The mass Twitter layoffs start Friday, according to a memo sent to employees of the social media company Thursday night and seen by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CNN. New CEO Elon Musk reportedly plans to cut the company's workforce in half, and the email—which was signed simply "Twitter" and came from what the Times calls "a generic address"—spurred workers to send heart and "salute" emojis to each other via messaging service Slack. The social network's 7,500 employees were told to go home and not come back in to the offices Friday. The memo said they would know their employment status by 9am Pacific time.
"In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global work force. We recognize that this will impact a number of individuals who have made valuable contributions to Twitter, but this action is unfortunately necessary to ensure the company’s success moving forward," the email said. "If your employment is not impacted, you will receive a notification via your Twitter email. If your employment is impacted, you will receive a notification with next steps via your personal email.” The subject line will be "Your Role at Twitter."
Other changes are also being made: sources say the company's monthly "Days of Rest," days off for employees to relax, were taken off the calendar, and Musk is said to be ending the company's "work from anywhere" policy. He has, however, agreed to keep compensation and benefits at their current level for a year. Anyone who hasn't received a "Your Role" email by 5pm Friday was asked to follow up with Twitter. It isn't clear whether advance notice of the layoffs was provided to governmental agencies, as is required by federal and California law, but a rep from California's Employment Development Department said that agency had not been notified.
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Musk almost immediately dissolved Twitter's board of directors and fired at least four top Twitter execs following his $44 billion purchase of the company, and the Times reports others have also resigned or been let go. According to CNN, "its C-suite appears to have almost entirely cleared out, through a mix of firings and resignations." Those who remained were asked to list the high- and low-performing employees on their teams. On Wednesday night, as a Slack message sent to Twitter employees suggested the list of those who would be laid off was at 3,738 people, employees circulated tips on employment rights and more, including software to download important emails and documents. The employee who created that was fired. (More Twitter stories.)
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