Indian-origin CEO, who sacked 900 employees via Zoom, says worked to become ‘more empathetic’ for teammates

Vishal Garg, who also co-founded Better.com, further told TechCrunch in an interview that currently, ‘just under 1000’ people were working at the company.

Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Garg, who made headlines in December 2021 after he informed more than 900 employees of his Better.com about their termination by way of a Zoom call, has opened about working to become ‘more empathetic’ and to treat his employees with the ‘same level of kindness’ that he shows towards the online mortgage platfom's customers.

Vishal Garg is the founder and CEO of Better.com.  (Better,com)

“…I think I've learned now that in orders for our customers to be delighted, our teammates also have to feel delight. So I've worked really, really hard to to change the way I show up to the team every day, and to be more empathetic and to treat them with the same level of kindness that I showed our customers,” Garg told TechCrunch in an interview.

Stating that currently, ‘just under 1000’ people were working at the company, he further remarked that in order to build further trust within, and outside the organisation, he took ‘a lot of leadership training.’

The employees were really driven by the company's mission to make homeownership ‘more affordable and more accessible,’ the Better.com CEO and co-founder added.

‘Can’t honestly tell you…'

When asked if Better.com was planning any future layoffs, Garg noted that the answer to that would depend on the mortgage market.

“I can’t honestly tell you whether or not we have any layoffs in the future. I think a lot of that depends on the mortgage market. But we think that we’re appropriately staffed and actually we’re adding headcount in a variety of areas to drive growth,” he replied to TechCrunch.