Better.com's second mass layoff leaked through early severance payslips

On March 8, 2022, employees of digital mortgage lender Better.com discovered they were being laid off by opening the company's payroll app: severance payslips had appeared in Workday overnight, a day before the cuts were to be announced. 'Severance showing in our Workday app as of 12 AM respective time zones. No email, no call, nothing. This was handled disgustingly,' one employee told TechCrunch. When executives realized the mistake, they deleted the checks from some people's accounts - still without any communication.

The layoffs had been planned for March 8, were moved to March 9 after the date leaked, then were pre-empted by the payslip error. About 3,000 of Better's 8,000 employees in the US and India were let go - 'just over 3,000,' a spokesperson confirmed - mostly in sales and operations, especially the refinance teams, with severance of 60 to 80 days' pay. The announcement email came from CFO Kevin Ryan, not CEO Vishal Garg, who was still reeling from the December Zoom-call firing of 900 employees; Ryan cited the need 'to adjust to volatility in the interest rate environment and refinancing market.'

Higher rates had gutted refinancing demand and Better needed to become a 'purchase' business for new loans, the company said. Staff told TechCrunch that Garg's antics - insulting staff and investors, a reported history of verbal abuse - had damaged the company's reputation and made it harder to attract the customers the pivot needed.

About 3,000 of 8,000 staff cut, most in sales and refinance operations, learning of it from payslips with no communication

Severance payslips were rolled out in payroll a full day before any announcement, with no message accompanying them.

Executives' fix was deleting some payslips, which told affected employees nothing about their actual status.

Leadership stayed silent through the leak; the first official word was the CFO's email sent after the fact.

It was the second chaotic mass layoff in three months, compounding a reputation already hurting customer acquisition.

How you execute a hard decision is itself a decision: a leaked payroll file cost more trust than the layoffs did.

Better said existing non-compete provisions would not be enforced but non-disclosure provisions remained. Ryan thanked staff and said 'our strongest days lie ahead.' The cuts concentrated on refinance teams as the company pivoted toward purchase mortgages amid rising rates.