Twitter layoffs were so chaotic one employee was kicked off the company systems in the middle of a meeting, report says: 'A master class in how not to do it'

Half of the company's workforce was laid off about a week after Musk took over.

After Musk took control, top executives were fired immediately, but the layoffs began on Friday after a company-wide email was sent to staff. Some employees were let go because they were kicked off the internal systems or locked out of their laptops without notice.

Three sources familiar with the meeting told The New York Times that a person was kicked out of the company's system in the middle of a call. The group, led by project manager Esther Crawford, was talking about updates to the subscription product when one person dropped off the call.

The layoffs were handled poorly by Musk. The WARN Act requires businesses with 100 or more employees to give 60 days' notice of mass layoffs.

It was uncommon to see layoffs of this scale done without a clear explanation and this is a master class in how not to do it. "Telling people you're going to do it in advance, without a reason, is a particularly inhumane way to treat them."

Hours after Musk said layoffs were coming, Rachel Bonn lost her laptop. Chris Younie said he was unable to log into his email or turn on his laptop at 3 a.m. on Friday.

Musk said that the company had no choice but to lay off workers because it was losing so much money. Everyone was offered three months of severance pay, according to him.