IN THE FIRING LINE

THE BRUSQUE FIRING STYLE OF TECH FIRMS IN THE RECENT SPATE OF LAYOFFS HAS LEFT EMPLOYEES STUMPED. SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVINESS IS HELPING THEM GET BACK ON THEIR FEET

- VIDYA S

THERE'S NEVER A good way to fire someone. But there are terrible ways, apparently, if you go by how several companies are doing it in droves lately. Taking the cake, of course, is social media platform Twitter that was recently acquired by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. Twitter’s employees found out if they still had a job based on whether they were able to access their systems; an email from the company on the official email meant you still had ajob and if the same reached you on your personal email, it was time to pack up!

Last December, Indian-origin CEO of mortgage company Better.com, Vishal Garg, fired 900 employees over a Zoom call. The video of him in the act—that went viral on social media—had him saying: If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.” Ohio-based social marketing start-up HyperSocial’s CEO Braden Wallake posted a selfie of himself crying on LinkedIn in August after firing his employees. Days like today, I wish I was a business owner that was only money-driven and didn’t care about who he hurt along the way. But I’m not,” he posted, immediately facing a barrage of criticism. 

Closer home, a Chennai-based start-up reportedly laid off10 per cent ofits staff on a 15-minute Zoom call on November 2. According to an employee who was impacted, an email followed within 15 minutes, access to systems were revoked in less than an hour, a hurried exit interview was conducted soon after—that the person’s manager did not attend—and by the day’s end, the person was told not to come to office anymore.