Online mortgage company Better.com is laying off thousands of its employees. The layoffs come months after the company fired 900 employees in a Zoom call.
The latest round of layoffs will affect more than a third of Better.com’s 8,000 member workforce. The company is laying off 3,000 people in the United States and India.
The Zoom layoffs in December generated a wave of negative publicity for Better.com, particularly after Chief Executive Officer Vishal Garg insulted those let go on the anonymous reviewing site Blind. Garg accused the people laid off of “stealing from you and stealing from our customers.”
Several executives reportedly resigned in the wake of the controversy. Garg later apologized and took time off. He remains at the helm of the company.
According to Tech Crunch, the latest layoffs were supposed to be effective on Tuesday, but the company pushed it back after news leaked. Before some employees realized they were being let go, however, severance checks posted to their accounts on Better.com’s payroll app, thus effectively informing them that they were being let go.
Better.com confirmed that some employees inadvertently learned they were being laid off due to the mistake.
“Despite careful planning, a small number of employees were unintentionally notified of their separation from the company ahead of schedule when severance payment information was made available through either our internal payroll system or their financial institutions,” Better.com told the Daily Dot via email.
“This was certainly not the form of notification that we intended and stemmed from an effort to ensure that impacted employees received severance payments as quickly as possible.”
The company added that it’s calling affected employees directly, at which time it will provide them with information about the “financial, healthcare, and transition support Better will be providing.”
Better.com Chief Financial Officer and interim President Kevin Ryan informed employees of the impending layoffs in an email that has since been posted to Blind and Better.com’s website.
Ryan’s email said former employees will receive 60-80 days severance, medical benefits through the end of the month, and help finding a new job. As is common, the message attempted to cast the layoffs in a positive light.
“Every one of us, those leaving and those remaining, have played a critical role in building Better. Our strongest days lie ahead,” Ryan wrote.
People, including those identified as current employees of Better.com, took a less rosy view of the layoffs in comments on Blind.
Some used disparaging terms to describe Ryan and Garg and the company in general. One who said they work in the engineering department announced that they planned to look for a new job.
Several Blind users from other companies suggested job leads for former Better.com staffers.
