Loads of Twitter employees have resigned as Elon Musk's hectic ultimatum kicks in
Rachel Lang
Featured Image Credit: Quality Stock / Alamy. dpa picture alliance / Alamy.
A big chunk of Twitter's remaining employees who had survived Elon Musk's mass cull have opted to walk instead of agreeing to the tech billionaire's new intense workplace demands.
Musk gave staff an ultimatum that was due to kick in on November 17: agree to conform to his six rules of 'insane productivity' or get out.
Staff were told to respond 'yes' on a Google form to stay on for what the new head honcho dubbed 'Twitter 2.0'.
If they did not agree, staff were told they would be sacked when the clock struck 5pm and would therefore receive three months worth of severance pay.
It’s been a ride pic.twitter.com/0VDf5hn2UA
— Matt Miller (@brainiaq2000) November 17, 2022
Ain’t all bad #hardcore 🤘 pic.twitter.com/L2tCas5jRg
— AODHAN FLYNN (@aodhan) November 17, 2022
According to Verge, as the deadline approached, mass farewell messages began to flood Twitter's internal Slack boards.
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Several staff posted saluting emojis to Slack, revealing that they had declined to kowtow to Musk's demands for Twitter 2.0.
One employee said on Slack: "I’m not pressing the button. My watch ends with Twitter 1.0. I do not wish to be part of Twitter 2.0."
Others have taken Twitter to announce their farewell, rather ironically.
Speaking to The Verge, one Twitter employee revealed that they expect to see the site breaking down during the coming weeks.
As a result, #RIPTwitter has now began trending on the social media app after the mass walkout.
Another said they watched 'legendary engineers' and other staff they have looked up to decide to walk.
🫡 My watch ends today with Twitter 1.0.
— Pavan, not a serf, 🫡 (@pavan_ky) November 17, 2022
It was an honor working with a great set of people over the last 6 years. https://t.co/HJvQvEns4l
#lovewhereyouworked 💙🫡💙🫡 pic.twitter.com/MZJCVRkKRH
— Jared Miller (@jcmi) November 17, 2022
One staffer said: "It feels like all the people who made this place incredible are leaving. It will be extremely hard for Twitter to recover from here, no matter how hardcore the people who remain try to be."
In the leaked email, Musk specified exactly what he means by ‘hardcore’ working.
Musk told staff to cut down on the number of meetings they hold, writing: "Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time."
He also said staff should be able to walk out of meetings that they don’t feel are valuable, explaining: "It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time."
Employees must also be as 'direct' as possible and not 'use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software, or processes'.
Still on the communication front, Musk has advised staff to avoid speaking through a 'chain of command' and instead approach a person directly.
— parker lyons (@tweetsbyparker) November 17, 2022
From: @twittereng
— DM of Engineering 🎲 (@dmofengineering) November 17, 2022
To: @elonmusk
Subject: pic.twitter.com/EiDADFtMCN
The billionaire wrote: "Communication should travel via the shortest path necessary to get the job done. Any manager who attempts to enforce chain of command communication will soon find themselves working elsewhere."
Also another key rule for the Tesla founder is common sense, such as not 'following a company rule that is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation'.
Oh, and again with the meetings thing, he also added: "Please get [out] of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short."
Elon Musk and Twitter have been approached for comment.