Image Source: Twitter
Elon Musk reportedly imposed Tesla’s work style, giving staff an ultimatum that they must complete “very intense” work or leave the microblogging platform, causing a new wave of mass resignations on Twitter.
According to a copy of an email given by Musk to staff, the new Twitter CEO stated that any employee who did not agree to the ultimatum by Thursday evening will receive three months’ severance pay.
“Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” Musk wrote in the memo.
The new Twitter CEO advocated for long hours and great effort. Employees have until Thursday at 5 p.m. ET to make a decision; he stressed that “only extraordinary performance will constitute a passing grade.”
According to internal Slack messages, engineers and other workers began saying goodbye to a “watercooler” chat group as the deadline of Thursday at 5 p.m. ET approached, which Musk imposed on Wednesday.
It’s unclear how many employees have so far resigned, the report said, but the group was inundated with salute emojis, which say “thank you for your service,” as well as dozens of goodbye messages.
One of the workers announced, “The train has started in #social-watercooler,” referring to a Slack group that staff members have been using recently to inform others that they are leaving.
In his subsequent emails, Musk stated that managers must have weekly or at least monthly in-person meetings with staff members and that they risk being fired for permitting remote work if staff members don’t demonstrate that they are “great” or “outstanding,” in his opinion.
“If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below by Thursday evening,” he said, directing to an online form. “Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful,” Musk added.
Since taking over the company, Musk has fired at least 20 Twitter employees who have criticised his decisions on the social media site or on the internal messaging app Slack. Some of these employees were fired simply for retweeting posts critical of the new Twitter CEO.