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Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

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Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#81
post #13

> “To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended,” the email reads. “If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home.” Welcome to the dystopian future... I find it a bit galling how companies can force you into home office nowadays if it suits them (you want to avoid your un…

What about Foxconn China not allowing employees to go home because of ,,zero COVID policy''? For me that is dystopian.

> What about Foxconn China not allowing employees to go home because of ,,zero COVID policy''?

It is a little dystopian, but (assuming you're talking about the Zhengzhou story from a couple of days ago) it's also not Foxconn's decision. The local government mandated that the industrial park be locked down.

It's also worth noting that many workers at places like Foxconn live in on-site dorms anyway.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#83
post #8

I'm pretty curious about how and where Twitter employees were distributed. For a company ostensibly worth $44 billion, having 7,500 staff feels pretty damn lean. It feels like Musk isn't just purging people, he's purging the Twitter culture...

For comparison, SpaceX runs an entire private space program on ~12,000 employees. Near-weekly launches. Rocket development+production. Building+deploying Starlink. (Although that's just a number from a quick googling. Maybe they outsource a lot of manufacturing etc?)

SpaceX has many fewer customers and users though

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#85

What a contrast in leadership when you compare the way Twitter is doing this (rumor is right before bonus/stock vesting and cold impersonal email) and how Stripe is conducting their layoffs (empathy, 14 weeks severance, bonus payouts, etc.) Which company is going to have an easier time hiring after the dust settles and they have a growth stage again?

People might choose based on their preferences: You want stability? Join stripe You want to be sharp? Join Twitter

> You want stability? Join stripe

Didn't Stripe just announce their own set of layoffs because they over-hired? That doesn't seem that stable.

You want actual stability, join a fortune 500 company.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#86
post #10

And here come the lawsuits... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/twitter-s...

good luck.... Twitter is at-will. Companies usually fire people on Friday, and show you the door the same moment.

The NY Times makes it sound like there might be a legal case for a different reason:

> While federal and California laws require companies to provide advance notice of mass layoffs, it was not clear whether Mr. Musk had done so. A spokesman for California’s Employment Development Department said on Thursday evening that it had received no such notices from Twitter, which is based in San Francisco and is expected to report mass layoffs to the agency.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/technology/twitter-layoff...

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#87
post #13

> “To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended,” the email reads. “If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home.” Welcome to the dystopian future... I find it a bit galling how companies can force you into home office nowadays if it suits them (you want to avoid your un…

This comment seems very hyperbolic. Working from h for a day hardly seems dystopian.

Maybe it wouldn't rub me the wrong way if it wouldn't come from the same guy who said that Tesla employees have to come in 40 h per week, the rest they can work from home (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/06/musk-to-tesla-an...). Well, he seems ready to embrace home office when it suits him...

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#89
Since apparently nobody else in the thread has any empathy for those who've lost their jobs, future access to healthcare (in the US and less civilized countries), and financial security, I guess I'll be the first: I feel bad for people who are laid off by the machinations of billionaires. I wish we lived in a society where it wasn't optimal to act like raving lunatics will tear down every bit of security you have at a moments notice.

For those who are cheering this on - good thing its not you getting mauled by tigers in the gladiator pit, huh?

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#90
post #4

,,The ML Ethics, Transparency, & Accountability team was one of a kind'' Sure, something nobody has heared of and nobody knows why it should be at a company like Twitter.

> Sure, something nobody has heared of and nobody knows why it should be at a company like Twitter.

Because Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have gotten under fire multiple times for the shit their artificial "intelligence" did - promoting content harmful to society (antivaxxers, flat-earthers, antisemitism, ...), sending them into outright radicalization spirals (YT autoplay), banning of people by automation based on shoddy input or without context...

If you're running AI that has a direct impact on wide society and you're not running an ethics oversight program, you should be arrested for endangerment of society.

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