Laying people off is a horrible experience, that said I am pretty sure being laid off is far worse. Letting people go over the holidays is a dick move.
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg evidently took the lowest road.
"If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off," Garg said on the call, a recording of which was viewed by CNN Business. "Your employment here is terminated effective immediately."
He then said employees could expect an email from HR detailing benefits and severance.
…Garg cited market efficiency, performance and productivity as the reason behind the firings. Fortune later reported Garg accused the employees of "stealing" from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive and only working two hours a day.
"This is the second time in my career I'm doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried," Garg said on the call, which remained short and emotionless.
Among those fired were the diversity, equity and inclusion recruiting team.
As a former tech start-up COO, I once had a CEO who insisted we execute some winter holiday layoffs that the company did not need and could have easily avoided — but the asshole was living some fantasy that had nothing to do with our business. I was able to convince him to wait until we came back after the New Year holiday to let a whole bunch of the wrong people go by surprise.
I believe laziness and stealing are not grounds for a layoff — but rather you'd have to fire those employees — perhaps with a Performance Improvement Plan to avoid legal issues? Layoffs should imply these people would be brought back if the work were to reappear. I would suggest this is posed somehow as some large strategic change in direction for the company but the huge amount of cash on hand suggests they could have take another route or they irresponsibly overhired by almost 1000 people.
