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

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

#281

Post by PuppyTailWags »

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.

If some random group of people who don't know me, don't know my labor or my legacy at an organization, don't know my technical abilities, etc. fired me based off the quantity (and subjective quality) of code I produced in the last 60 days, even with 10 minutes to defend myself, I would be spitting mad at the disrespect and dehumanization. Particularly if I know I was being fired days before a stock refresh.

No, this is pissing on people and claiming it's raining.

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

#282

Post by Zigurd »

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…

The senior management who were fired "for cause" are all examples of how golden parachutes are properly used, and they all performed to the highest possible standard: They delivered a full-price payout to shareholders.

The "for cause" bit is a transparently vindictive breach of contract. They will get their money and then some. In fact they may know some lawyers who know how to take Elon's money.

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

#283

Post by saurik »

dirheist wrote: post #274
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.

Elsewhere in this thread, people are discussing a potentially-credible (but maybe you disagree) report on this from Gergely Orosz that does not paint this as "only the 3 senior executives".

https://twitter.com/gergelyorosz/status/1587042365084209153?...

> I talked with an engineering manager who was at Twitter for 5+ years, and got laid off on Sunday "for cause". They were too exhausted from working over the weekend to talk longer: they first need to sleep.

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

#284

Post by dirheist »

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.

He had them print off their last 30-60 days of git commits and called himself a "hardcore coder" in DM's with Parag I really doubt he's qualified to comment on the existing infrastructure behind Twitter.

He's a really good marketer, a good businessman but I do not think he knows what he is doing when he requests access to the codebase behind a massively distributed and scalable system such as Twitters backend

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

#285

Post by mbreese »

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?

Yes. It makes it easier for them to hire down the road. If you know there is a parachute waiting for you, it’s easier to take a risk on joining the company once it starts growing again.

But I suspect it’s mainly as a carrot to sign the NDA/non-compete/whatever else they want you to sign to keep not talk about what happened.

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

#286

Post by DeltaCoast »

SoftTalker wrote: post #257
sosodev wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The one time I was laid off I had to sign an NDA and a non-compete to get severance. I signed it because it was a decent severance package, and the company was going bankrupt and I figured there would not be any entity left that would care or try to enforce it.

I strongly disagree with non-competes for file and rank employees but a non-compete for someone that was laid off is just ridiculous.

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

#287

Post by celestialcheese »

josho wrote: post #235
Volundr wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll note that a company that depends on a single employee like this has failed to plan and is already in trouble. No matter how well you treat them, your critical employees will leave. You might be able to pay them well enough to limit the risk on them taking another job (though few employers do) but even with that sooner or later they'll win the lottery, get hit by a bus, or just retire. A business can and must hed…

As an example to further illustrate your point, it is possible for a business to purchase key employee insurance. As an employee we do not have the same privilege.

Employees have exactly this - it's called "Unemployment Insurance". YMMV depends on which state you live in, but many states, mandate employers pay into this so that when an employee is let go, they receive compensation.

You can debate whether it's enough or fair or whatever, but insurance against unemployment does exist for employees.

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

#288

Post by mcguire »

Pardon me, but isn't this the standard operating procedure for leveraged buyouts of "inefficient" businesses?

Cut expenses to the bone, resulting in a higher profit margin on the same revenue, coast on that revenue while dismembering the business for anything valuable, and then load any transferable debt to the carcass and declare bankruptcy?

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

#289

Post by dirheist »

dave78 wrote: post #65
skhr0680 wrote: post #21

Twitter is already improved IMHO: The "sign in or sign up" nag screen is gone for me!

I looked at Musk's feed and it did not appear, but just now clicked on one of the other Twitter links in this thread and got hit with it almost immediately. Maybe the change is still being rolled out? Maybe it was just a fluke? Maybe it doesn't appear on certain people's feeds for one reason or another?

Prolly not pushed to your local edge location, my version of twitter updated and it no longer shows the pop up screen yet it still shows the blue bar at the bottom of the page (which is fine imo)

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

#290

Post by DeltaCoast »

dmix wrote: post #129
drexlspivey wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank god, I stopped clicking twitter links due to this crap

Reddit and Instagram is even worse. Besides cookie boxes (which all have different UIs and rarely a good no button) it's probably the most annoying thing on an ad-blocked internet. How do the designers who work at these tech companies not understand that repeatedly annoying non-user visitors doesn't make them want to sign up? Nor incentivize others to link to it?

Agreed. I've noticed instagram and reddit over the last year have really tried to squeeze the last bit of growth it can by blocking non registered visitors from using the site past a couple of clicks. I get that it's their server resources I'm using up but for some reason the way they do it just aggravates me.
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