Boss fires 900 people over Zoom days before Christmas

A boss has fired 900 of his company's staff in a Zoom meeting just days before Christmas, blaming staff performance and productivity for the move.

Vishal Garg, chief executive of US mortgage firm Better.com, also said changes in the market were responsible.

A recording of the Zoom call has since been shared on social media, reports the BBC.

In it, Mr Garg tells staff: "If you're on this call you're part of the unlucky group being laid off."

Mr Garg says the 900 redundancies accounts for 15% of the company workforce.

Better.com was given a £565million cash infusion by investors last week, says the BBC.

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Better.com's chief finance officer, Kevin Ryan, told the BBC: "Having to conduct layoffs is gut-wrenching, especially this time of year."

He said the move would leave Better.com with "a fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce".

Ann Francke, chief executive of the UK's Chartered Management Institute, told the BBC: "Bad managers will fire people badly whether virtually or in person.

"But the callous manner in which this was conducted was just magnified by the fact that it was done in this sort of virtual and quite callous style.

"What we know in the pandemic is that empathy matters."

Gemma Dale, lecturer in employment law and business studies at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, said this kind of firing would not be legal in the UK.

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