Then, last month, Mr. Garg summoned 900 Better.com employees, including Mr. Chapman, roughly 9 percent of his staff, and fired them in a Zoom call that was recorded and shared online. Mr. Garg later apologized, but just over one week afterward, the company’s board announced that the founder and chief executive was “taking time off” from his role.

For almost two years, couches have been offices. Colleagues are instant message avatars. And a work force that had shocking changes imposed on it has reconsidered its basic assumptions about how people treat each other in corporate life.

“The tolerance for dealing with jerky bosses has decreased,” observed Angelina Darrisaw, chief executive of the firm C-Suite Coach, who saw a spike of interest in her executive coaching services last year. “You can’t just wake up and lead people,” she added. “Companies are thinking about how do we make sure our managers are actually equipped to manage.”