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Boss Says Sorry For 'Blundered' Zoom Firing of 900 Staff (bbc.com) 138

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The boss of a US mortgage company, who fired hundreds of his staff in a Zoom meeting has said he is "deeply sorry" for the way the lay-offs were handled. The sackings were necessary said Vishal Garg, but he accepted he had "blundered the execution" and "embarrassed" them. "I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected," he said in a letter (PDF) on the firm's website. Mr Garg was heavily criticized after he sacked 900 staff in an online meeting. "I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be," he said. Mr Garg said he had realized "the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse."
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Boss Says Sorry For 'Blundered' Zoom Firing of 900 Staff

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  • The 901 (Score:4, Funny)

    by algaeman ( 600564 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:33PM (#62061633)
    So, 901 fired?
    • by LKM ( 227954 )
      Don't worry, you only have to be competent at your job if your job title doesn't have a "C" in it. See also: Bobby Kotick.
    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      Silly man, CEOs don't get fired. They take a forced "resignation" with an 8 or 9 digit severance package.
      • Well, with this guy's background and pending lawsuits, the forced resignation might include jail time.

  • by dissy ( 172727 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:38PM (#62061645)

    "I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be,"

    Mr Garg continued "Not your leader of course, you are all still fired. However I remain deeply committed to leading all of the money we won't be paying you directly into my yearly bonus."

    • Re:Learning is fun (Score:5, Insightful)

      by leonbev ( 111395 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:46PM (#62061673) Journal

      I believe that the correct payback for this would be for the better.com board to do a surprise firing of their CEO during the next all hands company staff meeting. Then (and only then) will he truly understand the his error and "feel sorry" for it.

      That said, he probably has a great exit package built into his contract, so he'll probably make out well unless they find a legal way to terminate him for cause.

      • Re:Learning is fun (Score:5, Insightful)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @09:44AM (#62062699) Journal

        This isn't like some 10 person shop - there were 900 people laid off. You don't get to be CEO of an organization this large without either knowing many of the ways this could have been managed better or having learned them along the way if you are a founder or something.

        He isn't sorry; he is sorry the media made a public spectacle of it, and that it reflects badly on him. He totally knew better, he could literally not have been unaware his choice of language and execution as far as not having a working communications path for severance issues etc ready to share was shitty. He just did not care, and figured he could get away with it being abusive and lazy. What he have is a egotist being egotistical - that is the whole of the story.

        • Re:Learning is fun (Score:4, Informative)

          by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @09:52AM (#62062731) Homepage Journal

          He isn't sorry; he is sorry the media made a public spectacle of it, and that it reflects badly on him. He totally knew better, he could literally not have been unaware his choice of language and execution as far as not having a working communications path for severance issues etc ready to share was shitty. He just did not care, and figured he could get away with it being abusive and lazy. What he have is a egotist being egotistical - that is the whole of the story.

          Well, there may be another explanation for it. Looking at his name, "Vishal Garg", I'm guessing it might be a cultural thing.

          I'm guessing possibly he comes from a place where they still have the caste system, and that means higher caste people look down up on lowers, and maybe even dehumanizes them.

          We're not used to seeing that in the west, but maybe he's still of that culture and looks down upon the workers as less than human, and not worthy of his pity or concern about their feelings, etc.

          • "Born in India, Garg moved to the Queens borough of New York City when he was seven."
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
          • He isn't sorry; he is sorry the media made a public spectacle of it, and that it reflects badly on him. He totally knew better, he could literally not have been unaware his choice of language and execution as far as not having a working communications path for severance issues etc ready to share was shitty. He just did not care, and figured he could get away with it being abusive and lazy. What he have is a egotist being egotistical - that is the whole of the story.

            Well, there may be another explanation for it. Looking at his name, "Vishal Garg", I'm guessing it might be a cultural thing.

            I'm guessing possibly he comes from a place where they still have the caste system, and that means higher caste people look down up on lowers, and maybe even dehumanizes them.

            We're not used to seeing that in the west, but maybe he's still of that culture and looks down upon the workers as less than human, and not worthy of his pity or concern about their feelings, etc.

            I have known many Indians of various caste levels and have never known one to look down at anybody. In fact typically they are some of the most polite and kindest people you'll ever meet.

            I also don't remember reading the part where having a caste system means you act like a pretentious a-hole towards others.

            Pretty sure this comment is just an excuse to disguise racism in the veneer of considered thought.

    • "I'll remember to squirt a few crocodile tears during the next round of layoffs," he added.
  • ....No he isn't (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kispin ( 9092967 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:39PM (#62061649)
    He isn't sorry for what he did, he is sorry for all the bad PR for what he did, Big difference!
    • +6 As Correct as a Slashdot Post Can Be.
      He isn't sorry for what he did, he is sorry cause he got caught.

      • Re:....No he isn't (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mark-t ( 151149 ) <markt AT nerdflat DOT com> on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:34PM (#62061749) Journal

        I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong, but it's entirely possible that that he's less sorry that he got caught than it is that the fact it has gotten so much publicity has brought a greater realization of his blunder than he would otherwise have had if it hadn't gotten this kind of publicity.

        So in some sense, yes... he's may only be sorry because his mistakes became public, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a genuine sense of regret and remorse about his prior actions is not there.

        We all do stupid shit, and make really bad decisions sometimes. Sometimes those decisions end up becoming public and making us look like a fool. Even if it takes having the shit embarrassed out of someone to make them regret a decision or a prior action, that doesn't mean that an apology after the fact is necessarily any less sincere. At most it really only makes it harder for anyone else to tell.

        It's unlikely that any of us will ever know if he is genuinely remorseful or not, but absent any actual indication he has done this sort of thing before, or is ever going to go ahead and do it again, would it really be so horrible to assume that he might be telling the truth?

        • Re:....No he isn't (Score:5, Insightful)

          by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:55PM (#62061785)

          Yeah I have to agree, while it is highly probable that he feels zero remorse .. there is a chance that he does. There is no way of truly knowing, but we should try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I mean, if he gave away half his wealth to charity there would be people saying he did it for show. Cynicism and suspicion of others are intrinsic to many people.

        • Re:....No he isn't (Score:4, Insightful)

          by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @12:12AM (#62061833) Journal

          I'm sure the idea that he may actually feel some remorse will make those 900 people feel much, much better as they head into the holiday season without a job.

        • Re:....No he isn't (Score:4, Insightful)

          by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @03:24AM (#62062041)

          We all do stupid shit

          Yeah, and we really regret when we get blamed for it and remember to next time look both ways before doing stupid shit again.

          Please don't treat these CEOs like a common human. The fact that he thought this was okay in any way shape or form shows a complete lack of any empathy with other human beings, quite a common trait among sociopathic CEOs. Beyond that to insert a sob story about how *he* was affected, and how *he* cried last time is beyond the pale.

          Treat the lizard man the way he deserves to be treated, with an uncaring lack of emotion that he so clearly demonstrates. Benefit of doubt is reserved for people who demonstrate human traits. About the only thing less human would be a firing via twitter.

          • by mark-t ( 151149 )

            Yeah, and we really regret when we get blamed for it and remember to next time look both ways before doing stupid shit again.

            And, to be fair, neither of us knows for certain if he ever will do that again.

            If you believe otherwise, you are only lying to yourself.

            • Re:....No he isn't (Score:5, Interesting)

              by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @10:11AM (#62062797)

              And, to be fair, neither of us knows for certain if he ever will do that again.

              You mean a third time right? He mentioned in the call that was his first time doing that, and then gave us some sob story about how he cried after the last time he did it as a nice "Fuck you, you should feel sorry for me, I'm the victim here" to the people he let go in the second most inhumane way possible.

              If you believe otherwise, you are only lying to yourself.

              I don't believe anything. I use past performance as a guide for what to expect in the future. People lacking empathy don't suddenly turn around after one bad experience in the press. If you think they do *that* would be lying to yourself. Now maybe after he's fucked up another 5 or 6 times he can get better and better and slowly pretend to be human about it. Or maybe in the future he will at least get a PR person to proof read his "fuck you" before giving it.

              But there's precisely zero reason to believe that he magically has become a better person as a result of this. That's not lying to myself. That's stating the obvious.

              • by mark-t ( 151149 )

                No, there is a reason. And there's nothing remotely magical about it.

                Sometimes a person has to experience negative consequences for their actions before they feel regret for having done it.

                The guy has gotten a whole ton of negative press about it, and this is probably going to be hounding him for months to come if not years.

                Now you might think that this isn't sufficient for a person to actually regret something. But that's got nothing to do with this person, that's really all on you.

        • It's unlikely that any of us will ever know if he is genuinely remorseful or not, but absent any actual indication he has done this sort of thing before, or is ever going to go ahead and do it again, would it really be so horrible to assume that he might be telling the truth?

          Heresy! The new gospel of wokedom is good news because it doesn't contain any forgiveness or possibility of repentance!

        • Not buying it. He chose to be one of those companies that deliberately ruin the holiday season for their employees. Never saw a mention of that remorse. They could have waited till Jan 3rd to drop the news. IMO if a company requires a 2 week notice for employees leaving them high and dry, so should the employer be on the same hook. 2 week severance package.
        • He has a long string of very bad decisions with a train of lawsuits dogging him. The stories about this firing on zoom never bring this up, but a web search will show that this isn't his first asshole rodeo.

    • by Kokuyo ( 549451 )

      I wholeheartedly disagree.

      He doesn't care about the bad PR. PR means mostly nothing these days. We, as consumers, have proven time and again that we'll take it up the ass repeatedly and still buy $product because for some reason we feel we cannot live without it.

      He knew this would happen. He just added up the work of firing them like a decent human being and on the other side of the ledger he added one Zoom call and an apology.

      Guess what turns out to be way less work.

      I wouldn't even be surprised if he had t

    • You're assuming that, for a CEO, the PR is bad. I bet it'll work wonders for his career & make him very popular with shareholders. How's better.com's share price doing as a result of this?
  • Ah, the classic... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by haus ( 129916 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:39PM (#62061651) Journal

    ... the "I am sorry that that people are holding me accountable for being an asshole" apology

  • by joe_frisch ( 1366229 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:42PM (#62061659)
    I don't know any good way to do this - assuming it really did need to happen. Can't exactly have a one-on-one with 900 people, and asking underlings to carryout your layoffs doesn't really make it any better.
    • by LeeLynx ( 6219816 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:54PM (#62061685)
      There may not be a good way to do it, but there most certainly are ways that are far worse than others. There are ways that are, at once, so inhumanly cruel and obviously threatening to a company's public relations that only a narcissistic asshole would even contemplate them. This fell into that category.
      • Isnt this the natural evolution of the push to work remotely?

        It goes both ways, and you may not like where some of it ends up. Laying people off by company-mail (before email even) isnt an unknown practice. Everyone gets a letter in an envelope and that letter is either good news or bad news. Translate that to streaming live broadcast video because it goes both ways.
        • by Junta ( 36770 )

          Again, it's not that it was done remotely over zoom so much as it was done in a single meeting. The zoom adds a modern twist on it, but it's common business sense to manage big layoffs carefully, and sending a mass invite to lay people off in a meeting is about as chaotic as you can imagine.

          At which point being accusatory and insinuated that they deserve makes it even worse.

        • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

          Isnt this the natural evolution of the push to work remotely?

          It goes both ways, and you may not like where some of it ends up. Laying people off by company-mail (before email even) isnt an unknown practice. Everyone gets a letter in an envelope and that letter is either good news or bad news. Translate that to streaming live broadcast video because it goes both ways.

          In general, mass layoffs are handled by a company making a company-wide announcement that it's happening, followed by a grand meeting where eve

    • by uncqual ( 836337 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:10PM (#62061729)

      Where I've worked, the CEO usually held meetings explaining that layoffs were, sadly, needed and why.

      Later, each person laid off generally got a one-on-one with their manager and were provided their exit package in that meeting. In the larger companies managers attended training in how to conduct those meetings if they hadn't received such training already. It certainly wasn't fun and fortunately I rarely had to lay anyone off (I tended to get rid of deadwood go once it became apparent they were deadwood and was very picky in my hiring -- so I usually had valuable staff and was usually down on headcount anyway).

      Often the selection of WHO is being laid off IS partially at the discretion of their manager. In cases where entire groups were being dissolved, the best people were often considered for other groups that were surviving -- sometimes if Group A was being dissolved and had one very good person, Group B would lay off one more person and then Group A's good person would be transferred to Group B to meet the net target headcount).

      • This is pretty much it. I went through this at a previous employer. They were a large company with multiple locations and business units. If some BUs were doing good and others were doing poorly, they all had to share the pain and a percentage of the workforce would be reduced, layoffs being distributed among every department. HR provided a specific script for each manager to follow while they laid off their own people. HR wasn't present at each individual layoff meeting, they just had online presentations

    • Why not? What are underlings there for? Seriously, this isn't the first mass layoff in history .. there are ways to do it correctly and in a more personalized and better attempted fake sympathy. I think whenever there is a mass layoff, the CEO and a large percent of executive staff must always resign. If not as a common courtesy but also because it is nearly always the fault and their strategic blunders.

      • Sometimes its for the sole reason of making stocks go up, resulting in bigger bonuses paid to the CEO. This seems to be the case here. The tell for this usually has to do with the timing. When it happens during the christmas season, it usually has to do with quarterly projections and earnings reports, which in turn drive stock purchases. The sum of this bullshit is entirely based in greed.
    • by Reiyuki ( 5800436 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:55PM (#62061783)
      Two-weeks notice is customary for employees, it should be a common courtesy for employers as well.
      • This is why giving notice is slowly leaving the norm.

        The next time you quit a job, get your boss on a call and say "Do to market forces I sadly have to let X company go. I know you will land on your feet and I wish you well in your future endeavors."

        • No doubt. I once worked for an employer who believed in the 2-week notice so strongly he gave them a 2 week severance pay if he had to fire them. He couldnt let them stay on premises for fear they might do something damaging, so he just paid them for 2 weeks.
          • That would be someone that deserves 2 weeks notice.

          • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
            That's how pretty much every sales job works (outside of retail at least). They don't want to give you any time to tell customers you are leaving (and where you are going), not like you couldn't have done that anyway. Also gets them out of paying you any unpaid commissions. Which seems like it should be illegal but apparently it's not.
      • by Corbets ( 169101 )

        Two-weeks notice is customary for employees, it should be a common courtesy for employers as well.

        What a country. Once I moved to Europe, I’ve not had less than 3 months symmetrical notice; my current employer offers me 6 while only requiring 3 from me.

        I so would not want to go back to a “you can be fired at any moment” kind of job.

    • and asking underlings to carryout your layoffs doesn't really make it any better.

      Yeah it does. Having a one on one discussion with your direct manager, someone you have been in contact with is a whole world better than being told by some face you likely have never met over zoom that "effective immediately your employment is terminated". Shit man not only the worst possible medium for delivery but the least empathetic and worst possible way of doing so.

      I've been retrenched before. It started with an all hands on deck meeting explaining that there were going to be staff cuts. Explaining h

      • And having to be on the firing end, as management, has an emotional toll that makes you, as a manager, want to be the best manager you can be, in the future, to buy any chance you can to reduce the chances of it happening again. Doing it the way this asshole did spared him and all the managers from experiencing a very valuable learning lesson. It was a great disservice to himself and all the managers he is supposed to be leading.
    • by Junta ( 36770 )

      It should be the underlings carrying it out because the underlings are undoutedly the ones identifying the specific people. CEO can address the company as a whole in vague terms, but to invite only those fired that were selected by underlings is a recipe for disaster.

      It might have been one thing if he had some sort of apologetic demeanor, but he said that they were fired because they were 'thieves' lazily working 2 hour days under the cover of working remote. So he was being adversarial to a whole bunch of

  • I'm "sorry" that me being a piece of shit has embarrassed you.

  • Yeah, he is sorry (Score:5, Insightful)

    by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:43PM (#62061665)

    Sorry he got called out on it. That's about it.

    • by mark-t ( 151149 )

      While his apology can probably be attributed to the fact that he got called out on it, sometimes a person needs to experience the negative consequences of a bad decision before they actually realize that it was the wrong thing to do.

      When a child puts their hand on a hot stove for the first time and gets a burn, and they later say they regret doing it, does the fact that they are only saying that because they got a burn mean that they are any less sincere in their regret?

      I mean, you might be right, and

      • Perhaps we should ensure upper management had been in a position of being fired for one reason or another (so long as its not criminal in nature) so they are in a position of experience. Many of us have worked somewhere that had to do layoffs, without it being a direct impeachment of our performance. How is it we keep hiring inexperienced assholes that never experienced that? Nobody is that good. I would consider it a character flaw if they have never experienced it.
      • If he never does it again, that does not necessarily mean he is sorry he did it. It just means he isn't entirely stupid.

  • by ndykman ( 659315 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @10:55PM (#62061687)

    He's about to get pushed aside and hard. He might get some money out of it, but he's very likely going to be living a greatly reduced life. The company needs a last push of funds (was seeking an IPO), but he killed a lot of chances in one fell swoop and his head is on the line.

    If he survives, he's got some dirt and them some on the right people. Anyway, he's exactly the kind of business sociopathic parasite we need to get rid of as fast as possible.

    • I dunno about that -- after all, he's both cartoonishly cruel and up-front about it. People like that are easy targets, and great attention-deflectors from those who do the same things but in a less obvious -- hell, less recordable and republishable -- way. The only thing it really provides is a case study in media relations.
    • I dunno. When the housing market collapsed I kept readinf about bank CEOs leaving with $50Million and $100Million+ Golden parachutes. Pretty sure I could live the rest of my life on $100Million and never have to work.
  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:13PM (#62061735)

    1. The corporate headquarters of an ISP that a friend of mine worked at in the 1990s faxed a list of names to a middle manager and told him to go to each person on the list and let them know they were laid off. After he got done doing that, they let him know that he too was let go.
    2. A different friend of mine worked at a bank that was acquired by a much larger bank. He worked for their online banking department. They were all told in a meeting not to look for a new job because after the two online banking systems were integrated they would be assigned to new roles within the company. Well, you can guess what actually happened. The day after the integration was successfully deployed everyone was let go.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      Saw this happen at Atari. Guy was made head of software (I *think* it was Alan Metzger, too many brain cells ago). Went around screwing everyone else, on layoff day he went around with the sad news, and when the last programmer was let go, he was pushed out the door with his little box of personals, and they were sitting out in the parking lot watching him lurch over to his car. I really think he didn't see that coming. Two wrongs don't make a right, but still...
      • In that case though, I hope he learned a valuable lesson. It can be an amazing teaching tool if you let it. In one swift moment he realized just how intrinsically tied to his employees he really was. Sometimes a good kick in the nuts is just what somebody needs.
    • But did either of them have some CEO they've likely never met tell them in a zoom call to GTFO? Or colloquially "effective immediately your employment is terminated"?

      Yeah companies suddenly let go of people and it sucks, but I can't say I've ever seen (nor experienced, and I have experienced a couple) one this bad. Though I guess Trump's firing via Twitter is probably the only thing even worse.

      Last time I was fired the CEO was frank. In an all hands on deck meeting he told us there would be an x% cut to sta

    • We were almost all working from home when we got the Covid layoffs in May 2020. 18% of the workforce. Once it started they sent out a message saying it was happening (everyone already knew of course) & we all just sat there sorta working waiting for The Call while getting texts from those that got the axe. Finally around 11AM an email came out that it was over.

      Is there a better way? The Global Financial Meltdown layoffs in 2008 were pretty much the same way other than waiting for a call, you waited

      • by kackle ( 910159 )

        There is just no good way other then hiring George Clooney to do it.

        I thought that woman should have been notified of the suicide that she triggered via video chat, while she was all alone in a big, empty room.

      • Yeah, I don't think the zoom call is necessarily the worst way. Like you, I got laid off in May 2020 due to COVID when I was working from home. They did it by email: "... If you are getting this email, you are being let go ..." - I think that's a little more sucky than a zoom call :)

        Turned out ok (got severance, did find another job by the time it ran out), but stilll ...

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:46PM (#62061771)
    and made baseless accusations that they weren't doing their jobs. He's not sorry. Why do we let guys like this rule over us?
  • by willoughby ( 1367773 ) on Wednesday December 08, 2021 @11:58PM (#62061791)

    In the Pulitzer winning book, "The Soul of a New Machine", author Tracy Kidder tells the tale of engineers at Data General designing a new mini-computer. Long hours, conflicts between hardware & software guys, very tight scheduling and lots of pressure on these people. In a spat, one of the engineers called another an asshole.

    The project manager called the fellow into his office and explained we all need to work together, get along even if we don't like the other guy, yadda, yadda... and you have to go apologize to him.

    The guy left the office, approached the other engineer and said, "I'm sorry you're an asshole".

    • by Miles_O'Toole ( 5152533 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @01:00AM (#62061889)

      Famous old story from the English courtroom: A guy gets dragged into court for slander because he referred to a socially-prominent Duchess as a pig. The Duchess wants blood, but after some wrangling, the judge let him off with an apology and a promise not to do it again. After apologizing, the guy says to the judge, "So you're telling me I cannot call the Duchess a pig without paying a fine?" The judge says, "That's right". So the guy says, "Does that also mean I cannot call a pig 'Duchess'?" The judge says he can call a pig whatever he likes. So the guy turns to the Duchess, tips his hat, and says, "Good afternoon...Duchess."

    • I did better once. A jerk of a manager once got on my case so bad that I lost my temper and called him a son of a b*tch in public. The next morning the two of us were in the supervisor's office and I was given the choice between apologizing and being fired. I said, "I'm sorry that I told you you're a son of a b*tch." After about thirty seconds of thought, he accepted my "apology!"
  • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @12:09AM (#62061825) Journal

    He admits, "I failed. I was not disciplined over the last 18 months."

    And yet somehow he still has his job. He didn't fire himself, despite admitting that HE fucked up.

    Must be nice to be a CEO and never have to face any consequences for all the heinous shit you do.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Obviously, in the C-Level Universe, no C-Level is ever really responsible if things go bad. That is always the fault of the scum in the trenches. Now, if thing go well, this is of course exclusively the accomplishments of the C-Levels and because they kept the undesirables doing the actual work in check!

      In other news, CEOs and other C-Levels can kill a company, but if a company is a success, their contribution is usually having kept out of the way or not screwed up too badly.

      As to it being "nice" being a CE

  • by clambake ( 37702 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @12:47AM (#62061873) Homepage

    If only I had remembered to consider the bottom line I would have spent effort to ensure I didn't look so bad. I promise to never forget how important appearances are to making money.

  • by misnohmer ( 1636461 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @01:19AM (#62061905)

    The company name, which seems to have escaped both the headline and the summary, is better.com. You'd think it's relevant information, no?

  • So he'll do a increasingly better every time a next round of folks are laid off

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      So he'll do a increasingly better every time a next round of folks are laid off

      Well, got to have experience to do a good job! Perfect opportunity to practice not appearing to be the total scumbag he is.

  • He says "sorry"! What about being sorry for firing people? That is apparently just what the scum doing the actual work deserves.

  • Sorry for himself that he got caught.

    Textbook narcissism.

  • Seriously? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Musical_Joe ( 1565075 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @07:01AM (#62062361)

    Hold up, this is in America, right? The land of the free, the American dream? Opportunity for everyone? How in Christ's name is it legal to "de-employ" 900 people with no warning, *with immediate effect* (seemingly no notice period, not even what is elsewhere a legal minimum) and with no responsibility to help them find other work? Here in the backwards colonial-era United Kingdom there is a legal process by which any company laying off more than a certain number of staff has to go through, including trying to find the staff other roles within the company - and if none exist then they must do what they can to assist staff find work elsewhere. I cannot believe this is legal in the 21st Century in ANY country, let alone one that considers itself a model for other nations (and believes this so strongly they go to war with other countries to 'help' them replicate such a wonderful system in their society as well). Seriously WTF?

    • You think an employer has a legal obligation to help employees they terminate for cause find new work?

      It's obvious to an outside observer that these 900 employees were selected based on a lawful criteria (not age, gender, orientation, nationality/ethnicity, etc.) and fired "for cause" based on that criteria.

      Each of those 900 employees has the right to appeal their "for cause" termination with the state unemployment agency.

  • by luis_a_espinal ( 1810296 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @08:30AM (#62062529)

    "I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be,"

    The number one job of a CEO is not bring unwanted and negative attention to his company. In this respect, Mr. Garg failed spectacularly.

    He isn't sorry for what he did. His apologia is purely performative, and his only regret is on having dug a deeper hole when he ranted and accused some of the laid off employees of time theft.

    I've seen this before in other companies that shall remain nameless, when there are some layoffs and higher-up loses emotional control and discloses some ugly truths to the rest (or the world), ugly truths that are supposed to be confidential.

    If 250 out of the 900 laid off staff were guilty of time theft, the remaining 650 (and the company and the rest of the world) doesn't need to know.

    Every single person in that group, even the innocent, are now tainted by that allegation. After all, how can you demonstrate you are not among the 250.

    Without providing specific identifying evidence, this amounts to character defamation to the entire group of people. Nicely done for the chief-executive-bully.

    Garg tainted everyone's reputation by association, not giving anyone the ability to defend himself/herself. If you, the generic you, are on the receiving end of such a shenanigan, you will likely face some uphill battles in getting your resume past a HR desk. After all, directly or indirectly, your reputation is now into question, and which HR will take the risk of taking your resume and passing it to whichever department is doing the hiring?

    An allegation/accusation like that is one that is done in private, and separate from the remaining layoffs.

    And even for those who got laid off without a taint in their character, they were labelled as "the wrong type of worker" by the CEO (his own words that they were not the right people for the job.)

    That is fucked up.

    The man is a damned bully. He could simply have said that the market changed and be done with it. Because that is a legitimate explanation (even if it is not true). It preserves the dignity and reputation of those at the receiving end of the layoff, and it gives the company the chance to preserve an image of professionalism.

    The dude is an unprofessional bully. In fact, if we were to dig into his past, we see that he has a history of bullying.

    If this company is worth its salt, shareholders should be asking for the CEO's resignation. For investors, this is a disaster.

  • The only thing you are sorry about is that your despicable manners resulted in so much negative public attention. You are nothing but a fucking asshole, and now everybody knows it.
  • "I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected,"

    Many of these people (not all) are accused of 'working the system' by doing, on average, 2 hours of work every 8 hour work day, and this reduced workload increased costs for the business, and was properly referred to as 'stealing'. What is the "appropriate amount of respect and appreciation" for such workers?

    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )

      What is the "appropriate amount of respect and appreciation" for such workers?

      They are human beings, not cattle. If they were stealing address it appropriately. As in, do an investigation, document the indiscretions, and if corrective action wouldn't be effective PRIVATELY terminate the employee. Getting 900 people in a room and saying "Less than 1/3 of you are SUSPECTED of stealing, so you're all fired. I hope you appreciate how negatively this will effect me." should never be the answer. Dude just upended 900 families' lives with the same level of empathy that one would apply

      • I agree. No one is saying that time cheats need to be forgiven, but there are ways to deal with that. Given this 1/3 number came out after he was criticized, I highly doubt that was the case at all and was and excuse. And a terrible excuse at that.

  • "I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be,"
  • by kriston ( 7886 ) on Thursday December 09, 2021 @03:38PM (#62063883) Homepage Journal

    I'm more impressed with Zoom's being able to handle 900 meeting participants, to be honest.

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