Vishal Garg, the head of Better.com who fired hundreds of employees over an online call last week, is "taking time off" from the company, according to an email by the company's board that was obtained by Vice. The company also tapped a third-party contractor to conduct a leadership and cultural assessment, according to the email.
"We have much work to do and we hope that everyone can refocus on our customers and support each other to continue to build a great company and a company we can be proud of," the email wrote.
It's unclear whether the decision to step back was made by Garg, or if the company's board made the call. Representatives from Better.com did not return requests for comment.
Garg has faced backlash in the past week over his handling of the layoffs, which took place over a virtual town hall and informed 900 employees that they had lost their jobs. After three company executives quit and Better.com pushed its planned IPO, Garg apologized for his handling of the firings.
The CEO's attitude has been an issue before. Garg reportedly called Better's top investor "sewage," a "miserable miser" and other names after he and other investors expressed concern over going public through a SPAC.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE