Elon Musk has continued to switch things up since buying Twitter in October 2022. Most of his moves have been controversial at best and downright disastrous at best. However, the Tesla CEO has been steadfast in forging ahead, and now he wants what’s left of his workforce to do the same. To that end, Elon Musk issued staff with an ultimatum. Commit to being “hardcore” about work or be fired tomorrow.
- The deadline Musk set was November 17. That’s the day employees need to respond to Musk’s request to work “long hours at high intensity” as well as being “extremely hardcore,” per The Guardian. In other words, slog yourself into the ground at a terrible company that’s dying a slow (?) death for little payoff.
- Those who don’t agree will be fired. Musk was nice enough to offer three months’ severance pay to those who aren’t willing to meet his demands.
- Musk is aiming to rebuild Twitter. That’s why he needs such a high level of commitment from his remaining workers. “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” he wrote. “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
- Employees will need to click a link to confirm their agreement. If they don’t, they’re automatically cut and will receive their severance pay in due course. “Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful,” Musk concluded in the company-wide email.
- This could reduce Twitter’s workforce even further. At the beginning of November 2022, Musk fired 50% of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, including 90% of workers in India. An additional 4,000 contractors who worked as part of the company’s content moderation team, were also cut. It remains clear how many who are still there will get on board with Musk’s plan, or how much longer Twitter will even be a website. Maybe Musk should follow Mark Ruffalo’s advice and get off Twitter.
