—announced that it will bring in a third party firm to conduct a “leadership and cultural assessment.” Vice first reported the news.
Better’s chief financial officer Kevin Ryan, who recently joined from Morgan Stanley, will manage day-to-day operations in the interim.
Fox News Host Cheers Better.com CEO’s Mass Zoom Firings: ‘I Love This So Much!’
“Employees are calling for a head,” a company source told The Daily Beast, arguing that Garg stepping down is a cosmetic fix more than a meaningful one. “It’s the entire leadership team. Vishal’s a large part of it, but there’s a lot more there,” the person said of Better’s fractured culture.
Ryan is an “unknown quantity,” to the rank-and-file, a current employee at the SoftBank-backed mortgage startup said. “We haven’t gotten a real look at his leadership style or personality yet.”
Still, the employee said, “Vishal being forced on leave is one of the best pieces of news to come from this fiasco and I’m hoping it’s announced he resigns soon.”
Ryan’s name was attached to a frosty statement the company sent out on Dec. 1 acknowledging the layoffs.
“A fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving homeownership market,” he said at the time.
Better later amended the statement to include acknowledgment that “having to conduct layoffs is gut wrenching, especially this time of year.”
Better.com Executives Flee After CEO’s Viral Self-Own
Reached via text message, Garg said he was “at the playground” with his children and that it was too loud to comment. He directed The Daily Beast to his media team, which did not immediately reply to emails.
Over the past two weeks, multiple high-ranking Better executives have fled the company, including the head of marketing, vice president of communications, and head of public relations.
More resignations are expected. “[The] company culture took a DEEP dive and everyone I’ve spoken to is looking to leave,” another current worker told The Daily Beast earlier this week.
The person was skeptical that Garg could be forced to resign for good: “My guess is after the media coverage dies down, nothing is going to change and he’s just going to go back to his unhinged sociopathic self.”
SoftBank-Backed Mortgage Startup Better.com Lays Off 900 Workers Just Before Holidays
The controversy began at the start of the month, when Garg hastily summoned 900 workers into a webinar; many assumed they would be meeting about a $750 million cash infusion Better had announced the day before.
Instead, Garg told the American workers affected that they were out of jobs. “Your employment is terminated effective immediately,” he said, while emphasizing how difficult it was for him to fire them. “The last time I [fired people], I cried. This time I hope to be stronger,” he added.
Garg later declared that many of the terminated staffers had been working two-hour days on average, likening them to thieves.
That message didn’t go over well internally, particularly since many high-performing employees had been laid off, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
Garg tried to win back his staff with an apology letter he emailed on Tuesday. “I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse,” he wrote. “I am deeply sorry and committed to learning from this.”
Many inside the company were skeptical of Garg’s sincerity.
One current worker said that members of the sales team were asked to distribute his apology note to clients, in an effort to dampen a customer revolt.
“It was 1000 percent a PR move, no actual apology,” the worker said.
Better.com CEO is taking time off ‘effective immediately’ after a week of scandals
Felicia Hou
Fri, December 10, 2021, 7:44 AM·1 min read
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is taking time off “effective immediately,” according to an email from the company’s board of directors obtained by Fortune.
The email, which was sent out on Friday morning, stated that CFO Kevin Ryan will take over day-to-day decisions for the company. A third-party firm will also be hired to perform a “leadership and cultural assessment,” which will be used to “build a long-term sustainable and positive culture.”
Here's the email:
Good Morning,
Vishal and the Board wanted to provide Better employees an update given the very regrettable events over the last week.
Vishal will be taking time off effective immediately. During this interim period Kevin Ryan as CFO will be managing the day-to-day decisions of the company and he will be reporting to the Board. As well, the Board has engaged an independent 3rd party firm to do a leadership and cultural assessment. The recommendations of this assessment will be taken into account to build a long-term sustainable and positive culture at Better. We have much work to do and we hope that everyone can refocus on our customers and support each other to continue to build a great company and a company we can be proud of.
Better Board of Directors
Better.com did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
The financial startup has landed in hot water recently after Garg abruptly laid off 900 workers via a Zoom call last week. The company has since delayed its plans for a SPAC merger. Fortune uncovered that Garg was also berating the productivity rates of employees on Blind, an anonymous online forum for professionals. He admitted to writing comments that said employees were “stealing” from customers after allegedly working two-hour days. On Tuesday, he sent out a companywide apology for his comments.
“I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution,” Garg wrote in that email. “In doing so, I embarrassed you."
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