WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE

The ethical values were not taken care off when the employees were terminated. The way it was
done was unprofessional on many levels and it had to face the ire of many leaders of the industries
and employees alike. The backlash was such that Vishal Garg, CEO of the company, had to admit his
mistake and apologized where he stated, he "blundered the execution”. With this incident we can
see that how important it is to apply ethics when it comes to organizations.

Moreover, when it comes to fire an employee, a proper justification must be in place backed by
evidence and reports. The online medium chosen for the process was against the basic principles of
an organization and the process of termination needs to be done on a one-to-one basis and
empathize with the employees. But here we saw a lacklustre attitude from Mr. Garg which could
have been avoided when dealing with such a sensitive situation.

The situation could have been handled in a better way. A clear and concise explanation should have
been put forward with proper documentation supporting the claims. The use of words is also
important when it comes to such situations. Avoiding words with a negative connotation should
always be avoided. Amidst such a rising concern for mental health, it is of pivotal importance to deal
the situation with utmost empathy and compassion which are the core principles of Business Ethics.

Compassion always works and the company could have helped in a smooth transition of employees
in other organizations or could provide a strong recommendation for the employees. As per
Statista’s report, “The average amount of time a terminated employee in the US takes to find a job is
22 weeks”. So, supporting an employee during this transition will boost the image of the
organization.

For any organization code of ethics is very important and it should always stick to it. In this
controversy, we saw that none of the ethical principles were applied. Code of ethics and a proper
compliance system improves the decision-making of an organization. Better.com should have
applied these measures. Mr. Garg should have consulted with an Ethics Committee regarding the
implications of the decision and should have chalked out a better plan. A grievance redressal system
should have been provided to the employees so that they can talk about the issues in the
organization that is affecting the productivity. As per reports, there were more than one occasion
when Mr. Garg acted unethically and treated the employees and other stakeholders with disrespect.

Mutual Respect, fairness and care are the core ethical qualities a leader should have. The employees
should have been treated with more respect and a fair system should have been place. Reputation
and morale contribute to the success of an organization. Due to the careless handling of the
situation the company’s reputation was tarnished. Owing to the mass hiring, many employees chose
to quit because of the unethical practices showcased.

The framework of corporate governance should have been applied year. It should have taken care of
the conflict of interest and any transparency issues that could have raised in the situation. In the 4
P’s framework of governance (people, process, performance, and purpose), people are at the centre.
So before taking such a huge step, the organization should have given more importance to the
people and reconsidered the decision before finalizing it.

An ethics committee in such a situation should have played a role. The committee in accordance
with other internal stakeholders should have weighed all the possible outcomes of the situation and
could have come up with an effective alternative. Moreover, corporate governance takes care of
ethical situations, risk management and corporate strategy. But the way, Mr. Garg executed the
decision it looked as if it was done in a haste and none of the stakeholders were taken in loop before
the decision was made.

In this case, the termination could have been done in steps if the company was facing issues with
operations or proper functioning. Mass firing should have been avoided. Before taking the decision
core stakeholders and Mr. Garg should have analysed the situation and the resources they have.
They should gave taken into consideration all the departments’ requirements, the performances of
the individuals, their contribution towards the organisation, the associated costs and the functioning
issues related to such a downsizing. The organization considers such a mass amount of downsizing
when it is struggling to manage the operations or are facing losses. But as per reports Better.com
had a fair market share and showed a consistent performance in terms of revenue or total market
reach. So a company in such a comfortable position firing so many employees showed the
heartlessness of the decision makers and unethical corporate strategy.