Early Severance Checks Informed Better.com Employees Of Their Firing

After Better.com CEO Vishal Garg made headlines over his mass firing of employees on Zoom late last year, it appears the digital mortgage lender is moving forward with more layoffs.   

Although layoffs were supposed to be announced by the company on March 9, an anonymous employee revealed that the firm “accidentally rolled out the severance payslips too early.”  

According to the employee, executives deleted the severance checks from some people’s Workday accounts once the mistake came to light. However, the checks were sent with no communication from the company.  

Following the payroll faux pas, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ryan sent out an email to employees stating that the company “had to adjust to volatility in the interest rate environment and refinancing market,” and had no choice but to let go of several thousand workers. 

Ryan added that the company would not enforce current non-compete provisions, but that non-disclosure agreements would remain in effect.  

Around 3,000 of the company’s 8,000 US and India employees are being fired. 

Those within sales, operations, and refinance teams are among the most impacted by the layoffs, with their severance packages reportedly being worth 60 to 80 day’s pay. 

The reputation of Better.com has been heavily scrutinized due to emerging reports that Garg insulted staff and investors. This is all in addition to the viral video of him firing 900 employees via Zoom just weeks before the holidays. 

This event led to the resignation of the company’s VP of communications Patrick Lenihan, Head of Public Relations Tanya Gillogley, and Head of Marketing Melanie Hahn, while Garg himself apologized and took a month-long hiatus.