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Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

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Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#331

Post by oxfordmale »

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

This CEO violates all the rules of communicating bad news. It needs to be short and to the point, and should definitely not include self pity ("last time I was crying").

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#332

Post by 0des »

basisword wrote: post #310
0des wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Send a direct deposited and generous severance on Friday. Monday, have in person meetings with these departments, with the financial reassurance that the parachute is firmly installed on their back to have the next 6 months to comfortably find new accommodations. The last step is optional, but in the past I've seen these CEO's have previously arranged a soft landing place in other businesses for the people they have…

In what world can a company that has to lay off 900 people also afford to pay them for the next 6 months? It’s a terrible situation for the employees (and better US employment laws would certainly help) but none of your suggestions are even borderline realistic.

Are you familiar with the industry this company is in? Right now they are printing money with the current economy. This is absolutely feasible.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#333

Post by JackFr »

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

I have been part of a mass layoff via Zoom. You’d be surprised how easy it is to do with empathy and respect.

When it’s handled with empathy and respect - much less likely to make HN front page though.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#334

Post by stayfrosty420 »

setgree wrote: post #68
DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

I think the virality of it comes from this guy's general tone, e.g. a prior email in which he wrote: > You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS...SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME. but I agree that there's nothing obviously good about being fired in person. I prefer my difficult conversations to be as impersonal and private as possible. I remember being flabbergasted when a firm once scheduled a…

What a weird turn of phrase. Comparatively a dumb dolphin is pretty smart still.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#335

Post by spookthesunset »

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

> Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired?

“Risk their health”?

Grocery store workers have been coming into their office the entire time and I don’t see them dropping like flies. Same with Home Depot employees, and any other “essential” business.

It requires a hell of a lot of privilege for tech workers to think they are entitled to stay home “to protect their health” while all these other people go in. It’s treating people like they are expendable…

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#337

Post by gruez »

chollida1 wrote: post #318
DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

I agree that you outline why its hard to layoff so many people. Let's asume you were just laid off, you and everyone else now have 5-10 questions that are specific to you that you want answered right away. How do you do that in a 500 person zoom call? With one on one meetings, this is trivial. Now you've setup a situation where you still need 500 individual meetings. I"m not sure a global zoom call did them any favou…

> I"m not sure a global zoom call did them any favours or helped them at all here.

the benefit is that everyone knows upfront whether they were fired or not, rather than having rumors swirl around the office for a week.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#338

Post by hulitu »

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

TBH this looks like a toxic place to work at. If i had such a CEO i would look for another job. I hope that they all find a new and better jib and the toxic CEO gets what he deserves.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#339

Post by parasense »

> Garg told Fortune that a month earlier, the company began to review employee productivity data, including missed telephone call rates, number of inbound and outbound calls, employees showing up late to meetings with a customer, and other metrics.

I mean, data driven decision making is actually pretty great!

I'm curious how many people here would disagree?

That being said, who here thinks the CEO had a complete picture of the performance metrics? Or perhaps he was operating from an intentionally incomplete data-set to self-fulfill a prophecy, or some other ulterior motive?

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#340

Post by YetAnotherNick »

djrogers wrote: post #165
chrisseaton wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you can warn people about their performance without using abuse.

Abuse? Really? Is a single email where someone vents frustration for 2 lines actually abuse ?

I knew you would get downvoted. HN is a weird mixture of professionalism and childishness. Getting angry at two lines without context/relationship with manager is all I could expect from here.
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