Better.com CEO takes leave after laying off 900 employees

“If you’re on this call, you’re part of the unlucky group that’s being laid off,” Garg said during the Dec. 1 webinar. “Your employment here is terminated, with immediate effect,” he told them.

Garg’s leave is also effective immediately, according to a Friday email from the company’s board of directors, and day-to-day operations will be taken over by the company’s chief financial officer, Kevin Ryan. Better.com added that it was hiring a third-party company to perform a “Leadership and Culture Assessment,” whose recommendations “will be taken into account to create a long-term, sustainable and positive culture at Better.”

CNN Business viewed the email and asked Better.com for comment.

“The recommendations of this assessment will be taken into account to build a long-term, sustainable and positive culture at Better,” the email said.

The massive layoffs at the online mortgage company have affected around 9% of its staff. A few days later, three of the company’s top communications executives resigned, according to multiple media.

In a subsequent post on the Blind Professional Network, Garg accused the dismissed employees of “stealing” from colleagues and clients by being unproductive and working only two hours a day, according to Fortune, who confirmed these sentiments in a subsequent interview with the CEO.

In one December 7 letter Speaking to the Better.com team, Garg apologized for the way he handled the layoffs and for making “a difficult situation” worse.

“I have not shown the appropriate level of respect and appreciation for the people who have been affected and for their contributions to Better,” the letter read. “I own the decision to make the layoffs, but by communicating it, I ruined the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you. “

CNN’s Moira Ritter contributed to this report.