Elon Musk is turning out to be the absolute worst billionaire taskmaster. Not only did he lay off half of Twitter’s staff earlier this month in an apparent effort to reduce the company’s ongoing upkeep costs, but he’s also telling those few who remain that they’ll need to work harder to receive a "passing grade."
Sources speaking to The Washington Post revealed Musk emailed all Twitter staff inviting them to be part of a new "extremely hardcore Twitter." The email asked workers to click a link that told them to commit to "working long hours at high intensity." And staff that agree to working those long hours will still have to somehow go above and beyond as "only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."
It's unknown what "passing grade" means in this context, but it sure does sound like a veiled threat to fire anyone who just keeps working their nine-to-five. It's also unknown what Musk will do to workers that bring up labor laws that outlaw being forced to work overtime, but then again, Musk has proven to be the kind of boss that doesn't really care much about the law.
The email said all staff had until November 17 at 5 PM to click the link or they’d be summarily terminated with three months severance. Sounds like that severance might be the better deal, quite frankly.
At this rate, Twitter won't have anyone left to man the servers. Musk already fired half of Twitter's staff, with entire departments being laid off if they don't conform to Musk's vision for the company. That vision apparently included an $8 Blue subscription that allowed anyone to impersonate celebrities and companies, causing mass chaos and advertisers to run for the hills. Musk said Blue will return on November 29 after being delayed to ensure it returns "rock solid."
Even staff that didn't get fired have to be careful what they say online. Anyone who's critical of Musk on Twitter seems to be getting fired by the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist." I guess he meant to say speech would be free for him, but for everyone at Twitter, it could cost you your job.