Elon Musk sends an email in the middle of the night calling for an “extremely tough” work culture on Twitter with “long hours at high intensity.”
Twitter employees have been on a roller coaster ride for some time.
A months-long argument over whether Elon Musk would actually take over the company culminated in one photo op sink, Half of the company was fired earlier this month and employees who openly criticize the new boss have been fired.
Last night, employees received another letter from the new boss and a stark reminder that their working lives are very different now.
At 2 a.m. Wednesday, Musk emailed all Twitter employees telling them to be “extremely hardcore” and work “long hours at high intensity.” The Washington Post reported.
With the subject line “A fork in the road,” the new owner of the social media giant urged employees to help rebuild the company, it says CNBC.
The richest man in the world wrote that “only exceptional achievement counts for a passing grade,” noting the high bar he hopes to set in building “Twitter 2.0.” The revamped social media company will have a greater focus on design and product management through engineers reporting directly to him, Musk wrote.
Twitter didn’t immediately return assets Request for comments.
Musk has earned a reputation as a workaholic and demanding manager, notorious for working long hours. Shortly after taking over the company, a Twitter exec went viral for sleeping in the office — something Musk himself has done in the past, Musk says. And earlier this year he urged all Tesla employees to return to the office, saying those who didn’t comply could “work elsewhere.”
Musk followed the company-wide redeployment early Wednesday morning with an ultimatum – employees could either work longer hours or leave the company and receive “three months’ severance pay.” Those on board had to express their interest via a link included in the email by 5pm on Thursday
The email comes days after Musk fired several Twitter employees who publicly criticized him. One of them was senior engineer Eric Frohnhoefer, who had worked at the company for eight years and was reportedly fired via tweet for pointing out Musk’s mistake on a technical issue. Musk later tweeted made a sarcastic apology for dismissing “geniuses,” writing that their “immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere.”
Since Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 28, he has fired nearly half of the company’s employees and quickly rehired some after realizing the company lacked people to perform critical jobs.
He also announced sweeping changes to how Twitter accounts are verified earlier this month, offering the famous blue check, previously only available through an application process, at $7.99/month. Before Musk took over Twitter, the company only verified people calling it “public interest.”
Within days, the abuse of purchased ticks spiraled out of control. Fake accounts and scammers bought authentication brands pretending to be the likes of former US President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Bloomberg reported.
Big companies like Eli Lilly also fell victim to the abuse of paid verification, when a tweet from a scam account posing as the pharmaceutical company wrote: “We’re pleased to announce that insulin is now free.”
The scheme was withdrawn last week amid rising identity theft cases. Musk plans to relaunch Twitter Blue Verified on November 29.
Punting relaunch of Blue Verified to November 29th to make sure that it is rock solid
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022
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