- choice of words
- BBC News World
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Employees of the social network Twitter announced online that they had been fired, although the company, which was recently bought by billionaire Elon Musk, has not yet officially announced the layoffs.
However, it is expected that this friday The tech giant is announcing HR changes imposed by its new owner.
The employees shared the details through the social network itself using the hashtag #LoveWhereYouWorked and a goodbye greeting emoji.
Yash Agarwal, who was in public policy, said that working for Twitter was “the greatest privilege of all”.
Via an internal email, the company claimed the cuts were an “effort” to put Twitter on a “healthy path.”
The company added that its offices will be temporarily closed and staff will not be able to enter the building until they know whether or not they will keep their jobs.
The communication sent to employees tells them: “Today is your last day of work in the company”.
But he clarifies that he will continue to receive benefits from Twitter, as well as a salary until February 2, 2023.
“During this time, you will be on a non-working notice period and will be denied access to Twitter systems,” the message said.
And while staff are not expected to work during this time, they must adhere to all company policies, including the code of conduct.
Musk will become CEO of Twitter after buying the company last week in a deal valued at $44 billion.
image source, Getty Images
Musk in costume last Halloween.
All by email
“On Friday, we will go through the difficult process of downsizing our global workforce,” Twitter said in an email.
“We recognize that this will affect many people who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but unfortunately this action is necessary to ensure the future success of the company,” they added.
The company said access to the office will be restricted immediately “to ensure the security of each employee, as well as Twitter’s systems and user data.”
All staff should have received an email with the subject line “Your role on Twitter” by 09:00 PT on Friday (16:00 GMT).
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Elon Musk walked into Twitter headquarters on Wednesday with a sink in his hands.
Workers not affected by the layoff will be notified via company email.
In the meantime, those affected will receive information about “next steps” through their personal accounts.
Given the nature of our distributed workforce and our desire to notify affected individuals as quickly as possible, communication for this process will be via email.
“Talent exodus”
It is speculated that as many as half of Twitter’s 8,000 jobs will be part of the cuts.
The platform is struggling to turn a profit. One way to solve the problem is to reduce the wage bill.
Simon Balmain, Twitter’s UK senior manager, told the BBC he believed he was fired because he was not allowed to connect to his work laptop and the Slack messaging program.
“They all got an email saying there was going to be a big downsizing, and then about an hour later they started remotely wiping their laptops and taking away their access to Slack and Gmail,” he said.
“Most people in the UK are probably asleep and don’t know it yet. I was mostly working with LA because of the projects I was involved in, so I was still awake when it happened.”
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Another Twitter employee said he was anxiously waiting for an email confirming whether he still had a job.
He claimed he would probably stay up late waiting for a message.
“The talent exodus from this layoff will reshape the entire tech industry as we know it. We’re all looking out for each other and it’s been amazing to see the outpouring of love and support,” Balmain added.
How did the layoffs go?
Bloombergciting unnamed sources, he suggested that the company had asked some high-ranking staff members to do so lists of employees to be eliminated their teams.
Cryptocurrency platform Binance invested in Twitter as part of Musk’s acquisition. Earlier, Changpeng Zhao, its chief executive, said “a smaller workforce would make more sense”.
Zhao, speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, also criticized the platform for being slow to roll out new features, given staffing levels.
image source, Getty Images
The cost-cutting follows criticism of Twitter’s efforts to boost its revenue by proposing to charge users $8 a month for a blue tick.
In addition to the ticker, those who pay can promote their tweets more widely and see fewer ads.
Musk tweeted about his plan: “We have to pay the bills somehow.”
Twitter he did not receive benefits in a few years, and its number of users stagnates at around 300 million per month.
Many experts suggest that Musk, the world’s richest man, overpaid for the company, given current economic conditions and the low valuations of many tech stocks.
But Brandon Borrman, Twitter’s former head of global communications, questioned in an interview with the BBC how Twitter could justify asking people to pay to stay on a “level playing field” with other users.
It is not clear how the cuts will affect the operation of the platform. Musk has a reputation for being ruthless when it comes to personnel.
The American media is already talking about the long hours that the staff spent to fulfill Musk’s demands after his “inauguration”.
In May, Musk said that Your work ethic expectations would be “extreme”but less than what he asks of himself.
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