Side to Trim 10 Staffers From Employee Roster

White-label brokerage Side has made a round of job cuts this week, The Real Deal has learned.

“Ten people were notified that we will be parting ways with them in the coming weeks,” Side representative Katherine Mechling wrote in an email Nov. 29. “Our support levels will not be impacted.”

Mechling did not identify which Side departments employed the staffers who were laid off.

The San Francisco-headquartered Side has faced job cuts several times in the past 18 months. In May, Side confirmed it laid off 12 people from its sales department. In October 2022, it laid off an unspecified number of people because of technological “improvements” which made operations more efficient, “as well as consideration of the broader macroeconomic climate.”

In June 2022, the company cut 10 percent of its workforce. In an email to employees, CEO Guy Gal wrote, “We expanded the team faster than we could train, support and develop everyone to meet the demands of changing roles and processes.”

Side’s 2023 cuts took place after it hired Stephen Capezza to serve as its president to drive national growth.

The white-label brokerage started business in 2017 with the pitch that it would handle back office business for residential agencies, which would give the agents more time for sales and to develop their own brand in the market. Side works with more than 500 real estate firms such as Amalfi Estates in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades section and Livel Real Estate headquartered in Laguna Beach.

Side is just one of many real estate companies cutting employees during a down market. In September, proptech company Divvy Homes laid off 95 employees. In June, Better.com’s mortgage department said it was going to lay off an unspecified number of workers. In February, high marquee boutique real estate firm The Agency laid off 15 people.

Compass also started 2023 with a layoff round where an unspecified number of people were let go in January.