how to correctly Implement GetJsonAsync

Question

I am trying to make Blazor APP that returns Employees list but when trying to return the list using GetJsonAsync the following error appears ....

JsonException: '<' is an invalid start of a value. Path: $ | LineNumber: 1 | BytePositionInLine: 0.

Controller Files:

[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class EmployeesController : ControllerBase
{
    private readonly IEmployeeRepository employeeRepository;
    

    public EmployeesController(IEmployeeRepository employeeRepository)
    {
        this.employeeRepository = employeeRepository;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    public async Task<ActionResult> GetEmployees()
    {

        try
        {
            return Ok(await employeeRepository.GetEmployees());
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return StatusCode(StatusCodes.Status500InternalServerError
                   ,"Error retrieving data from the database");
            
        }

    }

Services Class:

    public async Task<IEnumerable<Employee>> GetEmployees()
    {
        return await httpClient.GetJsonAsync<Employee[]>("employees");
    }

Blazor Base Class:

 public class EmployeeListBase : ComponentBase
{

    [Inject]
    IEmployeeService EmployeeService { get; set; }

    

    public IEnumerable<Employee> Employees { get; set; }

    protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        Employees = (await EmployeeService.GetEmployees()).ToList();
    }


}