Layoff Announcement from Better.com

Better
BetterWolf

Better

BIO
Living on a ranch with my husband
BetterWolf
Mar 8 1,026 Comments

Hi folks, BetterWolf here! I posted last night that layoffs are coming @ Better.com. Here's the announcement that just went out. Over 4,000 of my co-workers were let go today! FU Vishal Garg.

Team,

We have an important and difficult announcement today, and the leadership team and I want you to hear it from us first.

As you know, the residential real estate market has been changing rapidly, and our entire industry is facing a dramatic drop in origination volume due to rising interest rates. It is clear - after careful, comprehensive review - that we will need to do more to ensure a strong path forward for the company and the vital work we are all doing to make homeownership more accessible for everyone.

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. We have huge opportunities ahead to grow and to serve, but we must adjust to volatility in the interest rate environment and refinancing market to get there successfully. This decision is driven heavily by the headwinds affecting the residential real estate market; it is in no way reflection on the personal performance of any departing team members, all of whom have contributed to Better's success. While it does not make this any easier other companies across the mortgage industry (both old and new) have had to make similar decisions over the last 2 months.

Across functions, specialists and offices, we have an incredibly talented team at Better, and losing valued colleagues is never something we wish to pursue. We do not take this decision lightly and want to let you know about the important steps we are taking in the coming days to support the transition for coworkers leaving Better. We are also taking steps to ensure seamless service for our customers.

All Affected Employees Will Be Contacted Personally

We are doing everything possible to personally reach all employees whose jobs will be eliminated to discuss this with them first. Anyone most directly affected by this announcement should receive a call over the coming days from a member of the Better leadership team. We will direct these communications to the personal phone and email we have on file. Following that call, each affected employee will receive an email to their personal email address from HR with additional details about transition support.

Affected employees will be eligible for a minimum of 60 working days - and as much as 80 working days - of cash severance payments. We have made sure that this financial support for departing employees is at or beyond what is required by law. Those affected directly by this change will receive details via email.

Sincerely

Kevin and the Better Management Team

# Better.com #bre #betterrealestate #better #layoffs

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TOP 1,026 Comments
  • Shopify / Eng
    tonkify📉

    Go to company page Shopify Eng

    tonkify📉
    They should change name to bitter
    Mar 8 5
  • Plaid
    oobsy

    Go to company page Plaid

    oobsy
    Who would want to stay given how mismanaged the company had to have been to need 60+% layoffs over 3 months?

    Seems like anyone with half a brain cell would be able to determine that the nature of mortgage origination numbers is that they’re highly cyclical/variable over time, and account accordingly in expansion plans…

    “other companies across the mortgage industry (both old and new) have had to make similar decisions over the last 2 months”

    Can anyone point to any other company that had to drop 60% of staff since December?
    Mar 8 9
    • Plaid
      oobsy

      Go to company page Plaid

      oobsy
      Yeah mr. hat, but this screams massive mismanagement. Their first layoffs hit while rates were still literally at their lowest point ever. And even now, we’re only at 4ish % which is still historically great. How did they stretch themselves so unsustainably thin in a mostly great market? Anyone who wants to be in this business needs to be able to weather rates far greater than 4%. Variability of rates over time is a given, not an unforeseen challenge.
      Mar 8
    • Apple / Eng
      Mr. Hat 🎩

      Go to company page Apple Eng

      Mr. Hat 🎩
      The majority of startups failing is because of the founders or bad product market fit- not because of rank and file employees.
      Yes, they screwed up, it isn’t easy to grow a business when the market reverses on you.
      Mar 8
  • Twitter
    bhSrtfd

    Go to company page Twitter

    bhSrtfd
    This level of negligent management should seriously lead to an investigation of fraud or fiscal misconduct. I hope the laid off employees can make a class action case or something.
    Mar 8 8
    • Meta
      Metamatess

      Go to company page Meta

      Metamatess
      For the person who asked why it’s negligent - the investigation should focus on whether there was a fraud to show growth so that they can lure investors. Other loan origination companies are not cutting staff 50% or not sure if I heard about any - so if the broad industry is doing fine this company has done something wrong
      Mar 9
    • Better
      BetterWolf

      Better

      BIO
      Living on a ranch with my husband
      BetterWolf
      OP
      Fantastic point! The truth will eventually come out!
      Mar 9
  • PwC
    irishchump

    Go to company page PwC

    irishchump
    LinkedIn had Better.com as one of Top 10 firms (#1) to work in 2021. How quickly things have changed !
    Mar 8 9
    • Better never had a money issue back then. We started over hiring in late 2020 , but they completely overdid it to an extreme in 2021. I started in office late 2019 and it was an awesome culture, things shifted during WFH & they started hiring anyone who wanted a job that was under qualified to deal with the biggest financial decision of someone’s life .. and culture greatly shifted from there
      Mar 8
    • Twitter
      bhSrtfd

      Go to company page Twitter

      bhSrtfd
      @okta even more reason to suspect they were just paying for rankings
      Mar 8
  • Amazon
    bgdfrt

    Go to company page Amazon

    bgdfrt
    I’m a new grad(this is my friends Id) who has a software engineer interview scheduled there next week. What should I do?
    Mar 8 13
    • OnDeck
      zpMp35

      Go to company page OnDeck

      zpMp35
      Engineering was not affected in layoffs
      Mar 9
    • Agree w/ @that ash - the experience within Product, Design, and Engineering is still pretty good, but I'd still strongly encourage looking at other options first if at all possible.

      Culture is pretty good, and the people are excellent. But Product direction is generally pretty bad: confusing, poorly defined initiatives, bad communication between teams, etc. Also we're really got that "Feature Factory" mentality at the moment, anything "cool" or long-term oriented like big experiments/refactoring/tech debt cleanup keep getting deprioritized. And that can only get worse now that the company is seriously struggling. I'm sure pretty much anyone NOT working on Features which immediately make $$ will be refocused.

      So not that bad on its own, but considering how good the market is, I think there are much, much better options out there.
      Mar 9