3 Better.com executives resign after CEO lays off 900 over Zoom
CNN, CNN BUSINESS
By Moira Ritter
Days after Better.com’s CEO unceremoniously fired 900 people over Zoom, several executives are handing in their resignation letters.
Three of the companies top communications executives — Tanya Gillogley, head of public relations, Melanie Hahn, head of marketing, and Patrick Lenihan, VP of communications — all resigned, according to multiple media reports.
According to LinkedIn, Hahn started at Better.com in 2018. Gillogley joined in January 2019, and Lenihan started in November 2020.
The resignations follow last week’s mass layoff, when CEO Vishal Garg used a one-way Zoom webinar to terminate about 9% of the SoftBank-backed mortgage lender’s staff.
“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” Garg said on the call. “Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”
Since the call last week, Better.com and Garg have received widespread public backlash for the timing and the handling of the layoffs.
Christian Chapman, a former underwriter at Better.com, told CNN Business the Zoom call was a “surreal moment” and described the situation as “obtuse and dispassionate.”
In a December 7 letter addressed to the Better.com team, Garg apologized for the way he handled the layoffs, making “a difficult situation worse.”
“I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better,” the letter reads.”I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you.”
On the call, Garg cited market efficiency, performance and productivity as the reason behind the firings. Fortune later reported that Garg accused laid-off employees of “stealing” from colleagues and clients by being unproductive and working two hours a day.
— CNN’s Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
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