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

Another employee was disheartened to be sacked soon after his birthday.

“I just turned 26 and I never imagined being laid off would be my birthday gift. But as I said to a rep on my team this morning: “It’s part of the journey of life. Obstacles don’t break us, they make us stronger. It’s the obstacles that lead us on the path to greatness,” Hiren Gihwala wrote.

He has now started a spreadsheet adding all details of laid-off employees to build connections and find jobs. Read his post here.

As Better.com lays off almost 50 per cent of its workforce as reported by TechCrunch, an employee took the task to bring to notice the obstacles of pregnant employees getting fired.

Eric Blattberg shared a post where an employee urged on CEO Vishal Garg and CFO Kevin Ryan on business communication platform Slack to provide extended medical benefits to all the pregnant women getting laid off on Women’s Day.

Read a section of the post here:

"Included in the laid-off crowd are women who are pregnant and trusted Better with their stability during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. March is also women's history month where we look back and honor the sacrifices of women. As a father of four, I can confidently say pregnancy is undoubtedly a sacrifice and that every person on Earth should be grateful that someone sacrificed for them to be here. It is my hope that you two men, Vishal and Kevin, will be noble and chivalrous men who in the face of adversity will still reach out to protect those most vulnerable among us.

These women who are pregnant are 'protected' from discrimination. That’s what all the training will tell you, but interviewing while pregnant tells a different story. These women are in a high stress situation which can negatively affect their pregnancy. I implore you to shield them in some capacity so as not to have a reaching effect on their unborn children.

Read: Better.com's Vishal Garg plans next layoffs, over 3,000 employees in India, US: report

Extend their medical coverage on an individual basis to carry them to term and cover postnatal care… Consider how you would want your significant other to be treated in a similar situation.”

Read the full post below:

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 Vishal Garg.

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 Amanda Bullard whose computer shut down in the middle of a meeting.

Employees said in posts that they were already mentally preparing for the lay-offs. A woman said she had left her decade long job at a bank to join Better.com only to be laid off 14 months later.

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