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Musk gives ultimatum to Twitter staff: Work intense, long hours or lose your job

111 Comments
By Thomas URBAIN

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111 Comments

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Take the money and run.

27 ( +29 / -2 )

I can't even imagine how much it must suck to work there.

The employees must even have worse morale than the Russian troops.

21 ( +40 / -19 )

Work intense, long hours or lose your job

That's how I put my two kids through college. It almost cost me my sanity. Even if you love your job, leaving home at 7:00 and coming back around 11:00 will eventually kill you.

21 ( +23 / -2 )

Again, if you are a Twitter employee, go to HR and withdraw any money you may still have in the company retirement plan before Musk 'Enron's' it and WALK fast out of the door before the rush when the whole enterprise folds in on itself and EVERYONE is looking for a job. The Internet is a highly fickle place and whatever Twitter does, it is inevitable that somewhere else will do it better and provide greater satisfaction to those who must push their egos out into the public space. Musk is not infallible and, in fact, appears not even to be a particularly good 'leader'. May he get what any narcissist truly deserves...

13 ( +20 / -7 )

Predicted, Musk will lose more than half of his wealth.

12 ( +21 / -9 )

Staff works hard, Twitter grows, Musk's profit grows.

Meanwhile, the staff that worked hard got nothing in return.

Why should the staff work harder than what is necessary?

12 ( +16 / -4 )

Those with millions have no idea about nor compassion for those with very little.

He's wantonly messing about with people's livelihoods, families and survival.

To us readers, we see a whole slew of numbers of workers, profit, losses etc. but these are people trying to put food on their table.

11 ( +25 / -14 )

Just delete your twitter and then he will have wasted all that money

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Refreshing to read a post from someone with work experience. I don’t get the hang-up about working from home either. Surely that’s making the company a less attractive option to quality staff.

I worked as a software developer for over 25 yrs. Most of it was in teams, so being near each other and being able to have impromptu meetings with everyone on the team at the same white board figuring out how to solve complex problems really is amazing. I've not seen that magic happen in all the time I worked remotely. OTOH, that whiteboard magic is only needed 1 day every 2 yrs, so not exactly a reason to force everyone into the office daily.

Productive people become well known in the industry and they get offers every week from others to interview for positions, once it is known they are looking for a new situation. At least, that's been my experience. The pay is usually 20% higher than at the last position if they really want you to move, signing bonus, moving expenses, and other perks are common. Had a company paid car at one job - they could do the vehicle, but not more pay for some reason. For a few years, as I was job hopping seeking that "special job", my pay increased over $100K more than what it was. Being at the right place, at the right time, with the right skills and having an acquaintance in the next company is all it takes.

Musk isn't very bright. Life is too short to work for someone like him. I wouldn't do it.

As an investor, I avoid companies where the President or CEO has too much press. There are plenty of fantastic companies that don't have stupid leaders making trouble for the stock.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

Excellent, get rid of all the slackers and only retain authentic performers.

Why would the "authentic performers" want to work for a company who has shown it has no regards for the humans behind the employee numbers? If they're "authetic performers", then they should have a good enough CV to work at places that will value them.

8 ( +18 / -10 )

Who does he ( elon musk ) think he is ??

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Given Twitter’s uncertain situation at the moment, I can imagine the top talent was thinking about jumping ship anyway.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Musk is pretty stupid.

Tech industry is short 20% of desired workers. Giving good people a reason to leave will definitely achieve that.

Because they are smart, they will start their job search, get a 1 month away start date, and start behaving like 9-5 workers, hoping to be fired. If the company fires them, they will usually have a severance package as the cost to keep their mouth shut. That's very common in tech. Of course, they are all under non-disclosure agreements for unique technology, but if they aren't a "key person", which is usually a director level or above, then their knowledge space is so specific as to be extremely unlikely to be useful to some other company.

In my current state, everyone is forced to sign a non-compete contract ... which limits the ability to work in the same state, usually for 1 yr, so everyone moves to another job in a different state for a year ... leaving their family here ... and moves back in 346 days with a few weeks off in the new position. Many large companies will let you report to a different office for that year just to get around these non-compete clauses if you are good. But California doesn't allow those agreements - making Musk even dumber.

OTOH, it is a way to get the 20% of workers you don't want to leave. Malcontents will go, but low performers will stay and people who are trapped for some other reasons.

7 ( +14 / -7 )

well people have choice,either they accept new conditions or leave.

6 ( +25 / -19 )

Musk is a textbook example of poor leadership. No wonder Twitter tanked under him.

6 ( +13 / -7 )

Yep, and that's what Musk is trying to change, get rid of gossip, slander and misinformation

You're joking, right? A giant cloud of gossip, slander and misinformation follows Musk around wherever he goes, most of it of his own making.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Now that's a revelation, most if not all of it is done by left aligned MSM and social net's, and that's what he trying to get rid of, first starting with Twitter..

I'm a bit confused about how letting anyone who pays 8$ a month pretend to be anyone they want and say anything they want squares with a goal of ridding the platform of "gossip, slander and misinformation."

6 ( +9 / -3 )

"Work intense, long hours or lose your job" says Musk. What will be the outcomes? Lots of screw-ups. Haste and exaustion make waste. Pressure effects people differently. Some people thrive under pressure but many more can't--and get: nervous breakdowns, error cover-ups, screaming matches, nervous breakdowns, heart attacks and sudden death. In a situation like this there is no time for brainstorming and trial and error. There is no question that Musk is worse than useless as a leader. Ever had a boss or teacher from hell who does not really know what he is doing and refuses to listen to you? That's Musk. Good luck.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

So hilarious seeing what is happening to twitter. They weren't interested in removing the outright lies and defamtion posted about me on their site. That's despite my having proof of that. Twitter is a cauldron of gossip, slander and misinformation that profits from other people's misery. The sooner it goes bankrupt the better the world will be. Good ridance.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

They're really not. They're lazy millenials

Because blanket statements are accurate, and made by intelligent people right?

So, there were no Gen-Z, Gen-X, or Boomers at Twitter? Is that what you're getting at?

that often work from home, or work in an incredibly cushy office and expensive meals all provided.

That's the IT industry as a whole; nothing specific to Twitter, and if Twitter doesn't keep up with the standard, Twitter will have a hard time finding staff to fill their roles.

I personally think Twitter is teetering on the edge of the Cliffs of MySpace, but it will be interesting to see if Musk can turn it around.

4 ( +18 / -14 )

At least he’s honest and tells them, while in most other companies they don’t tell but handle it the same way of course.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Musk comes off as obnoxious, but this kind of shake-up isnt rare for a business post acquisition.

A post-acquisition shake-up is not rare. The way he is managing this acquisition is however, it's been a disaster, both internally, and as well as the public relations nightmare.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

I would and have done the same, so I think Musk is more than right.

These are people with real skills, something which are high in demand, and not some unemployed fantasists who think posting their fantasies on message boards is real work.

Unless the board steps in and kicks out Musk Twitter is going to lose their skilled people fast!

Musks hare brained schemes is leading the company to bankruptcy fast and at his current level of stupidity they have only a few months before they run out of cash.

As for Musk, his $44 billion investment is worth less than $8 billion today and the lenders are not happy.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Elon Musk spent $44 billion on acquiring full control of twitter.

To threaten ultimatums, makes little business sense.

Twitter's new boss Elon Musk has asked staff to choose by Thursday between being "extremely hardcore" and working intense, long hours, or losing their jobs, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.

Staff have been asked to follow a link to affirm their commitment to "the new Twitter" by 5 p.m. New York time on Thursday. If they do not do so, they will lose their jobs, receiving three months of severance pay.

Musk allegedly let half his workforce go with indecent haste. It appears that Musk threats are a fall back measure for the remaining staff to be held responsible for taking up the slack.

Ouch, out the window goes work life balance.

Fear based workplace won't improve productivity, motivation.

Fear-based business culture will provoke team-members to constantly focus on whether they’ll still have a job next week.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Real techies aren't afraid of all nighters! I'm pretty sure the right people are paid well enough that they will more than happily work as required and when needed. 

I think labour and employment laws exist for a reason.

If he wants volunteers, go for it.

If he wants staff, treat them right. That’s not ‘socialism’, it’s common sense.

If all these ‘parasite’ staff were so worthless why is twitter doing far worse now than last year?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Well, if people don’t want to work, go somewhere else.

Not the most intelligent business stance to take in an industry having troubles filling positions at the moment.

3 ( +12 / -9 )

It's really weird seeing "free speech" advocates cheering on Musk for firing people for exercising their rights. Why could that be? hmmm....

3 ( +9 / -6 )

So first he demonstrates that he has zero loyalty to employees by firing almost all of them. Then he demands complete loyalty and servitude from those who remain?

If you want to get the most out of your workforce, this is not the way to do it and its one of the reasons (among several) I think Twitter is not going to survive under him. Most of the few who remain at Twitter are highly skilled people (hence their ability to survive the cuts) and those people all have options if they want to work somewhere else. But Musk is basically treating them the same way that Don Quixote treats its cashiers.

What works for Don Quixote with its cashiers won't work with a business like Twitter. If cashiers quite because they don't want to work twice as hard and with worse conditions, its not too hard for them to find people to take their place. The labor market for top end software engineers and other professionals that businesses like Twitter rely on don't work like that though.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people who remain are already looking for jobs elsewhere and are just waiting to line something up before jumping ship.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Then they should NOT complain. Do the work or leave.

It’s a free country, there are people who make up fantasy jobs and lives.

I don't work in the tech industry, so you would be right about that

Try to find some work, I am sure someone will hire a person with no skills except fantasizing!

I grew up with it, beg to differ.

Sure, you did, ROFL!

I think that's the problem with the left, they really don't understand.

If the right wing bigots understood anything , they wouldn’t be right wing bigots!

>

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Twitter is currently vulnerable to a hacker attack because there are not enough workers to prevent it.

A breach of Twitter could expose the company or users in myriad ways. Of particular concern would be an incident that endangers users who are activists, dissidents, or journalists under a repressive regime.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If you can score a job like that, all the power to you.

I don't need a job, I'm the employer.

Just saying that they don't need any sympathy.

That would be a poor business decision - the people still there see how the ones that were booted received no sympathy. This kills employee loyalty, as there is suddenly no permanence to any role, so why would an employee have any loyalty to the company?

2 ( +10 / -8 )

Amazing. He destroyed Twitter and now he wants everyone to fix it for him while he fires people on a daily basis. Who is the most hated man, Putin or Musk?

2 ( +12 / -10 )

I started a business, many investors risked large amounts of money on my pitch/business plan, a millennial if you will.

I persuaded team members/colleges/developers within the intuition our employer to join me.

We struggled for three years, some months without pay, I was living off my credit card.

I didn't build that business, they did, their loyalty, trust built this business to become a success both in UK Japan.

I know if an employer fails to value, recognize the input of all their employees, boom boom out go the lights.

Musk is an enigma, flying in the face of basic common sense.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Twitter is a cauldron of gossip, slander and misinformation that profits from other people's misery.

Yep, and that's what Musk is trying to change, get rid of gossip, slander and misinformation and from that point onwards twitter re-discovers its tech roots and moves forward.. hope he is successful..

Well then I must say he’s off to a rather shaky start.

If you want to be rid of gossip, slander and misinformation you can’t have ‘free speech’.

Seems neither musk, his supporters nor twitter users know what they want.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Liberals might, especially the ones that hate free speech.

It might surprise you but people who have actual skills and jobs generally have other options.

Ok, so when the toxic environment of silencing conservatives ruled supreme it was a a great environment? When it was making money, spending more than it was taking in those were the good old days?

Your translation tool doesn’t work well, get someone who can speak English to do it for you.

No, because everything this guy touches turns to gold.

His purchase is valued at less than 1/5th of the price he paid, Tesla stock is tanking. If you understood business then it would have been clear what ‘turns to Gold’ actually means.

Musk obviously has no clue how to run Twitter and it’s not long before he gets kicked out!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Twitter has a higher than average compensation plan according to Glassdoor. Something like $70,000 - $432,000. He will continue stock options similar to SpaceX.

A lot of tech companies have been laying off. Twitter planned a rif even before Musk bought it.

But, firing Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson was a mistake. Glad they are back.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Good, then they need to man up and start looking.

People who have skills will not have any problems!

Maybe recent former Twitter employee?

Sure they have skills, something that you might not be too familiar with!

Again, he can always rebound, when you have tons of money you have options, something I learned as a kid

ROFL, you have very little understanding of how money works.

Yeah, people said so many things that Musk can’t do, shouldn’t do, but he proved them all wrong time and again, and again.

Sure they told him investing in Twitter wouldn’t work well and he proved them wrong by making it a bigger disaster than anyone could imagine.

Hmmm….doubt it.

LOL, to doubt you need to understand!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I have people on "standby" who are paid a reduced rate to be available at certain times out of normal work hours.

Is this a true story?

No, I pay a standby rate

What business is this?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

And he has the money and power to turn it around

Then how come Trump cannot turn TrumpBook around?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So far, Musk as been a bull in a China shop leaving many broken items. You can’t just buy Twitter and expect it to just work your way.

Steve Jobs did it better when he returned to Apple.

Musk gate crashed Twitter without what appears have a workable plan. You don’t just fire half of the staff without knowing what they did for the company.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

bass4funk

   Twitter is currently vulnerable to a hacker attack because there are not enough workers to prevent it.

> They’ll get through it.

You do not know that, just guessing. It takes many employees to keep the network safe. You have already stated you lack the tech skill to work in a company like this.

   A breach of Twitter could expose the company or users in myriad ways.

> That might not be a bad idea since Twitter would not disclose so much of their bot accounts and operating practices

That would be very bad and could put thousands of lives at risk.

   Of particular concern would be an incident that endangers users who are activists, dissidents, or journalists under a repressive regime.

> Like Russia, Cuba, China?

You lack understanding about the dangers of a company like Twitter being hacked.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Can you imagine being the type of old loser who derides millennials but also watches tiktok ?

1 ( +8 / -7 )

A post-acquisition shake-up is not rare. The way he is managing this acquisition is however, it's been a disaster, both internally, and as well as the public relations nightmare.

That seems to be the image that a lot of media outlets are putting out there, the same outlets that Musk is working against. I am a twitter user, and it is already much better than it was before the takeover. Far fewer scammers and bots, and a lot more discussion taking place. Just my opinion ofc.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Musk is already looking at putting in someone else as CEO. I'm guessing he's realized that his tweets have a significant and direct impact to his pocketbook. He needs someone to be the face of the company, so he can go back to arguing on Twitter like before, without it having too much financial impact.

I'm guessing six months out, Twitter has pretty much the same moderation system it had up until last month. Musk owns a company he doesn't have much say in the operations of, and Twitter revenue has not recovered to pre-Musk values.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Most of them have spent their entire Twitter career doing what he doesn’t want done anymore (and literally getting a free lunch).

How many of them did you ask? Or are you ‘speculating’?

It must be tough seeing so many hope balloons burst in such a short period of time.

Time to look for a new dream.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Twitter's new boss Elon Musk has asked staff to choose by Thursday between being "extremely hardcore" and working intense, long hours, or losing their jobs, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.

Says a man unable and unwilling to lead by example. He may have experience in using social media, but he has zero experience running social media.

He must treat employees as the laws of each nation they work in demand. He must pay for every hour of work and pay overtime for additional hours of work. He can not expect employee's to do the work of two or three people (after sacking half the work force).

Musk is driving twitter into the ground and will lose his large investment and prove to the world Elon Musk is not the know all he makes himself out to be.

I used to think Musk was pretty darn good, but in the past few years he has lost his golden sheen and shown himself to be self centered, impulsive and foolish. He treats his new employee's unfairly, expecting them to preform miracles for him because he demands it.

Turning himself into a loser, it would be best for all staff to walk and leave him with nobody to run Twitter or do his bidding. Let it fail and show investors not to trust in Elon Musk any more. He simply no longer deserves it.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@Blacklabel - sounds like a decent system you have there. I have read in the UK, on a 0-contract hours employment, you can be on standby waiting for work, but you won't get paid during that time, and furthermore, you can't get another job - which hardly sounds fair at all.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Jimizo wrote: Great to read input from someone with experience in this kind of industry rather than those squealing about wokeism.

I didn’t understand the need to get everyone working on site in this kind of industry.

I did leave out a huge aspect of being in the same building and that is knowledge transfer. It is less important for experienced workers, but absolutely critical for new hires and people who aren't yet strong intermediate developers - which usually means about 60% of the team. They need role models and mentors. Someone to bump into at lunch, in the halls, while waiting for in-room meetings to begin so little questions can be asked and answered before poor choices are made.

When someone gets out of school and shows up to work at a place like Twitter, they need 2-3 yrs to learn all the things that schools can't teach. If you have only noobs in the office, some crap code will result, since there's a huge difference in how to code for college classes and how to code for real-world needs.

Perhaps Musk knows he will need to hire new people and they will need to be trained by the remaining people? Hard to say. There definitely is a shortage of capable people for software companies and large enterprises who create internal applications to run their businesses. Keeping the people you have is much easier than hiring and training outsiders. Even people with 20 yrs experience are "new" people as a new-hire in a different company. They will become productive faster, but learning how the company handles the intangible aspects of work takes 1-2 yrs.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Good luck finding employment paying you the over priced competitive wages that the industry you worked in brought you.

Why wouldn't they just go find other jobs in the same industry, which pay the same rates, with the same perks?

Its time to come back down to reality and work.

Why would they want to go find work without the perks you mention, when the industry standard is said perks?

A lot of people talking as if they know what they're talking about here, while clearly knowing nothing about the IT industry.

Which to be fair, is the internet in a nutshell.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

He can not expect employee's to do the work of two or three people (after sacking half the work force).

That is what the railroads have done in the US, and why there is currently a major labor dispute. Railroad engineers and conductors are often expected to work as much as 30 days straight without a break. You work 12 hours on the train, then stop the train and get picked up by a van that takes you to a hotel room somewhere. After you get your crew rest you are on call again and have to be ready to go anywhere on two hours notice. You can be away from home for as long as 30 days this way running trains all over the country with no break. And if you need to see a doctor tough luck. So yeah Mr. Musk can probably make such demands but you won't keep quality people very long. When you have a college degree you have opportunities a less educated railroad employee doesn't have.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I told you long before, this clown is ruining Twitter..

I assure you that Twitter shares are going to plummet and many employees and advertisers will continue to leave Twitter..

What a despicable person..

Predicted, Musk will lose more than half of his wealth.

More than that, he is becoming one of the most hated morons in the world..

Well, if people don’t want to work, go somewhere else. I would and have done the same, so I think Musk is more than right.

Appropriate comment from a Trump lover..

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Its just IT work. sounds like from what Musk was saying there was like 1 engineer for each 10 Staff/Managers. so yeah thats not good.

ROFL, you apparently do not have any idea about IT.

I have people on "standby" who are paid a reduced rate to be available at certain times out of normal work hours.

So you pay lower overtime rates???

sometimes they have to work and get the standby rate + full pay. other times they get the standby rate for not even working at all, if they are lucky. there is right now a secret employee contest (well they think its secret) to crown the champion for who got the most number of standby hours without actually having to work. 

You need to have some understanding of labor laws before you build up stories!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Musk has locked Twitter staff out of their offices. Hundreds of workers quit their jobs.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Twitter stores mountains of personal information, including not just email addresses and passwords but data that's inside its direct-message inboxes — a feature that does not have the end-to-end encryption that helps protect other popular messaging services.

Elon Musk’s two-week management of Twitter has made the platform more vulnerable to fraud and privacy violations by driving away key members of its longtime security staff, former Twitter employees and cybersecurity experts said.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Maybe, but again, I could care less.

You don't care if lives are put in danger from Twitter being hacked.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I mean no sympathy needed from us readers. Mostly in response to @Speed's concern about them putting food on the table.

They're still human beings. Getting fired with zero notice, when you have a lifestyle to fund, that you were contracted to, is a major disruption for anyone. Many will end up having to move away from family and friends, and/or lose their homes as a result of this.

I guess you don't have to have sympathy, but that's pretty cold.

0 ( +11 / -11 )

Ive seen this appalling attitude before, the higher or fire them attitude, in 90% of the cases ive seen, all it does is (expletive) off your hard working work force, a large bulk of the staff that were happy to help the company out in hard times, putting in an hour or so to get things done or stay on late for meetings for the grater all, and not asking to get paid, now just go home on time or start chucking in sick notes due to colds etc, this draconian attitude just destroys morals, harmony, good hard working people, it devides companies, its just so counter productive, I can see twitter just going down the toilet pan.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

LMFAO "Work intense, long hours or lose your job" says Musk. I agree a few years back I read how all the young people had all the fun of working in a pleasurable environment where they could sleep, bring their pets, eat as much as they want and get paid high salaries. WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO "REAL WORK" now that Musk comes in and tell these workers in other words no more sleeping on the job, leave your pets at home and the 400 million dollars lunches that cost the company is out, now these people are complaining. Good luck finding employment paying you the over priced competitive wages that the industry you worked in brought you. Its time to come back down to reality and work. No more coming to work in your pajamas with your Starbucks coffee mugs. Yes, you have skills I just hope you can transfer them to the REAL WORKING WORLD and live a normal working life like every other persons who goes to the office do a 9-5 and not feel privileged. DOTCOM was a bust now its FB, Twitter and all the others following. Its time to roll up the sleeves get dirty and stop playing computer games!!! It is what it is. I just hope you didn't price yourself out of the job market with those high salaries because going to another industry with the same back ground is not going to pay that. As reality set in Twitter, FB and Meta is signing off!!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I think most people are going to tell him to shove it. Why on earth would you agree to keep working there with such a tool in charge who is telling you to get ready for hell?

I honestly hope Twitter goes bust, and it would be nice, too, if Musk lost all of his money because of it, too. The guy is so arrogant -- it's nice to see him seriously struggle over his choices now.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Those with millions have no idea about nor compassion for those with very little.

There is more to it in the case of Elon Musk. Mr. Musk by his own admission suffers from what he calls "Aspergers Syndrome" That is an old name for one region of the Autism Spectrum. A hallmark of Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD is a lack of empathy for others. The Au in Autism means for the sufferer, their world is all about them and no awareness of others. Often they cannot even make eye contact with others. Others do not exist or if they do they are expected to comport to their expectations. I live this with a mostly sweet little boy who is on the spectrum. It can be trained out of ASD sufferers but I suspect when Mr. Musk grew up in South Africa there was little or no understanding of ASD or its treatment. The earlier ASD is recognized and treated the better the outcome if there is no treatment even by age 8 reversing the worst attributes of ASD is very difficult. I am guessing Mr. Musk, since he calls what he has Aspergers, has not benefitted from the modern understanding of ASD and is essentially untreated.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

You can only lead using a whip for so long.

Leadership is creating a vision and atmosphere where people want to be part of something worthwhile.

Whether Twitter is worthwhile is left to the reader.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

No, I pay a standby rate where people get paid for waiting to possibly work. as I said. 

then if they do work, they get the OT rate -and- the standby rate. 

Good you at least learned about labor laws.

so yeah I think I might know a thing or two about IT as I own an IT company. 

Sure, if that helps you get through the day.

and these perks that people are talking about are going away. Work From Home ruined a lot of that.

I work in IT and it’s only the dinosaurs who think sitting in office is working who are unhappy. Most of the people I know and work with are happy.

its like the people who used to decline to come to Japan unless they got the ex pat package with the Roppongi apartment, car, maid and nanny. 

Funny, I never took you to be a socialist. Expat packages have been on the decline post Lehman, but there are jobs where it’s hard to find local talent and there will always be people who will get paid more.

Thats long gone, just like these free $50 lunches and wine bars at work will be.

That’s just petty jealousy!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

bass4funk

   You don't care if lives are put in danger from Twitter being hacked.

> I do not care about these people, they will be fine, I’m very confident about that.

Do you realize I am talking about the millions of Twitter users, about 270 million of them across the world? If there was a data leak, lives could be at risk.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

TheFu gets it.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Well done Elon.. The lazy wokeness at Twitter has come to an end

Yawn.

The gravy train has reached the end of the line and all the woke losers have to start pulling their weight

Yawn.

One will do.

Well, if people don’t want to work, go somewhere else.

Not the most intelligent business stance to take in an industry having troubles filling positions at the moment

Refreshing to read a post from someone with work experience. I don’t get the hang-up about working from home either. Surely that’s making the company a less attractive option to quality staff.

-1 ( +9 / -10 )

This is not going to end well (for Musk - and others of his ilk).

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Why wouldn't they just go find other jobs in the same industry, which pay the same rates, with the same perks?

Because many wants to work for Musk, so the ones that don't will be treated by industry as 'non-talent'.

https://www.businessinsider.com/employers-engineering-students-most-want-to-work-for-universum-2022-8

You appear to be an employer, log into linkedin, read the chatter on twitter, Musk doesn't look like an exploitative boss....seems to me the media, as usual, has a different narrative than the reality.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Perhaps he should relocate Twitter to Japan, then he can get what he wants... long hours, low pay, and he gets to make all the decisions.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@theFu don't you get compensation while uner non-compete?! Why would you go anywhere else or respect the clause if you're not compensated? Any court would never accept an ex employee not being compensated.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The average salary at Twitter is about 120,000 USD.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Twitter's new boss Elon Musk has asked staff to choose by Thursday between being "extremely hardcore" and working intense, long hours, or losing their jobs, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.

Sure long hard hours happen and workers are often happy to do it given proper motivation via periodic mileposts and positive reinforcement. Making the workers choose that behavior without seeming to punish them is the magic of good management.

Is that what Musk is doing?

There is also the "problem" of more experienced (older) workers, who have great value to the company, but have other commitments like family or just getting regular sleep - they don't want to be told suddenly to pull all nighters because it damages brain function. Doubtless many if not most of those have been scared away.

Fortunately for Musk, the H1B visa employees can't quit without losing their visa. So now there should be a higher than normal percentage of H1B indentured servants at Twitter. Is that the Libertarian Dream?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people. Lovin' it!

-2 ( +14 / -16 )

@theFu

Great to read input from someone with experience in this kind of industry rather than those squealing about wokeism.

I didn’t understand the need to get everyone working on site in this kind of industry.

Thanks for the input. Very informative.

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

It's a internet chatboard with few changes over a decade, it shouldnt need more than 100 engineers for operations.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Not that I agree with Musk's action, but with other market players down sizing, not sure of the prospect of every employee finding a better job in the same sector. Some will remain.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Twitter needs the dedication and talent if its going to take on the likes of Youtube and tiktok as content creation hub.

Musk comes off as obnoxious, but this kind of shake-up isnt rare for a business post acquisition.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Twitter will turn into Musk's biggest failure because he does understand how it works. It won't be his first failure just his most expensive one. $1.2 billion interest payment is due by the end of the year. Twitter is $13 billion in debt.

Yesterday Musk was in court.

"Tesla is being sued by plaintiff Richard J. Tornetta, who says that the company was wrong in awarding Musk his compensation package in 2018, which shareholders approved at the time. Tesla said at the time it could be worth nearly $56 billion, and the net value today is $50.9 billion."

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

I think labour and employment laws exist for a reason.

Having grown up in a blue collar family I can agree with you, however the tech industry is a completely different beast.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Twitter is currently vulnerable to a hacker attack because there are not enough workers to prevent it.

They’ll get through it.

A breach of Twitter could expose the company or users in myriad ways.

That might not be a bad idea since Twitter would not disclose so much of their bot accounts and operating practices

Of particular concern would be an incident that endangers users who are activists, dissidents, or journalists under a repressive regime.

Like Russia, Cuba, China?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Well done Elon.. The lazy wokeness at Twitter has come to an end.

-4 ( +10 / -14 )

It's his company now so he's free to fire or keep who he wants. However, there needs to be procedures; due process for personnel changes and it should be based on performance not differences of opinion or just questioning if the proposed direction is the best for the company. Saying, My way or the highway and surrounding yourself with 'yes' people is not a formula for business success.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

The title is totally overblowing what Musk said and is doing. Musk just said, employees are expected to work normal 40 hour work weeks in the Twitter offices and if they don't want to do that, they should leave. That is not unreasonable.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

It’s a free country, there are people who make up fantasy jobs and lives.

Twitter is not a fantasy job, however, if the employees think that they can hitch a free ride and get paid, that in itself is a fantasy.

Try to find some work, I am sure someone will hire a person with no skills except fantasizing!

Everyone that works at Twitter has a skillset, if not, they can learn to code.

Sure, you did, ROFL!

Yup.

If the right wing bigots understood anything , they wouldn’t be right wing bigots!

That made zero sense, anyhow, they have a choice, work or take severance pay.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Twitter stores mountains of personal information, including not just email addresses and passwords but data that's inside its direct-message inboxes — a feature that does not have the end-to-end encryption that helps protect other popular messaging services.

Hmmm…

Elon Musk’s two-week management of Twitter has made the platform more vulnerable to fraud and privacy violations by driving away key members of its longtime security staff, former Twitter employees and cybersecurity experts said.

AGAIN, they’ll get through it.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

You don't care if lives are put in danger from Twitter being hacked.

I do not care about these people, they will be fine, I’m very confident about that.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

You are invested and engaged or you are not and can somewhere else.

transparent and fair for a private company.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Real techies aren't afraid of all nighters! I'm pretty sure the right people are paid well enough that they will more than happily work as required and when needed. Let the socialites and parasites move on to their next victim.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

I think labour and employment laws exist for a reason.

Most coders would work under enterprise bargain agreements. One of the conditions in my last contract was if required I would be available for extended hours 7 days a week. This was rare but I was happy to do it and the pay was great.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

I think most people are going to tell him to shove it.

Liberals might, especially the ones that hate free speech.

Why on earth would you agree to keep working there with such a tool in charge who is telling you to get ready for hell? 

Ok, so when the toxic environment of silencing conservatives ruled supreme it was a a great environment? When it was making money, spending more than it was taking in those were the good old days?

I honestly hope Twitter goes bust,

No, because everything this guy touches turns to gold.

and it would be nice, too, if Musk lost all of his money because of it, too.

Another anti-capitalist comment…smh…

The guy is so arrogant -- it's nice to see him seriously struggle over his choices now.

Wouldn't be the first time, all rich people go through this, especially after they often acquire a faltering company and give it a much needed makeover.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

LMAO, this isn't the criticism you think it is, a job like that sounds awesome. Why do boomers feel they must suffer and be uncomfortable in their jobs for them to be worthwhile? Jealousy?

If you can score a job like that, all the power to you. Just saying that they don't need any sympathy.

-6 ( +7 / -13 )

Excellent, get rid of all the slackers and only retain authentic performers.

-7 ( +14 / -21 )

That would be a poor business decision - the people still there see how the ones that were booted received no sympathy. This kills employee loyalty, as there is suddenly no permanence to any role, so why would an employee have any loyalty to the company?

I mean no sympathy needed from us readers. Mostly in response to @Speed's concern about them putting food on the table. Yknow, the comment I initially quoted.

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

So you pay lower overtime rates???

No, I pay a standby rate where people get paid for waiting to possibly work. as I said.

then if they do work, they get the OT rate -and- the standby rate.

so yeah I think I might know a thing or two about IT as I own an IT company.

and these perks that people are talking about are going away. Work From Home ruined a lot of that.

its like the people who used to decline to come to Japan unless they got the ex pat package with the Roppongi apartment, car, maid and nanny.

Thats long gone, just like these free $50 lunches and wine bars at work will be.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

People who have skills will not have any problems!

Then they should NOT complain. Do the work or leave.

Sure they have skills, something that you might not be too familiar with!

I don't work in the tech industry, so you would be right about that

ROFL, you have very little understanding of how money works.

I grew up with it, beg to differ.

Sure they told him investing in Twitter wouldn’t work well and he proved them wrong by making it a bigger disaster than anyone could imagine.

And he has the money and power to turn it around, having money and lots of it gives you the power to do that.

LOL, to doubt you need to understand!

I think that's the problem with the left, they really don't understand.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

So far, Musk as been a bull in a China shop leaving many broken items.

Yes!

You can’t just buy Twitter and expect it to just work your way.

Yes, you can, he's the boss, it's not Club Med. No free lunches or safe spaces, get to work and do your job, these people just want to wait out the clock and get a paycheck and think they deserve that? I would do the exact same thing, as he should and is doing. 

Steve Jobs did it better when he returned to Apple.

It took time, it didn't happen overnight, it took time and he made it better and Apple didn't have the same shenanigans going on that was going on at Twitter. Apple was never a country-clubs.

Musk gate crashed Twitter without what appears to have a workable plan. You don’t just fire half of the staff without knowing what they did for the company.

Yeah, you do, especially if you want to make it profitable and your employees are not doing that, then you replace them with people that will do the job. It's that simple, I don't feel one iota of sympathy for these people, zero. They will all be financially fine. Best of luck to them.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

I told you long before, this clown is ruining Twitter..

If that were the case then he wouldn’t have bought the darn company.

I assure you that Twitter shares are going to plummet and many employees and advertisers will continue to leave Twitter..

Good! Let them leave, there are plenty of people that actually do believe in the 1st amendment and think conservatives have the right to speak out as well who want and need a job.

What a despicable person..

Ask yourself this: Would he still be despicable if he continued to block Trump and continue the culture of silencing conservatives and the 1st amendment?

More than that, he is becoming one of the most hated morons in the world..

Well, that’s why he’s making investments and the strategic moves he’s making in order of turning a company that really wasn’t making money, more or less a tool working in conjunction with the Democrats to silence anyone that disagrees with their radical liberal orthodoxy. I seriously doubt the man cares even one iota of what people think of him, if so, he would have never bought Twitter.

Appropriate comment from a Trump lover..

And a Capitalist to the fullest.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

To us readers, we see a whole slew of numbers of workers, profit, losses etc. but these are people trying to put food on their table.

They're really not. They're lazy millenials that often work from home, or work in an incredibly cushy office and expensive meals all provided. They often gloat about it on tiktok (if you can find the videos). Not to mention that so many of the employees are happy to collude against the general public by pushing agendas, or stifling views they don't agree with. I have zero sympathy for them.

-9 ( +21 / -30 )

 Twitter is a cauldron of gossip, slander and misinformation that profits from other people's misery.

Yep, and that's what Musk is trying to change, get rid of gossip, slander and misinformation and from that point onwards twitter re-discovers its tech roots and moves forward.. hope he is successful..

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

I have people on "standby" who are paid a reduced rate to be available at certain times out of normal work hours.

sometimes they have to work and get the standby rate + full pay. other times they get the standby rate for not even working at all, if they are lucky. there is right now a secret employee contest (well they think its secret) to crown the champion for who got the most number of standby hours without actually having to work.

Its just IT work. sounds like from what Musk was saying there was like 1 engineer for each 10 Staff/Managers. so yeah thats not good.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

It might surprise you but people who have actual skills and jobs generally have other options.

Good, then they need to man up and start looking.

Your translation tool doesn’t work well, get someone who can speak English to do it for you.

Maybe recent former Twitter employee?

His purchase is valued at less than 1/5th of the price he paid, Tesla stock is tanking. If you understood business then it would have been clear what ‘turns to Gold’ actually means.

Again, he can always rebound, when you have tons of money you have options, something I learned as a kid

Musk obviously has no clue how to run Twitter

Yeah, people said so many things that Musk can’t do, shouldn’t do, but he proved them all wrong time and again, and again.

and it’s not long before he gets kicked out

Hmmm….doubt it.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

A giant cloud of gossip, slander and misinformation follows Musk around wherever he goes, most of it of his own making.

Now that's a revelation, most if not all of it is done by left aligned MSM and social net's, and that's what he trying to get rid of, first starting with Twitter..

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people who remain are already looking for jobs elsewhere and are just waiting to line something up before jumping ship.

And that’s the point. Click the link that Musk sent them and go.

what loyalty? Have these people done anything for Elon Musk’s Twitter? Most of them have spent their entire Twitter career doing what he doesn’t want done anymore (and literally getting a free lunch).

If they plan to work hard, stay. if they don’t plan to, then click the link and go, some others would love to click a link and join Musk on his mission, sounds interesting.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

“Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.”

For some of you, your leaving also makes Twitter successful. Musk is hilarious. And spot on.

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

A Hillary Clinton-linked dark money group set its sights on Twitter advertisers amid Elon Musk's acquisition of the social media platform, Fox Business has learned.

Why would this be going on?

-10 ( +0 / -10 )

If he wants staff, treat them right. That’s not ‘socialism’, it’s common sense.

he wants staff that follow his rules and are aligned with his vision and goals.

He kindly allows anyone who is not aligned and who doesnt feel they are "treated right" to leave, with 3 months pay. They can continue their quest to be treated right... somewhere else.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

I think he's mentioning the "intense, long hours" for dramatic effect to scare off the slackers who think Twitter owes them a living. Ya know, like, the type that make TikTok videos bragging about how cool their so-called working life is. They're also most likely to be the censorious types who've been causing so much trouble in he company.

Once they're out of the way and asking people if they'd like fries with that, Musk can concentrate on rebuilding with people who're more interested in making a decent living than proselytising and shutting down speech they personally disagree with.

Not that I care too much. I don't even have a Twitter account.

-11 ( +6 / -17 )

Not the most intelligent business stance to take in an industry having troubles filling positions at the moment.

They will, they will.

-11 ( +0 / -11 )

Well, if people don’t want to work, go somewhere else. I would and have done the same, so I think Musk is more than right.

-16 ( +8 / -24 )

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