Post-acquisition turmoil is still on at Twitter. Immediately after taking over as the prime boss of the social-media platform, Elon Musk showed the exit door to all the existing business leaders including Parag Agrawal, former CEO, Twitter.
After that, as was expected by many, Musk decided to downsize the Twitter workforce by 50 per cent. Almost 3,700 employees have reportedly lost their jobs. After the layoffs, Musk had conveyed to all the existing employees through an internal memo that he is now planning to build Twitter 2.0, which will require utmost commitment on the part of the employees.
He indicated that this kind of intense commitment to work would include long hours of working, early morning shifts and even late nights. He also said that there would be no scope for remote work! Musk clearly states in the memo that only those employees who feel they can handle this kind of work should give their consent by submitting a Google form outlining all the terms of working in Twitter 2.0. Those who decide to leave may exit by accepting a three- month salary package as severance pay.
The memo, that sounded more like an ultimatum was sent on 16 November and allowed the employees a day to decide on whether to stay or leave and submit the Google form by 5 p.m. on 17 November.
The memo was aimed at retaining the committed employees and letting go the ones who were not in line with the vision of Twitter 2.0. But looks like this aggressive move by Musk, may have backfired slightly.
On 17 November, Twitter was witness to mass walkouts. Hundreds of employees have decided to jump the ship and look for opportunities elsewhere. The three-month severance package seems more acceptable to them than staying on at Twitter under Musk.
Several of the leaving employees made their intentions clear with the ‘salute’ emoji on the internal communication channel, Slack. The emoji symbolises a farewell or good-bye.
As per sources quoted by global media, this exodus at Twitter will definitely disrupt operations. After all, these exiting staff are also taking away with them the experience of maintaining, updating and operating the social-media platform.
Musk has reportedly held meetings in an attempt to get some of the exiting staff to stay back. As per a NYT report, some of those who were part of the virtual meeting hung up even while Musk was speaking. He is said to have brought back some leaders who had been either laid off or had left of their own accord to help talk critical talent into staying on.
The future will certainly be challenging for Twitter. After all, even if Musk does seek help from the tech talent at Tesla or his other businesses, it will be long before any of them learn the ropes of handling a social-media platform.
