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Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#271

Post by LightG »

sosodev wrote: post #245
gamblor956 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can verify that Twitter is laying people off. Several contacts at Twitter were laid off this weekend and hoping they I could submit their resumes to my current employer. They were told that these were performance based terminations, despite not receiving any negative evaluations during their time at Twitter. They were also told they needed to sign NDAs in order to receive any severance. Can't confirm the %.

Is requiring an NDA for severance even legal? That's seriously sketchy

No post body was provided.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#272

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

jiveturkey wrote: post #219
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in a dev situation I think 10-1 devs-to-managers is actually a pretty sizable ratio - I think ideally it's more of a 6-to-8ish to one. Now, this of course assumes that engineering managers are not solely doing employee management but also are serving some "tech lead" type roles. I.e. even if an engineering manager isn't coding I think it's essential that (a) a considerable portion of their time is spent doin…

You read it backwards. He claimed 10-1 managers-to-devs.

Yikes, I did read it wrong! OK, that would be insane, but I'm still curious if (a) that's not a pretty gross exaggeration or (b) if there some sort of job titling that's making the ratios look weird, e.g. "product manager" doesn't actually manage any people, or the way everyone who works in a bank is a "VP".

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#273

Post by yamtaddle »

sosodev wrote: post #245
gamblor956 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can verify that Twitter is laying people off. Several contacts at Twitter were laid off this weekend and hoping they I could submit their resumes to my current employer. They were told that these were performance based terminations, despite not receiving any negative evaluations during their time at Twitter. They were also told they needed to sign NDAs in order to receive any severance. Can't confirm the %.

Is requiring an NDA for severance even legal? That's seriously sketchy

NDAs/non-disparagement being required to receive severance is very common. Common enough I assume it must be legal.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#274

Post by dirheist »

saurik wrote: post #253

6 months ago it was all painted (maybe seemingly, though, by prior executives who weren't speaking for Musk) as if this wouldn't be a big deal for employees, which to me makes this idea that people are being rapidly fired "for cause" after a suddenly-imposed weekend work shift deadline extra shitty :/. (Even if I do sometimes claim that Twitter is incompetent as an organization or bloated with idle staff, these are h…

Those being laid off for cause are the 3 senior level executives (the old CEO, the lead counsel, and the content policy head). Those 3 had a 100+ million cumulative severance package which they are now no longer eligible to receive, although none of them are strapped for cash.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#275

Post by [deleted] »

rglover wrote: post #167
rjzzleep wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm all for the European don't work unpaid overtime, but what I don't get is the sense of entitlement these people had, when they were threatening to leave in advance and then decided they'd rather just stay in their cushy jobs in the hopes that Musk would change his mind. "WE WILL SHOW YOU ELON" - Show what exactly? That billing and other completely standard cookiecutter SaaS features can't be implemented by other e…

The pitfalls of extreme comfort. You have a place like the Bay Area with near perfect weather, obscene amounts of money, and at least until relatively recently, a social environment that lorded you as a "rockstar." You look at your bank account and think "yeah, I AM a Rockstar! I DO deserve this! Everybody wants to be ME!" Rinse and repeat that general attitude for ten years or so and blammo (which is even more explo…

[deleted]

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#276

Post by linuxhansl »

saurik wrote: post #253

6 months ago it was all painted (maybe seemingly, though, by prior executives who weren't speaking for Musk) as if this wouldn't be a big deal for employees, which to me makes this idea that people are being rapidly fired "for cause" after a suddenly-imposed weekend work shift deadline extra shitty :/. (Even if I do sometimes claim that Twitter is incompetent as an organization or bloated with idle staff, these are h…

Firing 25% of the workforce "for cause" looks like a very hard sell to me, and would open up Twitter for a barrage of lawsuits - and rightly so.

Even laying off 25% of the workers would be hard to justify at this point. I'm certainly curious where this all is going.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#277

Post by superfrank »

jupp0r wrote: post #160

Not sure what Musk's intentions are with this. Normally this will lead to the best people updating their resumes and switching over to less toxic places ASAP. You are left with people who are attached to their ancient code or who can't find good jobs elsewhere. edit: typoz

If you're Musk and you truly believes that the company is bloated with underperforming employees, what is the alternative?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#278

Post by lotsofpulp »

lottin wrote: post #265
lotsofpulp wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not providing severance pay at all is perfectly legal. In most cases, an employer will want at least something in return for providing severance pay.

Why do they provide it then? Out of goodwill?

Sometimes, or that could be a partial reason as a signal to current and future employees about what management is like.

But NDA is another reason, or even keeping unemployment insurance premiums low by having everyone that accepts severance state that they are voluntarily leaving the company in exchange for the severance.

By voluntarily separating, they cannot collect unemployment benefits from the state, which means the state charged the employer less in unemployment insurance premiums.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#279

Post by LightG »

yboris wrote: post #17
swozey wrote: post #9

Evidently Musk had Tweeps work all weekend on the new Verified feature lest they get fired, and some were fired "for cause" anyway. https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1587029446061686784

How is it legal to demand people work on weekends? How is it legal to (even threaten) firing if a new assigned task that takes a long time is not done on time?

Murica!!!

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#280

Post by rchaud »

deltree7 wrote: post #261
gamblor956 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can verify that Twitter is laying people off. Several contacts at Twitter were laid off this weekend and hoping they I could submit their resumes to my current employer. They were told that these were performance based terminations, despite not receiving any negative evaluations during their time at Twitter. They were also told they needed to sign NDAs in order to receive any severance. Can't confirm the %.

Well to be honest, Musk and his team looked at quantity/quality of code produced in the last 60 days, with hopefully a 10 minute chance to defend their lack of quantity/quality. Lots of coasters in big companies can get with good rating just be being on the good side of manager/peers and even get Bonus points if you are vocal about DEI and activism.

You'd think he'd have sacked Tesla's self-driving unit's employees several times over if this was the case.
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