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Vishal Garg, the CEO of mortgage company Better.com, has apologised for how he handled the layoffs at his company.

Garg had attracted backlash after he abruptly informed over 900 employees that they had been laid off, all via a Zoom call.

Apology

"I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week," he said in a statement posted to the company's website.

Garg explained that he had failed to show the "appropriate amount of respect and appreciation" for those who had contributed to the company.

He also said he "blundered the execution" while communicating his decision and "embarrassed" his employees in doing so.

"I realise that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. 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."

Background

In the Zoom call, he said he was sharing "not great news", and that this was the second time in his career he had to do this.

Some of the reasons Garg cited in the video for the layoffs included market efficiency, productivity and performance.

He said: “If you are on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here has terminated, effective immediately."

During the call, the cash infusion of US$750 million that Better received from Softbank, a Japanese firm, did not appear to be mentioned.

After firing some 900 staff, Garg held a town hall meeting with the remaining workers, according to Business Insider, where he reportedly told his staff:

"Today, we acknowledge that we overhired and hired the wrong people, and in doing that, we failed. "I failed. I was not disciplined over the last 18 months."

Top photo from @wanderellaco/TikTok