In the past In four months, digital mortgage lender Better.com has conducted mass layoffs not once but twice. The company has also made mass layoffs not once but twice.
First, on December 1, Better.com lay off about 900 employees via a Zoom video call has become commonplace. It’s hardly the first company to pull people out of Zoom during a global pandemic. But it was the way it was handled that offended many people.
CEO and co-founder Vishal Garg has been widely criticized for being cold and lacking in enthusiasm in his approach. He also insulted the injury in the following days publicly accuse affected workers “steal” from their colleagues and customers by being inefficient.
Above all, just one day prior toCFO Kevin Ryan sent an email to employees saying the company will have $1 billion on balance sheet on that weekend. In the weeks following the layoffs, Garg”sorry“And it took a month”Vacation“, the employee details how he”led by fear,And a number of senior executives and two board members have resigned.
Then, on March 8, the company estimated to lay off about 3,000 of the company’s remaining 8,000 employees in the US and India and “accidentally paid severance pay too early.” Many workers said they initially found out through severance checks in their Workday accounts, the payroll software the company uses. When the executives realized their mistake, those employees said, they deleted the checks from some people’s Workday accounts. According to an affected employee who wished to remain anonymous, the severance check arrived without any communication from the company.
When we look back at these two layoffs, it’s clear that we can all agree on one thing: Better.com could have handled both incidents. better. Obviously, firing is hard under any circumstances but sometimes necessary – especially in times like these, when we see Startups consider layoffs again as a way to control cash consumption and attract new capital. We spoke with a trio of HR experts, who offered some advice on how to make layoffs less painful for all involved.
“This is an example to all companies of what not to do,” said Lisa Calick, director of Human Resources Consulting Services at Wiss & Company, which tells about Better.com’s handling of the situation. “Information regarding involuntary terminations should always be handled with sensitivity, respect, and consideration for the individuals affected.”
