The Washington Post published a fascinating account of what's happening inside Twitter, the company with 7,500 employees. The workers have heard nothing since the takeover. No word from the new boss. At one time, he said he would fire 75% of the workforce, then changed it to 50%. He is swiftly destroying whatever collegiality and trust existed among colleagues. A large number will soon have their computers locked and told to leave the building at once with their personal possessions.
With rumors of impending layoffs by new owner Elon Musk swirling inside Twitter on Wednesday, an employee noticed that the Google Calendar of one of their new bosses was publicly viewable. On it was an entry at 5 p.m. that day titled "RIF Review" — an acronym for Reduction in Force, or layoffs.
Another Twitter employee was able to view a group on Slack, the workplace chat tool, in which company administrators appeared to be finalizing the precise number of workers to be laid off, and how much they'd receive in severance.
By day's end, word had spread across the company that layoffs — half the staff — would probably come Friday, and that Musk would require Twitter's remaining employees to return to the office full-time. But that word didn't come from Musk, or anyone on his leadership team. It came via Blind, the anonymous workplace gossip site that some Twitter employees say has become their best, and often only, source of information about what's going on inside the company in the chaotic, surreal week since Musk acquired it for $44 billion.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the company's leadership has not confirmed the layoff plans.
Since Musk closed the deal on Oct. 27, employees say, they have not received a single official communication from anyone in a leadership position at the company. They have not been told that Musk completed the purchase, that their CEO and top executives were summarily fired, or that Musk dissolved the board and installed himself as chief executive.
Instead, they have read about Musk's dramatic plans to overhaul the company via media reports, Musk's tweets, back-channel private chats and Blind. Twitter's formerly open corporate culture, centered on all-staff meetings and freewheeling Slack channels where employees and managers shared ideas, plans and jokes, has turned suspicious and secretive, several Twitter employees told The Wasington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.
"It's like Twitter's culture has been completely turned inside out overnight," one employee said. "Mass trauma event over here."
The last official communication to the Twitter staff came the day before Musk took over, when Twitter's head of people, Leslie Berland, sent a cheery email with the subject line "Elon office visit."
"If you're in SF and see him around, say hi!" Berland wrote. "For everyone else, this is just the beginning of many meetings and conversations with Elon, and you'll all hear directly from him on Friday."
But workers did not hear directly from Musk on Friday, when his planned introduction to the company was quietly canceled, or anytime since. The company's regular all-hands meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, disappeared from everyone's calendars on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Berland left the company, according to people familiar with the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. Berland's apparent departure, along with those of several other executives in recent days, was not announced either internally or externally, leaving employees to speculate on Blind about which of their bosses have quit or been fired.
Since Friday, employees have posted memes and comments on the company Slack noting each day that has passed without word from management. One person posted an image of a skeleton with a caption that read, "me waiting on updates from leadership," according to documents obtained by The Post.
In lieu of communicating with employees, Musk and his new deputy Jason Calacanis, who appeared in a company directory over the weekend, have been brainstorming, focus-grouping and announcing new products and policies in public, via their personal Twitter accounts.Twitter's employees have quickly learned to follow their new leaders' Twitter feedsfor updates essential to their work.
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