In yet one more update to the massive trainwreck set off by Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, some employees said this week that they found out they were let go when severance checks started appearing on payroll.
The Better.com Zoom Call Heard Around The World:
Garg and the digital mortgage lender first went viral when, in December, the chief executive fired over 900 workers in a single Zoom call.
As the SoftBank-backed startup had spent the pandemic on a hiring spree, the callous terminations spurred global outrage and multiple executives resigned in protest.
While Garg initially apologized for "blundering the execution" and took a short leave of absence, he eventually returned to lead the company as it faced both a publicity crisis and fluctuation in the real estate market amid expectation of when the Fed will raise interest rates.
By March, news spread that Better.com was planning to fire another 4,000 of its employees across the U.S. and India. Most are in sales and operations and make up around half of the company's 8,000-plus workforce.
Better.com
'No Email, No Call, Nothing'
The lessons from the earlier termination and worldwide disgust clearly haven't sunk in, though.
Some employees are now reporting that they learned of being let go only when, on March 8, they saw severance payments in the Better.com payroll app.
"Better Layoffs have started," one worker, whose identity is being kept private to avoid potential repercussion, told reporter Mary Ann Azevedo of TechCrunch. "Severance showing in our Workday app (which is payroll) as of 12 AM respective time zones. No email, no call, nothing. This was handled disgustingly."
The company was reportedly planning to announce layoffs on March 9. After news of the layoffs started leaking, the company reportedly deleted some of those checks from the accounts. Better.com had previously promised laid off employees 60 to 80 days of severance and three months of COBRA health care coverage.
"Leadership remained absolutely silent, never acknowledged anything in regards to layoffs," the employee told TechCrunch. "They still haven't."
Better.com had gone from a valuation of roughly $4 billion in November 2020 to over $6 billion in the spring of 2021. Most recently, SoftBank and blank-check company Aurora Acquisition Corp. gave the digital mortgage lender $750 million amid its plans to go public as a SPAC.
Only after news of the layoffs broke did Better.com CFO Kevin Ryan send a company-wide email about "volatility in the interest rate environment and refinancing market."
"Unfortunately, that means we must take the difficult step of streamlining our operations further and reducing our workforce in both the U.S. and India in a substantial way," the email read.
