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Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

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Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#171
post #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…

I feel like Musk is making a spectacle of Twitter layoffs as a way to curry favor with those who very vocally disliked Twitter’s moderation policies, most of whom were just social media clout chaser types. Makers getting sacrificed to please the attention-seeking “professionals”

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#172
post #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…

[dead]

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#173
post #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…

Even worse than that, immigration status. Getting laid off when on H1B, especially when other companies are freezing hiring and we are getting close to the holidays when everything takes longer is terrifying . You are on a clock for being simply kicked out of the country.

Was this not known when signing up for H1B?

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#174
I got laid off but least I had the dignity of being told in person, given time to hand over my projects, allowed to remove my personal stuff from my work laptop (did not have any) and a generous severance package - it was about a month.

So thankful I don't work in the US.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#175
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that Twitter the company owes $12bn to Morgan Stanley, that will be a serious problem for them.

Meh, Morgan Stanley has had bigger losses. How much of it is actually their money anyway? My guess is the losses will be passed down to the individuals who gave MS the $$$. Morgan probably bundled it all up, made a nice fee, and passed it on to Musk.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#177

Everywhere I worked access to systems was revoked before people received their termination communication from HR. This is standard practice in industry to prevent last minute IP theft, or destructive revenge actions at an emotional time.

For the employee(s) being laid off, yes. I've never heard of a company closing their offices entirely during a layoff round. (That doesn't mean it hasn't happened!)

I think it means that they feel that they can do it safely without it. It also saves them from having journalists taking photos.

Your security team and HR team must be really good lay-off some many people without causing violence, law suits, data leaks.

I can easily imagine that if 50% of people present in a office were laid off some would start a protest within the office which could degrade into some violence, damages and law suits. Also, having the HR systems automation must be really on par to revoke access correctly to so many people.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#178
post #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…

It's okay to feel bad for people who lose their jobs. But business cycles are important for a healthy economy. Unsustainable ventures need to die or be pruned at some point if you want to generate lasting prosperity. Whether this specific instance actually serves to create a more productive and more dynamic company remains to be seen, and it sucks for the people affected, but if they're skilled and useful – as every…

"if they're skilled and useful – as every person should always strive to be"

Side note, but the fact that people will "be fine" based on their level of economic usefulness - and, indirectly, linking their value as a human to their ability to be productive - is what keeps me up at night thinking about what happens when automation outclasses all of us

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#180
And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package.

Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is hard. I wonder if we'll see more downtime and issues now.

I think this is also a great experiment for everyone who either thinks Elon is a genius and the greatest thing to bless this Earth, or those who say he's overrated and Tesla and SpaceX were successes independent of him. I think Twitter has been around long enough that we've all formed impressions of it. Let's see what this single change of replacing ownership actually results in.

Anyone want to make predictions about the state of Twitter in a few years?

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