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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

#581

Post by jupp0r »

rurp wrote: post #575
superfrank wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is you issue not that he's laying off all these people, but just the speed that he's doing this? Or to put it another way, let's say that he took a year and really studied Twitter and then came to the same conclusion and did the same layoffs, would you have an issue with it then?

If Elon or anyone else actually has strong reason to believe that certain employees are dead weight I'm fine with them being laid off. Given the speed and general dysfunction of this particular case there's basically no chance that's what is going on here.

Exactly. If there was a way to determine the least performing 50% of employees in a matter of two days, they wouldn't be there in the first place anymore. Even if you fire them, that's a surefire way of making sure that the best 5% of people leave the company anyways do to the depressing atmosphere this creates.

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

#582

Post by georgeg23 »

realgeniushere wrote: post #560
whateveracct wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the downvoters - google the WARN act

WARN Act just means you have to give people notice. You can revoke their credentials and tell them to stay home while the 60-day clock runs. You just have to keep paying them for that time.

And presumably their stock also vests?

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

#583

Post by vxNsr »

sulam wrote: post #543
dirheist wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Taylor Leese is a respected Twitter engineering manager who tweeted on Sunday that he was no longer working at Twitter. While it's remotely conceivable that he quit, it's much more likely he was fired. I had reports from friends who worked there that they were asked to stay available over the weekend, presumably for situations like this, or requests from the "war room" group that has been setup.

What is an engineering manager as it relates to actually writing code?

One of the things Elon said was that there appears to be 3 managers for every engineer. I understand the need for a few PMs but if there really was a 3:1 ratio that’s just absurd.

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

#584

Post by gaadd33 »

memish wrote: post #540
linuxhansl wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Even laying off 25% of the workers would be hard to justify at this point. It wouldn't because we're in a downturn and Twitter was already planning layoffs.

Did Twitter already file a WARN act notice about the layoffs? If not, how can it be justified under that?

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

#585

Post by gunapologist99 »

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…

Mr. Agrawal told employees that their stock options would convert to cash when the deal with Mr. Musk closes, which he estimated would take between three and six months. Employees would receive their same benefits packages for a year after the deal was finalized and there were no immediate plans for layoffs, he added.

So, really those two long sentences should be rewritten:

Mr Agrawal, as an officer of the company, engaged in rampant speculation, perhaps to reassure employees (or himself) that their jobs were safe for three months to a year, even though Mr. Musk had repeatedly indicated otherwise.

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

#586

Post by warinukraine »

simonw wrote: post #315
drstewart wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/30/23430008/elon-musk-twitt... >He requested that logged out users visiting Twitter.com be redirected to the Explore page that shows trending tweets and news stories, according to employees familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. Before, visiting Twitter’s homepage while logged out showed only a sign-up form,

Interesting commentary on this from someone who used to work at Twitter: - https://twitter.com/joshelman/status/1586812933043933184 > Changing the logged out home page of Twitter to show more content is likely one of those “easy fixes” that has symbolic effect but very little to no metrics effect. I ran A/B tests on this in 2010. Usually the best way to grow Twitter active users is make people sign up first

Oh he ran A/B 12 years ago. I guess it's settled then.

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

#588

Post by code_runner »

canadiantim wrote: post #551
iammjm wrote: post #481

I used to be a big Musk fan. But the longer it gets, the more i start to dislike him. He starts turning into a Mad King

I’m the opposite. Never was a Musk fan but now that I see him trying to reform twitter I’m very impressed he’s willing to take so much flak for such a direly needed goal.

Anything having to do with twitter is not “direly needed”

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

#589

Post by saurik »

eqbridges wrote: post #426
linuxhansl wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you cite where it’s been said he’s firing 25% (or any significant percentage) “for cause”? The only parties being cited as fired for cause are the outgoing executives, and WaPo article at the top of this post provides reasons for that.

(I am not responding to the "25%" part as I did not use a percent myself, but am responding to the second, stricter, statement.)

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

#590

Post by gaadd33 »

prepend wrote: post #577
datalopers wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they are now no longer eligible to receive Musk doesn't meet the cause outlined in their employment contracts. They'll get their executive early termination severance but it'll require some legal action first.

What cause is outlined in their employment contracts? Do they even have employment contracts?

Yep they are filed with the SEC, you can see one of them here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000119312521...
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