Twitter Staff Brace Amid Reports Musk Will Axe Half Of Workforce

New owner Elon Musk could make larger than expected job cuts at Twitter, in a fresh blow to its demoralised workforce.

Twitter has already been rocked after Musk dissolved the board of directors, fired senior management at the firm, coupled with an exodus of executives from the platform.

Now two media outlets have reported that Elon Musk Musk could cut about half the 7,500-strong workforce.

Job cuts

Shortly before he closed the deal, Musk reportedly told investors that he planned to axe 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, which if true would shrink the workforce to just over 2,000 staffers.

However on Wednesday last week when Musk visited Twitter HQ, he told Twitter staff that he doesn’t plan to cut 75 percent of staff when he takes over.

That statement however did little to reassure demoralised staff at the firm, and they know job cuts are coming.

Then the Washington Post reported on Monday this week that Musk plans to let go about one-quarter of Twitter’s workforce in a first round of layoffs, meaning the layoffs could amount to nearly 2,000 people.

But now Bloomberg and the Verge have reported that Musk plans to eliminate about 3,700 to 3,800 jobs at Twitter, or half of the social media company’s workforce, in a bid to drive down costs following his $44 billion acquisition, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Musk aims to inform staff losing their jobs on Friday, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing non-public plans.

Remote working

Musk also intends to reverse the company’s existing work-from-anywhere policy forever that was introduced in May 2020.

He will ask remaining staff to report to offices – though some exceptions could be made, the people reportedly said.

This is not an unexpected move.

In June this year for example, Musk told Tesla staff to return to working in the office, or resign.

Twitter staff losing their jobs could be given 60 days of severance pay, it is being reported.

Advertiser concern

The changes are coming thick and fast at Twitter, after a week under the ownership of Elon Musk.

Despite pushback, Twitter Blue will be getting a new $8 price per month, while the editing feature will reportedly be opened up to everyone as soon as this week.

Musk is also reportedly continuing to pressure Twitter staff to redesign the subscription and verification systems within one week.

On Tuesday it was reported that Twitter managers had instructed staff to work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week in order to hit Musk’s aggressive deadlines and that their jobs are at stake.

Musk will also reportedly be putting a “content moderation council” in place, amid advertising concern at his “free speech” approach to such decisions.

Big brand names have reportedly been urged to pause advertising spending on Twitter by advertising giant Interpublic Group (IG), which is recommending that clients of its IPG Media Brands agencies suspend all paid advertising on Twitter for at least a week.