The mortgage lender Better.com announced another round of layoffs Tuesday after cutting roughly 900 people late last year in a mass firing over Zoom that drew swift backlash.
Better.com was one of the pandemic's early business winners, quadrupling in size when mortgage rates were low -- but it has become better known for bungling its approach to downsizing. The company spurred an outcry for firing 900 workers on Zoom in December, and again in March, when roughly 3,000 jobs were cut. It erroneously deposited severance payments into some workers' accounts before notifying them that they were being fired.
During its latest round of cuts, Better.com pointed to turbulence in the housing market as a reason for the contraction. The company has not said how many employees were included in the cuts, or disclosed the total number of people it will employ after this downsizing.
"As the mortgage environment in which we operate continues to indicate further declines ahead, we have to do more to ensure Better is appropriately positioned, financially and operationally, to navigate this changing environment," Richard Benson-Armer, the company's head of human resources, performance and culture, told staff Tuesday morning in an email that was viewed by The New York Times.
U.S. mortgage rates rose to 5% for the first time in more than a decade, introducing new pressures to the housing market and a new burden on prospective homebuyers already beleaguered by rising prices.
Better.com's latest round of job cuts, the company said, aims to put it on the "pathway to profitability."
After criticism for its previous handling of staff cuts, the company appears to have tried to approach the process more sensitively.
Benson-Armer's memo said all affected employees would receive individual calls, a minimum of 60 days' compensation, up to three months of health coverage through COBRA and assistance in their job searches. Earlier this month, Better.com offered some employees the option to leave voluntarily with 60 days of severance.
Better.com brought in Benson-Armer, a former McKinsey partner, to lead human resources after an independent investigation of the company culture, an inquiry that followed the backlash faced by Chief Executive Officer Vishal Garg for the December layoffs on Zoom.