It hasn't even been a month since Elon Musk took over Twitter and already he fired about half of the company's employees.
Many of those workers were laid off because Musk claimed the workforce was too large and focused too much on content moderation, platform safety, product development and marketing.
The second wave of terminations resulted from employees criticizing their new boss publicly on Twitter and through the company's internal Slack channel.
Those employees were greeted with an email that read:
"We regret to inform you that your employment is terminated immediately."
"Your recent behavior has violated company policy."
Now it seems the remaining employees have a decision to make.
On November 16, Musk gave an ultimatum to those still currently employed. In an email sent at midnight, Musk outlined the requirements of workers wishing to stay on board, ultimately giving them the choice to work harder and longer hours or receive three months severance.
Musk told the employees through email:
"Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore."
"This will mean working long hours at high intensity."
"Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."
Employees were given a very short timeframe and a firm deadline to decide.
"If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below."
"Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance."
\u201cElon Musk sent an email to Staff about building \u201cTwitter 2.0\u201d asking them to commit to \u201cworking long hours at high intensity\u201d and confirming that they want to be part of the new Twitter or part ways with the company with three months of severance.\u201d— Benny Johnson (@Benny Johnson) 1668635355
The twitterverse had a lot to say about Musk's "leadership" style...
\u201cI don\u2019t get all the hate for the Twitter 2.0 email, I\u2019ve always done my best when working 80 hours a week for a man child who has no clear goals and screams \u201cMORE HARDCORE\u201d whenever a clarifying question is asked. That\u2019s when I really thrive.\u201d— James Graham (@James Graham) 1668602248
\u201cElon Musk rolling into work tomorrow to see all the hardcore engineers willing to help him make Twitter 2.0.\u201d— pyrogamerman (@pyrogamerman) 1668631418
\u201cElon Musk to engineers: commit to being \u201cextremely hardcore\u201d and slaving away to build Twitter 2.0 or leave and get 3 months severance \n\nEngineers:\nhttps://t.co/zOqG9IUKBv\u201d— Ilan Schwartz MD PhD (@Ilan Schwartz MD PhD) 1668627365
\u201cIn a bold move to make Twitter 2.0 more profitable, Elon has decided to change the culture and working conditions at Twitter HQ to more closely resemble the diamond mines that made him rich in the first place.\u201d— Deej Storer (@Deej Storer) 1668606588
\u201cMusk + whoever's left at Twitter 2.0 after 5pm\u201d— \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Hailey Piper \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Hailey Piper \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1668618029
\u201cI know not with what language Twitter 2.0 will be coded, but Twitter 3.0 will be coded with sticks and stones.\u201d— HP1741A (@HP1741A) 1668608124
\u201cTwitter 2.0\u201d— McNeil (@McNeil) 1668606903
\u201c"Twitter 2.0",yes or no?\nYes=Long hours, high intensity. \nNo=3 months severance.\u201d— \u8fd9\u91cc\u662f\u6dc4\u5ddd\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf3\uff08\u4e92fo\u4e92\u8d5e\uff09 (@\u8fd9\u91cc\u662f\u6dc4\u5ddd\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddf3\uff08\u4e92fo\u4e92\u8d5e\uff09) 1668610522
\u201cThe email said "If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below"\n\nWhich is the digital version of passing this note:\u201d— Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f (@Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f) 1668609085
\u201c@MorningBrew Reward for leaving? 3 months pay. Reward for staying? Nada, but you'll have to work a lot harder. Has this guy ever actually run a business?\u201d— Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f (@Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f) 1668609085
\u201c@MorningBrew Honestly, I would rather find myself unemployed than spending my best productive years working for such a crybaby.\u201d— Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f (@Morning Brew \u2615\ufe0f) 1668609085
Musk hit the nail on the head with this one:
\u201cPlease note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. \n\nWe will keep what works & change what doesn\u2019t.\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1668012287
We guess we'll have to wait until 5pm ET to find out how many Twitter employees checked "yes."
