Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, explained via a recent late-night email to his staff that they should get used to “extremely hardcore” working hours if they want to stay employed by the company.
This recent memo, which takes place just a short few weeks in the wake of Musk finalizing his purchase of the social media titan for a staggering sum of $44 billion, occurs as he is being made to deal with heavy pushback internally due to his recent changes. The billionaire has already chosen to cut the number of staff for the platform by almost half and personally fired a group of employees that chose to use the platform to call him out publically for internal events.
“Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” explained the email from the new CEO, as reported by Business Insider. “This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
After explaining that he has previously worked 120 hours per week in the past but thinks that working an average of 80 hours per week is “pretty sustainable,” Musk claimed just a few days ago in an interview that even his own personal schedule is known to be extremely chaotic. “I mean, I have too much work on my plate, that is for sure. No doubt about it,” he stated. “The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly.”
Musk claimed within the email that his employees are required to assent to being “part of the new Twitter” via a Google Form that is due by the end of business Thursday, or be issued “receive three months of severance.” He also toyed with the idea of additional layoffs that would include non-technical employees that do not have a front-facing impact on the website.
“Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven,” the man went on. “Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway. At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.”
The entire email sent to Twitter employees by Musk included below:
Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.
Twitter will also be much more engineering-driven. Design and product management will still be very important and report to me, but those writing great code will constitute the majority of our team and have the greatest sway. At its heart, Twitter is a software and servers company, so I think this makes sense.
If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below:
[Google form link]
Anyone who has not done so by 5pm ET tomorrow (Thursday) will receive three months of severance.
Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.
