Elon Musk’s tenure atop Twitter is being characterized by dysfunction, chaos and an abundance of layoffs, ordering widespread staff cuts at Twitter around the world a fortnight ago. Many are speculating that as many as half of its 7,500 staff could lose their jobs. At present, the company has laid off about half of its full-time staff. Musk has defended the extraordinary layoffs by stating that redundant employees received a three-month payment from the company.
Layoffs continued over the weekend with thousands of contractors being reportedly laid off with little to no warning. Casey Newtown, a tech reporter noted on Sunday that 4,400 of Twitter’s 5,500 contract employees were terminated. Rather than receiving a warning, contractors were merely denied further access to Slack and their emails. Unsurprisingly, such mass cuts were ‘expected to have significant impact to content moderation and the core infrastructure services’ pivotal to the site’s functioning.
These developments raise questions – and concerns – about how the world’s richest man intends on effectively operating the social media service, in conjunction with his ambitious plans to take it to “new heights”. Rarely have layoffs of this magnitude been made at a tech company by a single individual. While some may note that the scale was not unprecedented, the way in which layoffs have been done so quickly without detailed explanation to workers – about who was being laid off and why – is equally baffling as it is disheartening.
Musk is already facing legal challenges, with five former Twitter workers filing a class-action lawsuit against the company for the lack of notice provided. California and federal laws in the United States require companies to notify employees in advance of mass layoffs.
If you or someone you know wish to discuss this issue further, then please do not hesitate to contact us on 02 8999 9809.