Boss fires 900 employees during Zoom meeting

“If you are at this meeting, it is because you are one of the unlucky ones who are going to be dismissed and that your post is deleted with immediate effect.” Vishal Gard, the CEO of Better.com, a mortgage startup, chose a Zoom video conference to fire a large chunk of his staff on December 1.

#Better Dot Com CEO laid off #900 employees during a group #Zoom call that lasted less than 3 minutes pic.twitter.com/cqvItpTBde

— KRoshan (@kroshan4mobile) December 7, 2021

“This is the second time in my career that I’m doing this”

In total, nearly 900 employees learned of their dismissal just before the end of the year holidays, reports CNN. The boss told them that they would receive an email detailing the terms of their departure.

“This is the second time in my career that I’ve done this, and I don’t like it. The last time I cried, ”Vishal Gard told the American channel, specifying that the CEO did not show any emotion during the interview. This massive dismissal, however, contrasts with the financial situation of the company which has just garnered nearly 750 million dollars (about 663 million euros) thanks to its IPO in May.

A leader with questionable management methods

The operation would aim to further increase the profitability of this company on the way to posting a balance sheet of more than one billion dollars. Vishal Gard is apparently used to this type of management. Last year, Forbes magazine had obtained an email that it had sent to its employees. He criticized them for being “too slow” before calling them “stupid dolphins”.