Elon Musk had given to Twitter employees an ultimatum: agree to work with an “extremely hardcore” culture, or would accepted theirs resignation. It seems that in hundreds have chosen the second option, refusing to work in his “Twitter 2.0″. And on the social platform they have created a hashtag where you can post the last photo from your desk and say goodbye to your office. While it seems that Musk is meeting with employees considered essential to ask them to stay. And he’s blocked access to the offices until next week.
Hundreds of resignations after Musk’s ultimatum to employees
As soon as he arrived at Twitter’s offices, Musk dissolved the board of directors and dismissed the CEO along with some of the executives, assuming independent control of the company. He then he announced the dismissal of half of the employees of the social network less than a week after taking on the admin role. In recent days, while the advertisers dropped out the social network fired an employee who publicly corrected him with tweets. And just two days ago, he gave his employees an ultimatum: either they accept his new style and long hours in the office, or they can find another job.
Employees could answer “yes” to accept Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore work culture,” or “no” to receive three months of severance. We are not exasperating the situation: there really was a online form with two options to decide the future of Twitter employees. Several employees have opted for the second item.
A second exodus from Twitter?
At the moment Twitter has not released any official figures regarding the number of employees leaving. Before last night’s ultimatum expired, of Twitter’s 7,500 employees in the pre-Musk era about 2,900 remained. But as of this morning, it seems that a large number of employees, “hundreds” according to The Verge, they have opted for the good exit.
While statistically unclear, one way to gauge how many people are leaving is the hashtag #LoveWhereYouWorked their Twitterr. Countless employees are reporting that after years of working for the company they are leaving their offices for the last time.
Also because it seems that Musk has decided that all Twitter employees they will no longer be able to enter the offices until next week, Monday 21 November. The BBC reports that Twitter has suspended all badges, a move that may stem from the fact that too many employees are leaving the company. One employee told the BBC: ‘It wouldn’t surprise me if, when the dust settles, Twitter will have fewer than 2,000 employees.”
The resignation of Twitter employees causes Musk to change his position
Another Twitter staffer said: “It looks like all the people who made this place amazing are leaving.” Despite Musk himself saying “The best people are staying, so I’m not super worried.”
But according to the New York Times, privately the situation is quite different. The Times reports that Musk and his advisers are having personal talks with members of the staff considered “indispensable” for daily operations. And it seems that Musk is also reconsidering the smart working issue, after saying that employees can “go back to the office or find another job”. Now it seems managers can grant smart working, as long as they are responsible of employee performance. As we assume are all managers in every office in the world, smart or not.
Meanwhile it appears that Twitter’s HR departments are trying to find new engineers to continue operations on the site. It is not clear what the offers are, but the need to have staff to manage the social network seems evident. Also for Elon Musk, whether he wants to acknowledge it publicly or not.