According to an internal email, online mortgage lender Better.com is offering employees an agreement to leave their positions and take a severance package voluntarily.
"As many of you know, the uncertain mortgage market conditions of the last couple of weeks have created an exceedingly challenging operating environment for many companies in our industry," said the email, posted online by TechCrunch. "This is requiring many of them to make difficult decisions in order to sustain their businesses. Despite ongoing efforts to streamline our operations and ensure a strong path forward for the company, Better is no exception."
The company offered employees 60 days of severance pay and continuing healthcare coverage if they voluntarily opted to leave the company. Most employees seeking an exit from the lender have until April 15, while some seem to have until the end of the month.
The offer comes after a round of layoffs last month and a December Zoom call
Morale appears to be extremely low at Better.com, with anonymous employees claiming that CEO Garg "led by fear." Garg has previously received scrutiny for a leaked email in which he berated employees. In March, thousands of employees received severance checks early and without warning, with the layoffs remaining unacknowledged by executives.
Better.com has been in a rough spot financially as the pandemic fueled housing market boom cools, with December's catastrophic Zoom call marking a critical turning point for the web lender. The delay in the merger has left the company without expected funding that might have helped it stay buoyant. According to sources within the company, the website is losing "around $50 million a month."
