The short message service Twitter has terminated almost half of its employees. Now they share their experiences, some of which are frighteningly lacking in empathy.
No sooner had he taken the lead than Musk took the ax to Twitter. Because he wants to save more than a billion in costs, the workforce is being massively shrunk first: almost half of Twitter employees lost their jobs on Friday. Under the hashtag
Even the notice of termination sounded brutal: the employees concerned were informed by email that their service was no longer required. In practice, however, the ejection often seems to have been much harsher: Many employees were simply locked out of the work equipment.
Ice cold eviction
This is reported by several former “Tweeps”, as the Twitter workforce affectionately describes itself. “It doesn’t look good. I can’t check my emails anymore. The Mac won’t turn on anymore,” Chris Younie, who is responsible for partnerships with the entertainment sector, posted on Friday night. “It’s great that this happens at three in the morning. Very considerate,” he adds sarcastically.
Community Manager Simon Balmain did not find out about his termination through the email either. “Looks like I’m out of a job. I just got remotely locked out of my laptop and removed from Slack,” he laments. One ex-employee, who calls herself “neeks,” reported an even bigger sacking: “My entire team just got logged out. Officially an ex-tweep. It’s been a wild ride.”
No trouble with colleagues
But although frustration and anger can be read between the lines: Most tweets about the Hastag Oneteam are positive – compared to the former colleagues, but also the time at the group. “It looks like my time on Twitter is over. It stinks. Tweeps: You are the best of the best. See you,” tweeted Jenna Hitchcock. “Don’t cry because it’s over. Be happy that it happened,” advises Myriam. “I’m grateful to be able to experience all of this. Thanks to every single person who made Twitter so incredibly special,” said Juan Shishido.
Even the disgruntled exiles share this attitude. “All you other people on Twitter, you are the best,” Chris Youni also ended his tweet quoted above. Balmain also draws a positive conclusion for himself: “Oneteam forever. I loved you all so much. It’s a shame it has to end like this.”
shock with announcement
It had been suspected all week that the Twitter employees had to prepare for a shock of dismissal. Musk wanted to fire 75 percent of the employees, it was said at the weekend, the boss denied. On Thursday morning it was announced for the first time that more than half of the employees would still lose their jobs.
The tweeps therefore used the last few hours together for a detailed farewell. “Tweeps use the time to hang out in Slack and say nice things to each other until their access is turned off,” reports Casey Newton. “I’ve never seen anything like it. A lot of really incredible people are leaving Twitter today. And we’re all going to be worse off without them,” he adds.
“My last crying elevator selfie on Twitter New York,” Rena Levin wrote on a photo with two other colleagues on Thursday. She should be right. A few hours later, she only announced dryly: “Logged out of Slack and email.”
What: Twitter
