Twitter experiences a wave of resignations in response to Musk’s “hardcore” ultimatum, and the company closes its offices until November 21
- ByStartupStory | November 19, 2022
Thus concludes another another eventful week at Twitter, which is getting destroyed and degenerating into anarchy. Elon Musk probably had no idea how badly it would backfire when he gave Twitter employees an email ultimatum: either commit to a new “hardcore” culture at a new Twitter 2.0, or accept severance pay of three months. The majority of workers joined the social media company’s mass resignations, opting not to work “long hours at high intensity.” As a result, Twitter disabled badge access and shut down all of its office buildings. Till November 21, the offices will be closed.
As odd as it may seem, the following is accurate: Musk’s “hardcore” reset to create a new Twitter 2.0 was not well welcomed, and as a result, hundreds, if not thousands, of Twitter employees made a mass resignation decision in response to his ultimatum. According to an internal email, the new CEO and owner of Twitter set a deadline of 5 PM ET by which staff members had to indicate via a Google form whether they planned to remain at the company or quit. Musk stated that “only excellent accomplishment will yield a passing grade.” The new “hardcore” reset makes no mention of increased pay as compensation for “higher intensity” work for longer periods of time, and Musk is evasive about the metrics that will determine what counts as “exceptional performance” – it is likely to be at the whims of the bile. Considering that Twitter’s employees’ performance and contributions over the past 15 years have made Twitter one of the top social networking platforms. An employee wrote on Slack, “I’m not clicking the button.” “Twitter 1.0 is when my watch expires. Twitter 2.0 is not something I’m interested in. A little more than 3/4 of the remaining employees submitted their resignations, according to Fortune reporter Kylie Robison. This includes several “critical” engineering teams, such as the team responsible for maintaining Twitter’s core system libraries, as well as staff members working in other crucial areas, raising concerns that a smaller headcount might cause Twitter’s content moderation to deteriorate even more. With Musk’s recent mass layoffs of around half of Twitter’s 7500 employees and the several workers who were fired for disparaging or criticising the new Chief Twit, there were only about 2,900 people working for the company at the time of the deadline. By the end of the day, this might drop to 2000, and by the middle of the month, Twitter’s staff will have decreased by 88% since Musk became the new owner if the 75% of employees who submitted resignation letters decide to depart.
According to persons familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity, members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety team were also debating a mass resignation. Another worker elected to quit and commented, “I’m glad to know I have the choice to leave.” I’m not going to use Twitter exclusively. Another Twitter employee lamented that “it seems like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving.” No matter how hard the people who are still there try, Twitter will find it very difficult to recover from this.
According to Zoe Schiffer, Managing Editor of Platformer, “Twitter just told staff that effective immediately, all office buildings are temporarily shuttered and badge access is prohibited.” Musk and his team are “terrified” that “employees are going to damage the company,” Schiffer added. Additionally, they are still attempting to determine which Twitter employees need to have access blocked. This development also comes shortly after Musk gave Twitter employees a small break by allowing those who chose to work remotely to do so as long as their managers felt they were “excellently contributing.” Musk issued a warning: “Any manager who falsely asserts that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be fired from the company.”
Follow Startup Story
Related Posts
