Detroit-based fintech platform and top mortgage lender Rocket Companies confirmed that it trimmed roughly 2% of its workforce after the company’s acquisition of online real estate brokerage Redfin was completed.
The announcement came 10 days after the official close of the acquisition, which was announced July 1. Rocket is one of, if not the, largest employers in the Detroit area. According to the Detroit Regional Chamber, Rocket had 14,109 full-time employees there as of July 2022.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Rocket provided its head count on Dec. 31, 2024, “as of when we employed approximately 14,263 team members in the United States and Canada.” Other sources including the Detroit Free Press place the figure slightly lower at 14,200.
That would mean the workforce reduction affected about 285 individuals — unless the 2% total refers to combined Redfin-Rocket employee totals. Redfin noted it had a workforce of 4,778 as of Dec. 31, 2024, which, if part of the total accounted for, could mean this workforce reduction involved up to about 380 employees.
The larger figure does seem the likely scenario, since Rocket specified the 2% reduction was to "streamline teams." According to the company, the move came after it identified redundancies among its employees following the Redfin merger.
“On Friday, July 11, Rocket announced a workforce reduction impacting about 2% of our team. Following the Redfin acquisition, we carefully reviewed our combined structure, identified overlapping roles, and made the difficult decision to streamline teams,” Rocket Companies said in an emailed statement.
“These decisions weren’t made lightly,” the statement emphasized. “They reflect change needed to build a focused organization for the future.”
Further, Rocket noted that affected individuals got three months’ worth of severance pay as well as an additional amount based on their time put in with the company, with that latter particularly affecting long-term employees. Benefits were extended for “up to” a year.
“Impacted team members were provided a comprehensive package that includes 12 weeks of severance pay plus one additional week for each year of service, continued benefits for up to 12 months, and personalized transition support such as career coaching and job search assistance,” the company stated.
