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Thank you for joining. This isn't news that you're going to want to hear, but ultimately

it was my decision and I wanted you to hear from me. This is the second time in my career

I'm doing this and I do not, do not, want to do this. The last time I did it I cried.

This time I hope to be stronger. If you're on this call, you are part of the unlucky group

being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.

Oh, that's the sound of bad news. That's Vishal Garg, the boss of the mortgage firm in

the usbetter.com firing 900 of his employees on one Zoom call all in one go. So, is this

the done thing in the world of HR? Well, let's speak to somebody from the world of HR

now. It's David DeSousa from the CIPD, the chartered Institute of Professional Development.

Hello, David. Hello, good evening. To use a very HR-y word, best practice is what Vishal

Garg just did there, best practice? No, not at all. So, there were a number of things

that obviously made it very painful for the people that were receiving the news. It's

not something that's seen in the UK with that pace. So, we don't for legal reasons and

actually ethical and moral reasons. We don't tend to do the, you need to go away and pack

now or your contract is ended. It was something that, you know, my head was in my hands as I

watched it and listened to it and had some of the reactions to it. That is not how things

normally happen. I mean, is there a good way to fire somebody then? No one ever likes

to hear that news. But there are ways that you can deliver that news that make it far,

far worse. And I think what you saw in that video was a host of things that didn't show

compassion to the individuals and was an example of processing people rather than supporting

people through a process. And when you see it done well, all of the effort goes into minimizing

...