Washington DC, United States, October 2020,Tesla CEO and space X founder Elon Musk
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Twitter Ultimatum: Employees Exit in Droves, Lockouts, Predictions of Doom

After Elon Musk issued an “extremely hardcore” work ultimatum, employees are reportedly leaving in droves. Twitter has closed its offices, locking out staff, and one remaining employee predicts a rapid end for the platform.

Twitter employees head for the exits after Musk gives “extremely hardcore” work ultimatum

New Twitter owner and interim CEO Elon Musk gave employees a deadline of Thursday, November 17, at 5 PM ET to respond to an ultimatum to commit to an “extremely hardcore” work ethic or resign.

A former Twitter executive who recently left the company said a “mass exodus” occurred on Thursday, CNN reported.

Musk called on employees to sign up for “long hours at high intensity” or leave. He also asked employees to commit to “six rules of insane productivity.”

Reuters, citing internal twitter communications, included a pool in which 42% of 180 workers surveyed Thursday said they were “Taking the exit option,” the New York Post reported. Another 25% said they “reluctantly” chose to stay, while only 7% said they would stay and accept the “hardcore” requirement.

An ongoing source of contention among Twitter employees was Musk trying to institute more in-house work and shifting responsibility to managers to ensure remote workers were “making an excellent contribution, as well as saying in an email that remote workers would be expected to attend an in-person meeting no less than once a month.

“Remote work is no longer allowed, unless you have a specific exception,” he told employees, the Guardian reported. “Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval.”

Twitter locks staff out of offices

In a message observed and reported by BBC, Twitter employees were told its offices would be closed until Monday, November 21. The company did not offer a reason for the lockout.

“Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere,” the message added.

Some speculate that the shutdown is to give Musk and his team time to figure out which Twitter workers they need to cut access for amid a fear that exiting employees are going to sabotage the company.

“Hundreds upon hundreds of Twitter employees have technically resigned but still have access to Twitter’s internal systems,” Alex Heath wrote on Twitter, “with some speculating it is because the employees tasked with managing that access also resigned.”

Remaining Twitter employee predicts company will be dead within a week

The few remaining Twitter employees believe the social media platform does not have long to go before it’s gone forever. One unidentified remaining employee told Newsweek he believes the website “has about a week left before it’s dead.”

Musk looking for a leader to run Twitter

Elon Musk revealed this week that he is looking for a leader to take over as CEO of the company, Unilad reported.

“There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said. “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”

Musk went on to state that he will continue to run the social media platform “until it is a strong place, which will take some time.”

Twitter exec returns to lead trust and safety team

Ex-executive Ella Irwin has returned as the new head of trust and safety, replacing a senior executive Yoel Roth, who quit last week, Insider reported. Irwin previously served as vice president of product for health and Twitter services.