Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call • Hacker News Board

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#81

Post by newfonewhodis » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

0des wrote: post #12

Comment's gone now, but a video was posted: game_the0ry 5 minutes ago | prev | next [–] Video -- https://youtu.be/M8RV8E01HO8 EDIT: After watching the video, somehow the vest makes it even more offensive. I don't know why, maybe someone smarter than me knows.

Wow this guy comes off as a jerk that I would not want to work for.

"Last time I did this I cried. This time I hope to be stronger".

This is not about you - the CEO who has taken no direct responsibility except for empty words.

The first half of this video seems like "I know you are losing your job and that's a sacrifice I have to make."

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#82

Post by GoToRO » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

Kye wrote: post #10

bronco21016 wrote: post #7

I know it’s just an anecdote but as a customer I kind of believe this. I just completed a transaction with them that had to be extended beyond the rate lock window. For about 10 days there was a daily back and forth where they asked me to provide some documentation. I would provide the requested documentation and about 12 hours later I would receive a task of uploading the same required documentation. The document wa…

Assuming it's true... 900 employees: 1: stealing wages 2: being able to do so 3: doing that rather than their jobs Is a systemic issue. It had to start long before almost a thousand people decided to commit a crime. Assuming it's true. I tend to not trust framing that comes from the top end of a power imbalance. edit: This isn't Twitter. Don't stop at 1 and decide you read enough to go off on someone. Read the entire…

Just fyi, in Romania the wage is a worker’s right, so they can’t ask their money back no matter what.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#83

Post by thinkingkong » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:34 PM UTC

This is a management failure through and through. Whoever is running customer success and support is at least more responsible for that kind of a situation if the accusations about productivity are true.

Its simply not possible for people to hide with that level of systematic underperformance if they have the tools to measure it and the goals are clear and transparent. If you take span of control into account, this means at least 3-4 layers of management werent monitoring performance. At all.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#84

Post by egeozcan » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

omnicognate wrote: post #46

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

Call them individually. It's not the fact it was done by zoom that's surprising/unusual, it's the fact it was done en masse.

And they had to hear the CEO say he cried the first time he did this, without knowing what it is about. Why is he talking about his feelings? Perhaps his assistants were fired too so there weren't anyone to check his speech? Crazy.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#85

Post by bko » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

rvnx wrote: post #53

bko wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should probably be handled one by one via Zoom with the persons immediate manager and a representative from HR.

No, because once you let the first person know on their 1:1 meeting there will be miscommunication / rumours, and everybody is going to be somewhat aware. However some people are going to have 1st party information, and others have heard of the rumours, and those people will feel offended to not have been made aware like everyone else.

This is how it happens normally in non-covid world. There is no reason you should fire everyone publicly by the CEO, likely someone the employee never interacts with. The person also needs to know the next steps, for instance if they'll get paid of for vacation days, how to sign up for Cobra (if in the US), etc. You can cut off access prior to notice. Ideally they would all be done within a short period.

I've been around when a firm did a mass layoff. It's unpleasant and of course there are rumors and of course people are offended, but this is the correct way to handle it.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#86

Post by pixelgeek » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

I would also like to point out that there is no actual proof that there was the type of employee shenanigans he talks about.

He also says

"The 43-year-old CEO said that the “market has changed” and that the company had to lose weight in order to remain agile enough to adapt to the evolving housing market, which appears to be cooling after a pandemic-boosted boom."

So maybe the 'people stealing time' comment is just an excuse so he doesn't feel bad about cutting so many people?

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#87

Post by jonathankoren » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

dahak27 wrote: post #58

toyg wrote: post #25

"Dumb dolphins"? Hey, dolphins are some of the smarter animals out there... That's an ignorant remark.

Dolphins are notoriously imprudent mortgage lenders though

They also have a habit of blowing all their money on instant lottery tickets.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#88

Post by sailingparrot » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

bronco21016 wrote: post #7

I know it’s just an anecdote but as a customer I kind of believe this. I just completed a transaction with them that had to be extended beyond the rate lock window. For about 10 days there was a daily back and forth where they asked me to provide some documentation. I would provide the requested documentation and about 12 hours later I would receive a task of uploading the same required documentation. The document wa…

> but if there’s any truth to these employees essentially stealing wages from their employer then they’re lucky they’re just being fired and not being prosecuted.

Do you think the company just happened to be extremely unlucky and only hired dishonest employees?

If your company is at a stage where your support employees are only working 2 hours a day, and where a customer cannot get support for what they need in less that 10 days, it's an issue with the management and the organisation, unable to provide motivation to their employees, or the condition they need to work effectively, it's not bad luck with hiring.

And thinking that just firing those people is going to solve the issue is burying their head in the sand. Maybe the ones that didn't get fired will work a bit harder in the short term, driven by fear, but on the long term it can only get ever more demoralizing.

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#89

Post by matt--f » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

DangerousPie wrote: post #20

I know this sounds horrible but in the days of covid and working from home, what are companies supposed to do if they have to lay off large amounts of people? Make them all risk their health to come to an in-person event, only to be fired? Drive to every employee's house to fire them in person? It obviously sucks but I don't see how, in 2021, this is any different from the kind of thing that would happen all the time…

The company I used to work for, made us all drive into the office and then fired us all last November. It was just after a lockdown here in the UK

Re: Better.com CEO fires 900 employees on Zoom call

#90

Post by werds » Mon, Dec 06, 2021, 4:36 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #11

bronco21016 wrote: post #7

I know it’s just an anecdote but as a customer I kind of believe this. I just completed a transaction with them that had to be extended beyond the rate lock window. For about 10 days there was a daily back and forth where they asked me to provide some documentation. I would provide the requested documentation and about 12 hours later I would receive a task of uploading the same required documentation. The document wa…

Back office (paperwork reviews and processing) was/is done in India, hence the time zone latency. They tried to make up for it with the web app, but mortgage banking relies on too many people processes (title, survey, appraisal, underwriting [even with automated underwriting and “Day One Certainty”] etc) to wring enough efficiencies to scale in a SaaSy sort of way. I was in the middle of a refi with them during this…

where did you go instead? i was halfway through uploading all my stuff to Better