Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has resumed his leadership role at the company after taking a few weeks off for having fired 900 employees via Zoom, days before last Christmas. His return was communicated by the company’s board of directors in a letter sent to employees, according to information from CNN and Insider.
The letter says Garg returns to work full time after taking a leave of absence to “reflect on his leadership, reconnect with the values that make Better great, and work closely with an executive coach.”
Executive I said in the letter, according to CNN: “I understand how difficult these past few weeks have been. I deeply regret the anguish, distraction and embarrassment my actions have caused. I have spent a lot of time thinking about where we are as a company and the kind of leadership that Better needs… and the leader I want to be”.
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The text shows a radical shift in Garg’s tone. He accused a fired employee a few weeks ago on the professional network of “stealing” colleagues and clients for being unproductive and working only two hours a day, according to Fortune.
His return could bring more insecurity to the Better.com team. Three company employees who spoke to Insider said more employees have continued to leave the company in recent weeks after the incident. One “rolled his eyes” when he read Garg’s new letter and another believes the new text contains “empty promises.”
Remember the Better.com CEO
Garg said in a less than three-minute Zoom video call to 900 Better.com employees: “If you’re on this call, you’re part of the unlucky bunch that got fired. Your job here will be terminated immediately.”
The executive was heavily criticized on social media. Some people called him rude and pointed to the bad timing for the layoffs, just before the holidays. In addition, three high-ranking communications executives reportedly left the company after the mass layoffs, according to Insider.
After the great repercussion of the case, Garg even publicly apologized in a text published on the website of Better.com. Then he took a work permit. At the time, the company said it was hiring a third-party company to do a “leadership and culture assessment”, whose recommendations would be “taken into account to build a sustainable and positive long-term culture”.
