TWITTER CEO ELON Musk has said he’s “not super worried” over the future of the platform after it continued to bleed engineers and other workers on Thursday after he gave them a choice to pledge to “hardcore” work or resign with severance pay.
According to reports in the US, the social media giant has also closed its offices until Monday over fears disgruntled staff could sabotage the company.
The Twitter boss had sent an email to staff on Wednesday asking them to click yes on a form to confirm they would stay at the company under his new rules, with those who did not by Thursday evening given three months’ severance pay.
But hundreds of workers are said to have rejected the ultimatum from Musk to sign up for longer, more intense working hours. Some employees took to Twitter to announce they were signing off after Musk’s deadline to make the pledge.
A number of employees took to a private forum outside of the company’s messaging board to discuss their planned departure, asking questions about how it might jeopardise their US visas or if they would get the promised severance pay, according to an employee fired earlier this week who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The number of staff choosing to leave appears to have surprised Musk and his team.
The billionaire has now backpedalled on his insistence that everyone work from the office – his initial rejection of remote work had alienated many employees who survived the first round of layoffs.
And he softened his earlier tone in an email to employees, writing that “all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring you are making an excellent contribution”.
Workers would also be expected to have “in-person meetings with your colleagues on a reasonable cadence, ideally weekly, but not less than once per month”.
Concerns have been raised that the platform could struggle to stay online as large numbers of people tasked with its maintenance leave the company and that any issues that arise could take longer to fix without key engineers in place to handle such problems.
#RIPTwitter and #GoodbyeTwitter have been trending on the platform as users also consider leaving the site and some have begun pointing followers to their accounts on other platforms.
But in a tweet late last night, Musk said that he was not worried about resignations as “the best people are staying.”
The world’s richest man also shared a meme of a grave, appearing to mock the #RIPTwitter hashtag, which has been used hundreds of thousands of times.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Twitter offices in Dublin and in other locations are understood to be temporarily closed, as some staff due to leave.
When asked about the office closure, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “it is very concerning what we’re hearing”, adding that the IDA is in “constant contact” with the company.
It is particularly concerning for employees, he added. “Employees of any company must be treated with respect and dignity,” said Martin.
Ireland has legal framework governing industrial relations and should be adhered to, he added.
“It’s unacceptable what’s happening within Twitter in terms of employees who must have a very uncertain future,” said the Taoiseach.
He said there is a need for for “coherence” and a “clear roadmap” as to what lies ahead for workers.
“We will work with all employees to see what we can do to help them, to be of assistance, and yes our laws will apply,” he said.
The newest round of departures from Twitter means the platform is continuing to lose workers just as it is gearing up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
It is one of the busiest events on Twitter that can overwhelm its systems if things go haywire.
“To all the Tweeps who decided to make today your last day: thanks for being incredible teammates through the ups and downs. I can’t wait to see what you do next,” tweeted one employee, Esther Crawford, who is remaining at the company and has been working on the overhaul of the platform’s verification system.
Since taking over Twitter less than three weeks ago, Musk has booted half of the company’s full-time staff of 7,500 and an untold number of contractors responsible for content moderation and other crucial efforts.
He fired top executives on his first day as Twitter’s owner, while others left voluntarily in the ensuing days. Earlier this week, he began firing a small group of engineers who took issue with him publicly or in the company’s internal Slack messaging system.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss has continued to tweet throughout the ongoing turmoil, often mocking the concerns raised about the company by posting memes and jokes about the situation.
“How do you make a small fortune in social media? Start with a large one,” he joked.
He also claimed that the concerns were driving more traffic on the site, saying overnight the company had “just hit another all-time high in Twitter usage”.
Twitter did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Additional reporting from Jane Moore and Christina Finn
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say