Twitter staff nearly decimated by Musk's 'extremely hardcore' demand

Posted:
in General Discussion edited November 2022
Minutes after the deadline for Twitter CEO Elon Musk's demand that engineers sign up for "extremely hardcore" working hours and conditions expired, offices are locked, access badges don't work, and concerns grow that World Cup traffic will kill the service.

Elon Musk mulls deal


On Friday, Musk sent an email to the 3,700 employees that remained of nearly 7,600 pre-buy that to launch Twitter 2.0, there would need to be a new focus on work. Specifically, Musk was demanding "hardcore" devotion to work, and long hours from everybody.

He set a deadline of Thursday evening to agree, or be laid off and take three months of severance pay on the way out the door. The deadline has passed, and the situation appears grim.

In multiple reports across the Internet, and ironically, Twitter, it appears that a large percentage of Twitter's workforce have rejected Musk's demand of longer, harder hours in service of the company.

In a report collated by The Verge, exiting employees are expecting the service to start breaking even more severely than it has as of late. The departures may be as high as 75% of the 3,700 remaining employees after two weeks of chaos.

What I'm hearing from Twitter employees; It looks like roughly 75% of the remaining 3,700ish Twitter employees have not opted to stay after the "hardcore" email.

Even though the deadline has passed, everyone still has access to their systems.

-- Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes)
If the 75% total is correct, that leaves about 900 employees remaining, versus the 7,600 that were working just two weeks ago.

Shortly after this was made public, Twitter locked the doors. AppleInsider has confirmed this with an employee who told us that they were staying only until they could pin down another development job.

NEW: Twitter just alerted employees that effective immediately, all office buildings are temporarily closed and badge access is suspended. No details given as to why.

-- Zo Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer)
The same employee told us that the action was initiated by Musk, to prevent sabotage to critical systems by disgruntled employees. Offices will re-open on November 21, and employees, both current and ex-, are being directed to not divulge critical information about the service.

Compounding the problem, the World Cup begins on November 20. Some of the service's highest posting rate has happened during prior World Cup tournaments, specifically just after a goal was scored, and when the match ends. We've been told that that period has historically been incredibly challenging for the company to keep the service functioning well.

"It feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving," one Twitter staffer told The Verge on Thursday evening. "It will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be."

On the evening of November 10, Twitter made the decision to activate the $8 Twitter Blue subscription that entitled purchasers to the same blue check mark that users that went through the verification sport. Overnight on Thursday into Friday, Twitter reinstated the "official" checkmark that it had previously launched and killed, and very shortly thereafter, disabled the ability to purchase Twitter Blue.

It's still unknown whether people who paid their $8 for the first month will revert to the old-style Twitter blue for their next billing period. Also not clear is why Twitter didn't retain the blue checkmark for verified accounts and implement a different color or shape for the paid subscriptions.

One day later, Musk sent his demand to employees about the extreme hours, and considerably more demanding working environment that he was mandating to make Twitter 2.0.

Read on AppleInsider
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 98
    I hope people flee Elon...
    OferdrdavidAlex_V9secondkox2blastdoorpulseimagesmagman1979tdknoxwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 98
    OferOfer Posts: 237unconfirmed, member
    It’s almost like he deliberately wants to destroy the service…
    Fred257bloggerblogdrdavidbaconstangAlex_VJaiOh819secondkox2blastdoorpulseimagesmagman1979
  • Reply 3 of 98
    lol, watching his public display of incompetence is hilarious. Rich people aren’t any more intelligent or talented, and we’re see more evidence of this tool having failed upward, from his family emerald mine wealth onward. He’s reached his Peter Principle junction. 
    drdavidOferbaconstangAlex_VAppleUfmyI9secondkox2blastdoorgeorge kaplanronnmagman1979
  • Reply 4 of 98
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    I ran across an idea on another site that made me think a bit. It goes like this:
    Musk is in hock for most of the $44bn.
    But if Twitter goes bankrupt he could be hoping to say it was unsalvageable, and walk away from the debt. 
    It would all depend on how the loan was written. If it’s to him personally, then he’s stuck. But if it was that the lender would own a share of Twitter, or if Twitter is on the hook, then it might work. 

    Hmmmmm……

    (How did he get into this mess? He shot his mouth off, the stock he owned went up and he was facing serious stock manipulation charges from the SEC. Trying to get out of that he ended up here.)
    edited November 2022 Anilu_777viclauyycAlex_V9secondkox2ravnorodomscstrrfwatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 6 of 98
    He’s sinking the company on purpose? Who knows 
    Alex_V9secondkox2ravnorodommagman1979williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 98
    It’s a sh!t show and I’m here for it. He’s a despicable person with a me me me outlook only.
    Anilu_777drdavidbaconstangAlex_VJaiOh819secondkox2ronnwilliamlondongraphicsguySpitbath
  • Reply 8 of 98
    Fred257 said:
    He’s sinking the company on purpose? Who knows 
    And who cares?
    baconstangAlex_VPhoenix3039secondkox2jimdreamworxwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 98
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,285member
    Since the Saudis and others remain co-investors, Elon is opening himself to litigation or worse find himself “Khashoggi-ed” by his behavior.  

    Honestly he should be surrounded by a phalanx of lawyers to check his behavior at all times.  Even if he is purposefully trying to destroy the company and avoid paying off a loan due to some theoretical bankruptcy protection provision he is still leaving himself open to catastrophic litigation.
    JaiOh819secondkox2blastdoorronnwatto_cobralolliver
  • Reply 10 of 98
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    I can imagine spillover effects on his other companies, as employees increasingly express dissatisfaction with working for Musk. The implications could be significant for the U.S. space program and Ukraine (via StarLink).
    baconstang9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 98
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I wish I had 44 billion to waste by killing a company. 
    JaiOh81Mauriziowatto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 98
    OferOfer Posts: 237unconfirmed, member
    JP234 said:
    Except for one HUGE difference: Tesla was an actual genius who could grasp advanced concepts and actually was responsible for some incredible inventions. Musk hasn’t invented a single thing. He’s bought his way into everything he takes credit for. Literally, not a single one of his “successes” is something that he himself invented or created.
    JaiOh819secondkox2numenoreanforegoneconclusionelijahgJP234ronnscstrrfstevenoztdknox
  • Reply 13 of 98
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    This just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. 

    I’ve had a few periods during my career that were very much like what Musk is demanding that his current employees agree to. The big difference was that I signed up for or signed on to taking it on and it was always my choice. Presenting it as an ultimatum is borderline cruelty to employees who’ve established themselves in a career path and demonstrated loyalty to a company. It’s now turned into a forced Hunger Games where you’re being asked to choose loyalty to Musk over everything in your life including your family and personal time. 

    Oh well, nobody ever said that working for someone else was ever going to be fair or considerate of your personal life or family. You have to establish that bar for yourself. 

    Incidentally, I do regret a lot of the time I gave to “the man” because at the end of the day, “the man” doesn’t really care about you as a person. Never has and never will. Plus, those years are often the best years of your life from a health and vibrancy standpoint. You cant bank time and even if you could it would have negative interest. 

    But you do what you have to do and don’t have the gift of retrospection when you’re in the trenches and trying to build your career and provide for your family and your future. Those folks who stay with Twitter are surely going to struggle with their decision, but there is a certain amount of solace to be found in seeing clearly what the real relationship is between themselves and their new boss. 

    Any HR bullshit about how valued they are as people and members of one big huggy team are vaporized in the stark reality that they are basically drones serving the Queen, which is what Musk is in this relationship. 

    If they stay on the working model going forward is “shut up and grab that oar you piece of overpaid garbage.” 

     
    Alex_VJaiOh81baconstangAndy.HardwakeCluntBaby92thtronnscstrrftdknoxstompy
  • Reply 14 of 98
    Not on Twitter.  Don't care about FIFA.

    It's Friday, yea!
    Phoenix303JaiOh819secondkox2watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 98
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    It’s very clear Elon wants them to leave. Get a hint people. Your new boss wants the garbage out! No more $500 lunches working at home on the company 
    9secondkox2CluntBaby92ravnorodomjimdreamworxwilliamlondonentropysNotSoMuchwatto_cobraJWSC
  • Reply 16 of 98
    Just here to to watch all the hate messages from the accepting people. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
    CluntBaby92jimdreamworxwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 98
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    jungmark said:
    I wish I had 44 billion to waste by killing a company. 
    You miss the point. Elon doesn’t want a biased one sided cesspool that Twitter was, he is there to remake it. 
    9secondkox2CluntBaby92maciekskontaktdewmewilliamlondonentropyswatto_cobraJWSC
  • Reply 18 of 98
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,301member
    I’m not going to rush to judgment. We’ll know in about 3-6 months whether Musk’s efforts will succeed or fail.
    CluntBaby92jimdreamworxwilliamlondonwatto_cobrabaconstangJWSCFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 19 of 98
    Smart man. He knows the Twitter staff had a culture of hate toward him. He’s weeding out the underminers, the liabilities, and recreating the staff according to people who share ideals rather than having his own workforce fight against him both publicly and secretly while taking his paychecks. 

    Twitter has needed the poop cleaned out of the cage for a long time. Glad to see it finally happening. 

    Going to be a much better operation. 
    ravnorodomracerhomie3jimdreamworxmaciekskontaktwilliamlondonentropysbluefire1NotSoMuchwatto_cobraJWSC
  • Reply 20 of 98
    MadbumMadbum Posts: 536member
    Smart man. He knows the Twitter staff had a culture of hate toward him. He’s weeding out the underminers, the liabilities, and recreating the staff according to people who share ideals rather than having his own workforce fight against him both publicly and secretly while taking his paychecks. 

    Twitter has needed the poop cleaned out of the cage for a long time. Glad to see it finally happening. 

    Going to be a much better operation. 
    Exactly. This happens at take overs of most problematic companies with poor cultures, or even sports teams

    just managment doing their thing. Elon has succeeded at everything, no reason to think he won’t here 
    jimdreamworxdewmewilliamlondonbluefire1watto_cobraJWSC
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