Elon Musk's gift to Twitter employees: Fear and anxiety

Elon Musk has been in ‘God’ mode since he acquired the biggest microblogging platform in the world. He has been firing executives and board directors left, right, and centre. While executives do stand a chance to get massive payouts, thanks to their golden parachutes, employees may not get the same treatment. The mass layoffs at Twitter have begun and some employees are taking to the same microblogging site to announce their departure from the organisation. 
 
Twitter sent an internal email to its employees informing them about the layoff process. The mail notified that layoffs will begin on Friday. The company seems to be prepared for the move as employees were asked to stay at home. Some, who were on the way, were asked to go back. Even if an employee missed the notification, they won’t be able to get access to Twitter offices as their badges have been revoked. 
 
In such situations, employees are expressing their fear in anticipation of being fired. Some have noticed that they have already lost access to all company internal services such as Slack and company mail. Following the layoffs, many existing employees have offered help to fired members in the form of referrals, testimonies and more. 
 
A report by Reuters claimed that conversations between employees are being tracked. The managers have been asked not to call team meetings or even talk to the employees directly. A report cited senior employee saying that they were being monitored. "It feels like we're working among the Gestapo," they said.
 
Some Twitter employees are resorting to other encrypted messaging services to share their experience anonymously. The report claims that apps like Blind, that verify users via official email IDs, have become a safe haven for employees. One of the employees said, "I'm really worried tweeps."
 
There’s no official word on the number of people being sacked by Musk. However, prior reports have suggested that around 50 per cent of the entire workforce will be sacked. That’s about 3,700 employees. 
 

Can a heart be full and broken at the same time?

It was a privilege to lead a #DreamTeam working to build the most inclusive, diverse, equitable & accessible company. I’m forever grateful.

Tweeps, we created lightening in a bottle— nobody will ever change that #UntilWeAllBelong pic.twitter.com/r25lEJ1XpK

— James Loduca (he/him/él) (@JamesLoduca) November 4, 2022

Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack. #OneTeam forever. Loved you all so much.

So sad it had to end this way 💔

— Simon Balmain  (@SBkcrn) November 4, 2022

was just kicked off of slack and email so I’ll say this: working for this special place was a dream come true and I don’t regret a single moment. thank you to everyone who made my time at Twitter what it was. the people were the magic here. #OneTeam forever #lovewhereyouworked

— Jackie (@JackieBergin) November 4, 2022

I am officially out 🫡

It has been the biggest pleasure to be part of the Responsible ML research family at Twitter for the last year and a half 🫶🏽 - more announcements to come.#TwitterLayoffs

— Irene Font Peradejordi 🎈 (@if_peradejordi) November 4, 2022

Probably my last Twitter Slack message. The ML Ethics, Transparency, & Accountability team was one of a kind. Forever grateful that @ruchowdh took a chance on me and I got to be a small part of it. 🙏💙 #lovewhereyouworked pic.twitter.com/L6GtpGa5Hv

— Joan Deitchman (@JoanDeitchman) November 4, 2022

Despite being fired without notice, many employees have also expressed relief. 
 

Imagine feeling relief that you’re the one on the receiving end of the thanos snap 🫰

— Rumman Chowdhury (@ruchowdh) November 4, 2022