The tumultuous times at Twitter continue. On Thursday, November 17th Twitter announced that it is temporarily closing its offices amid an employee walkout following an ultimatum set to all Twitter workers by Elon Musk. He announced in a late night email to all employees that they can stay with the company while “working long hours at high intensity” or they can quit now and receive three months’ severance.
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The offices are closed until Monday, after a large swathe of people chose to quit rather than work under Musk’s new regime. According to people familiar with the matter, the number of people that decides to walk away was a lot more than had been expected, causing confusion over who should still be allowed access to Twitter premises.
Upon taking over Twitter, Musk swiftly moved to retrench half of the company, after which he had to rehire many of them when the company realised they were vital to keep the operation going.
As Twitter’s internal communication channels filled with staff announcing their departure, Musk softened his earlier edict against working remotely. Musk had previously said that remote work would come to an end, which naturally sparked a lot of backlash. He then had to walk back the hard stance, saying that “all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution.”
Below is the memo the company sent out to staff announcing the office closure:
“Hi,
Effective immediately, we are temporarily closing our office buildings and all badge access will be suspended. Offices will reopen on Monday, November 21st.
Thank you for your flexibility. Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.
We look forward to working with you on Twitter’s exciting future.
Twitter.”
