Boss fires 900 on 3 minute zoom call, gets criticised

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/07/not-great-news-us-boss-fires-900-employees-on-a-zoom-call

This boss is being criticised but surely it makes no difference how the news is delivered? If you're gonna be fired, you're gonna be fired. It doesn't matter if he comes across like an asshole or not.

Are managers expected to be trained psychologists these day too? He is just direct and to the point.

I wouldn't even be thinking about it as one of the unlucky few.

I'd be thinking about my future.

And if I had time to think about it maybe the job wasn't that important.

Chips Lovell

Whatever about doing it on collective Zoom call, don't be a dick. Wait till after Christmas.

Kermit.de.frog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118282689#Comment_118282689

I'd give him that one alright. Most managers themselves wouldn't do that but they are usually pushed by others.

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118282689#Comment_118282689

It depends on the situation i think, I don't see why you'd wait if lack of productivity is the reason you're being let go.

spaceHopper

900 is 9% of their workforce and it's not much more than a start up. I'd say the other 9100 need to keep an eye on the job market.

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118282689#Comment_118282689

Do it before Christmas, so people don't overspend when they'll have no job in the new year.

SVI40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118282689#Comment_118282689

Don't know whether it's true or not, but I was told Christmas is a good time to let people go, as they are occupied getting set for Christmas and all the fuss that goes with it. By the time the come back after it, they are resigned to it, and have accepted their job is gone.

jimmycrackcorm

There's no easy way to tell people this type of bad news. It's impractical to individually tell 900 people because as soon as you tell one, then the news spreads like wildfire. The US is particularly harsh though as severance isn't great compared to here but the jobs market is particularly good now.

I was once made redundant and we all were taken into an office and told we were being made so. I was last in line to get my cheque but luckily I had negotiated guarantees in my contract so I got handsomely paid off and was delighted. I also got hired the day after by a competitor, so it was a bit like winning the lottery.

God bless the free market.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118282979#Comment_118282979

Well, yes.

These people will have the pick of jobs if they're any way useful.

Do you go around buying things you don't need to keep people employed? No? Hypocrisy much?

Gregor Samsa

I'm an oncologist, and I send terminal cancer diagnoses to patients all the time by text message. It makes no difference how the news is delivered. If you're gonna die, you're gonna die. I don't know what their problem is.

chosen1

I was expecting it to be an awful lot worse to be honest when I clicked in here.

At least he had the balls to do it himself instead of passing it on to some poor HR employee, which most companies do. Not a nice thing to get layed off just before Christmas but unfortunately not many jobs guaranteed in this day and age.

Ubbquittious

I wonder how they picked out these 900 people to get rid of?

Apparently it was done because this company is trying to go public and they want to be in lean shape for when the investors come rolling in.

Squeeonline

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283486#Comment_118283486

I read that they had just gotten some investment and the thinking was that it was contingent on reducing the headcount, but they didnt want it to look that way so the money came first.

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283486#Comment_118283486

First 900 to connect to the meeting, on the basis that the rest were too busy working.

Capt'n Midnight

Slightly better than

company somewhere in the far east who came up with a cunning ploy. They triggered the fire alarm so everyone trooped outside, then there was a delay. This was followed by a megaphone announcement that everyone could come back in, but anyone who couldn't get in because their access pass now didn't work was sacked, should feck off and any belongings at their desk would be sent to their home address...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nBQGWF4Cpg

"the last time I did this, I cried...I hope to be stronger, this time" - As if that was the worst thing happening on that zoom call.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283446#Comment_118283446

Jesus man, I don't know how you can do the job you do. Thanks for doing it though. It can't be easy.

Seems to have been a mass cull of people working from home who took the proverbial. He draws attention to the people claiming a full days pay for two hours work online. Like how stupid do you have to be to do this when your work is electronically monitored.

There is a fuller video transcript doing the roubds

The anount of selective reporting. Here you go, "Following the massive layoff, Garg accused his former employees of being lazy and unproductive, The Independent reported. He said that at least 250 of those fired worked an average of two hours a day while clocking eight hours or more in the payroll system. He also claimed that they were "looting" clients who pay the bills"

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118283446#Comment_118283446

Just be grateful that your parents didn't call you "Lol"

Donald Trump

Moral of the story is. Don't connect to any zoom meetings with your boss. Especially when he is obviously a bleedin' amateur like your man. The real pros do it one-by one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crmvHJpCkfM

lawred2

What's the problem? He made the decision and he used a means by which he could inform them all.

Honest and forthright. Isn't that the right way to be?

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118286501#Comment_118286501

You anecdote is a plotline from Peep Show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9FGxAt1cKw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118286617#Comment_118286617

Honest? Don't be gullible, if he was honest he would have told them the company had just received 3/4 of a billion dollars in investment so they could clearly afford to keep them employed. He wasn't being honest when he said "the market is changing and we need to adapt". What he would have said, if he was actually being honest, is that the final fiscal quarter is about to end and his bonus is up for review so he has to cut costs in order to get his slice of the 750 million dollars that has been set aside for him once his bonus conditions are met. The man clearly had productivity targets to hit and cost cutting targets to hit to qualify for his bonus. Now that he had multiple quarters with a full staff he hit the productivity goal and is now culling a sizable amount of employees to hit the cost cutting target. This is the opposite of honest Lawred and it doesn't take a cynic to believe it.

silliussoddius

Something like this happened at a company I worked for. Three different meetings were set up with a different group in each. Group number two got the bad news (about 20 people). If you do it on a one by one basis then the news leaks out.

Greyfox

Plenty of cold heartless people on here. There's a right way and a wrong way of delivering bad news and delivering bad news without due care and consideration is called been a grade a arseh*le.

I don't know if i was looking for a mortgage if they would be a company id use with a boss like that at the helm.

Jequ0n

I can’t see what he did wrong.

I yet have to see the day where this type of news comes out of the blue, unless people are incapable of basic pnl.

Too many people think that businesses are run (or should be run) on loyalties and sympathy, even if it isn’t profitable.

In all fairness given americas fondness for buying things on credit I think it’s safe to say this guy saved these folks from credit card bills in January they may not be able to pay.

Jez, glad I don't have to work for a living.

youtheman

In my previous job (U.S. Company) it was called the "2+2+2 package", 2 boxes, 2 security guards and 2 minutes. Often the network was taken down immediately before the announcement to stop some disgruntled ex. employee going ga-ga. Apparently one fellow was so pissed off that he just threw his brief case in the river. It was found some time later and the police were wondering if there was a body to go with it.

B.A._Baracus

This is life tho. It's also a reason why you shouldn't be too 'loyal' to a job. You do your bit. Do what's asked of you or less if you can get away with it. A job is just a job. A business can be quick enough to send you down the road if times are bad.

This CEO doesn't care. He's not the one being fired. Hey, he'd fire 9000 if he had to am sure.

Larbre34

The whole organisation is at the murky end of financial products anyway, sub-prime grime and unsuitable lendees.

While the CEO is a massively incapable douchebag, the best thing for society would be the end of the company.

razorblunt

he made a mess of it. Not the first manager to do so, won’t be the last. It’s a sign of a poor manager really. He dragged it out, put the actual message way into the spiel rather than starting with it and crucially he made it all about him and how awful this is for me.

Hes firing folk before Xmas his feelings mean nothing to them.

Worked for one of the big Australian banks in Sydney on a project in the wealth management division.

Out of a team of 20 we were all called into a meeting and about 5 people were left behind. When we came out the 5 people were gone. Security had came up, told them to pack their things, leave their laptops and escorted them off the building. Productivity was the reason.

Remember thinking at the time with an air of disdain towards the approach. Not a good way to treat people with bills to pay.

The zoom call seems better tbh.

Capt'n Midnight

Update : he may even get a slap on the wrist

the board of directors emailed the employees on Friday: “Good morning. Vishal and the Board wanted to provide Better employees an update given the very regrettable events over the last week.""Vishal will be taking time off effective immediately,” ... “The Board has engaged an independent 3rd party firm to do a leadership and cultural assessment.

...

Plans to merge with Aurora Acquisition Corp via a $7.7bn special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deal were also put on hold, according to Axios, whilst the company tries to clean up the mess leftover from the PR disaster.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118298121#Comment_118298121

Like David Brent’s promotion.