Better.Com Continues To Be On A Firing Spree

After firing around 900 employees over a zoom call in December 2021, then laying off nearly 2,000 employees in March 2022 and around 1,000 in April 2022, digital mortgage company Better.com has done it again.

Better.com is conducting its fourth round of layoffs, as per a report in TechCrunch.

The latest layoffs reportedly affect all departments. The report mentioned that a list containing the names of some people who would be let go in a layoff scheduled for today, i.e. August 26th, was leaked internally on Tuesday, August 23rd. This leak reportedly led to those employees being “immediately terminated” three days early, according to a Blind post and to information provided by some of those affected workers.

However it is unclear at this time how many people in total will be laid off in this fourth round, but one impacted worker estimated that it would be “at least 250 or more” and that they “will all be from the U.S. side.” Another source reportedly said the company seemed to be “going for higher corporate salaries.” 

“We’re making prudent decisions to adjust to market dynamics so that we can continue to serve our customers for the long-term,” as per a spokesperson in Better.com, the report mentioned. 

Now, to add more to the misery of the employees, the company is said to have rolled out a new 'Leave of absence' (LOA) policy that “dramatically” reduces the amount of leave team members are eligible for. The new policy was effective immediately, according to documents shared with TechCrunch. Those same documents indicate that for those already on paid leave, the updated policies will be effective as of October 1st 2022. 

As per the report, a spokesperson said that the move was designed to “protect” the company and “be smart” about its future, adding “We’ve taken a look at our policies where we’re overspending and have decided to reduce areas to better align with industry standards.”

The report mentioned that Better.com, along with other mortgage companies catering to home buyers, has been hit hard by the increased mortgage interest rates and challenging macro environment, besides the questionable actions of its CEO and co-founder, Vishal Garg.