Report: Musk to lay off 50% of Twitter staff, reverse work-from-home policy

Half of the jobs at Twitter will be eliminated, and remote employees will have to report to an office, according to reports.

Half of the social media company's workforce will be eliminated, and Musk plans to reverse the company's work-from-anywhere policy. People with knowledge of the situation were cited. Musk wants to let affected staffers know of the layoffs on Friday.

According to reports, Musk told staff that he wouldn't eliminate 75 percent of the jobs. It was obvious that there would be a lot of layoffs.

There are about 1,500 employees who work from home on a full time basis. Musk has ordered his employees to work from home before. Employees at Musk's companies were told that they had to be in the office at least 40 hours a week.

Workers may have to relocate quickly

If he completed his acquisition of the social network, Musk said he would allow exceptional employees to work from home, according to reports. It wouldn't make sense to fire someone if they can only work from home. According to a report, Musk said at the meeting that the work at Twitter is different from the work atTesla.

Sources inside the company say that many employees can't or won't be willing to relocate, resulting in additional attrition. Employees who were hired to work remotely during the Pandemic would have to decide quickly whether to stay on and could be given 60 days to find a new place to work.

Employees were encouraged to work wherever they wanted. The decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe travelling for business, and what events you attend should be yours. Our approach remains the same. Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work.

Senior personnel on the product teams were asked to reduce their staff by 50%. Layoff lists were drawn up and ranked based on contributions to the company's code made by employees. Engineers and director-level staff from the company were brought in to help assess the layoffs.

Impending layoffs a hot topic inside Twitter

After completing the purchase of the micro-messaging service, Musk immediately fired several executives. A few employees with director and vice president jobs were laid off after that. The article said that Robert Kaiden was one of the last pre-Musk C-suite executives to leave.

According to a Washington Post article, the staff of the social networking site became aware of the 50 percent reduction on Wednesday.

By day's end, word had spread across the company that layoffs—half the staff—would probably come Friday, and that Musk would require Twitter's remaining employees to return to the office full-time. But that word didn't come from Musk, or anyone on his leadership team. It came via Blind, the anonymous workplace gossip site that some Twitter employees say has become their best, and often only, source of information about what's going on inside the company in the chaotic, surreal week since Musk acquired it for $44 billion.

The Washington Post reported that employees have not received any official communication since Musk closed the deal. They haven't been told that Musk completed the purchase, that their CEO and top executives were fired, or that Musk dissolved the board and installed himself as CEO.