New York/IBNS: Twitter is facing a stiff challenge ever since Elon Musk has taken over which saw several of its employees quit following a deadline by the billionaire entrepreneur and the company sending messages that it was closing its "office buildings" for the next few days.
The New York Times (NYT) said in a report that after a 5 pm Thursday deadline was given by Musk to employees to choose whether to quit or stay on at Twitter, "hundreds of Twitter employees appeared to have decided to depart with three months of severance pay."
Twitter also announced through email that it would close "our office buildings" and disable employee badge access until Monday.
During all this, Musk and his advisers also held meetings with some Twitter staff deemed "critical" and to stop them from leaving the company.
The chaos also included confusing messages from Musk about the company's remote work policy.
Musk's team also held meetings with "undecided employees" who are considered key to Twitter's operations in a bid to try to persuade them to stay.
"In his pitch, Mr Musk said that he knew how to win and that those who wanted to win should join him," the NYT report said.
"In one of those meetings, some employees were summoned to a conference room in the San Francisco office while others called in via videoconference. As the 5 pm deadline passed, some who had called in began hanging up, seemingly having decided to leave, even as Mr. Musk continued speaking," it added.
Over the past few weeks, Musk has been firing those who oppose or disagree with him, often through public tweets.
The NYT report added that the "shedding of so many employees in such a compressed period has raised questions about how Twitter will keep operating effectively."
The report said after Musk asked workers to decide whether to stay with the company or depart, employees were provided with a FAQ ( frequently asked questions) document about exit packages on Wednesday.
Earlier Musk ended remote working for Twitter staff and asked them to brace for long working hours.
Musk completed a deal to buy Twitter at 44 billion US dollars in October, gaining control of the social network company.
After taking over the reins, Twitter put half of its employees in departments across the company as part of an aggressive plan to trim costs.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.