Computer abruptly shut down: Better.com employees recount mass layoffs

Better.com CEO Vishal Garg had apologised for his manner of handling layoffs last year. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

After Better.com’s infamous Zoom call firing last year, the digital mortgage company is now shutting down employees’ computers abruptly in its latest mass lay-offs, former staff has claimed.

Over 4,000 employees, including pregnant women and expectant parents, were laid off by the company this week in an ill-timed and widely criticised move on International Women’s Day.

Employees have taken to LinkedIn to share harrowing experiences of the lay-off process with several employees saying their computer just shut down in the middle of work.

“Our computer systems just stopped working and automatically got shutdown and within blink of eyes I found that I was also one of the unlucky persons to be laid off. I am feeling numb to say this but this is the fact and we have to accept it,” Kaushik Shome, an Indian ex-employee at the US company wrote on LinkedIn and a shared a photo of his computer screen. He was denied access abruptly, the screen shows.

“I did not find out through our payroll system, my bank account showing a severance check, or a phone call from HR. My computer just shut down in the middle of me responding to one of my clients,” another former employee Amanda Bullard wrote on LinkedIn.

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Better.com employees, in gracious posts, thanked the company for the opportunity and even said they understand the reason behind layoffs. What many complained about was the timing, and the execution that comes after the widely-criticised Zoom call sacking preceded by CEO Vishal Garg.

Read more: Pregnant women among Better.com employees sacked in Vishal Garg's Women's Day mass layoffs

Indian-origin Garg returned to his post as CEO after a month long break after the controversial Zoom call where he laid off 9 per cent of his company’s workforce. The 43-year-old had then stepped down and apologised for his manner of handling layoffs.

This time too, employees complained of no proper intimation.

“I understand that Better needed to do this to survive. What I don’t understand is how executives could allow it to be done so poorly… twice,” wrote a former employee.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York, Better.com offers mortgage and insurance products to homeowners through its online platform.