Better.com continues to be the poster child for HR screw-ups, laying off 4,000 employees who only found out when their termination checks arrived.
Better.com found itself in hot water when CEO Vishal Garg laid off 900 employees in a Zoom conference call, leading to multiple high-profile execs leaving in protest, and Garg taking a leave of absence. Unfortunately, the company appears to have learned nothing from the ordeal.
While it had been reported Better.com planned on laying off an additional 4,000 personnel, according to *TechCrunch,* the employees in question did not find out until their termination checks arrived. The confusion evidently stemmed from the announcement originally being planned for March 8, before being pushed back to March 9. Unfortunately, the payroll system was not updated to reflect the delay, and proceeded to send the impacted employees their severance.
Once executives realized the problem, some people’s severance checks were quickly withdrawn, although there has still not been any official acknowledgement of the layoffs, severance pay, or anything else for that matter.
“Better Layoffs have started,” one employee told TC. “Severance showing in our Workday app (which is payroll) as of 12 AM respective time zones. No email, no call, nothing. This was handled disgustingly.
“Leadership remained absolutely silent, never acknowledged anything in regards to layoffs. They still haven’t.”
Better.com has truly provided one of the worst examples of how to treat employees of any major corporation in recent memory. Some already believed this latest round of layoffs may have been the result of Garg’s actions, as the company struggled to attract new business, thanks to its tarnished reputation. It’s a safe bet the company’s fortunes are not going to improve anytime soon, nor should they until it starts living up to its name and does better.
