Thus ends yet another dramatic week at Twitter, which continues to be run to the ground and devolve into chaos.
When Elon Musk sent an ultimatum to Twitter employees in an email to commit to a new âhardcoreâ culture at a new Twitter 2.0, or resign from their position and accept severance pay of three months, it is likely that he did not expect it to backfire so spectacularly. Most employees, choosing not to commit to âlong hours at high intensity,â got involved in the mass resignations from the social media company, which resulted in Twitter disabling badge access and closing all of its office buildings.
The offices will be closed till November 21.
As surprising as it sounds, this is true: Muskâs âhardcoreâ reset to build a new Twitter 2.0 was far from well received as hundreds â nearly thousands â of Twitter employees chose to resign en masse following his ultimatum. As per the internal email, the new Twitter owner and CEO had imposed a deadline of 5 PM ET, by which employees had to inform via a Google form whether they intended to stay at the company or leave. âOnly exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade,â Musk informed.
Considering the fact that it is the performance and contribution of Twitterâs employees over the past decade-and-a-half that made Twitter into one of the leading social networking platforms, the new âhardcoreâ reset mentions nothing about increased remuneration as recompense for âhigher intensityâ work for longer periods of time, and Musk remains vague about the metrics that will decide what counts as âexceptional performanceâ â it is likely to be at the whims of the billionaire, as usual – it is clear why most employees chose not to be any part of Muskâs Twitter 2.0.
âIâm not pressing the button,â an employee posted on Slack. âMy watch ends with Twitter 1.0. I do not wish to be part of Twitter 2.0.â According to Fortune reporter Kylie Robison, nearly 3/4th of the remaining employees tendered their resignations. This includes several âcriticalâ engineering teams â including the team that maintains Twitterâs core system libraries â and employees working in other crucial areas, leading to fears that a lesser headcount could result in the further devolution of Twitterâs content moderation.
What Iâm hearing from Twitter employees; It looks like roughly 75% of the remaining 3,700ish Twitter employees have not opted to stay after the âhardcoreâ email.
Even though the deadline has passed, everyone still has access to their systems.
— Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes) November 17, 2022
Including the mass purge that Musk had initiated recently â where he laid off about half of Twitterâs 7500-strong workforce, along with the dozens of employees who were fired for criticizing or mocking the new Chief Twit â Twitter had around 2,900 employees remaining before the deadline. This could dwindle to 2000 by the end of the day, and if the 75% who tendered their resignations choose to leave, then Twitterâs workforce will have shrunk by 88% ever since Musk took over as the new owner, and weâre barely halfway through the month.
Members of Twitterâs Trust and Safety team were discussing a mass resignation as well, according to people familiar with the matter and who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
âIâm delighted to know I have the option to leave,â another employee said as they chose to leave. âIâm not committing to hardcore Twitter.â âIt feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving,â another Twitter emloyee said. âIt will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be.â
âTwitter just alerted employees that effective immediately, all office buildings are temporarily closed and badge access is suspended,â tweeted Zoe Schiffer, Managing Editor, Platformer, adding that Musk and his team are âterrifiedâ that âemployees are going to sabotage the company. Also, they’re still trying to figure out which Twitter workers they need to cut access for.â
We're hearing this is because Elon Musk and his team are terrified employees are going to sabotage the company. Also, they're still trying to figure out which Twitter workers they need to cut access for.
— ZoĂ« Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) November 17, 2022
This development also comes soon after Musk allowed for a slight concession for Twitter employees, where he allowed those who opted to work remotely to continue doing so, if their managers determined they were making âan excellent contribution.â
âAny manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company,â Musk warned.