# After Elon Musk’s ultimatum, Twitter employees start exiting
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2022-11-18
Category: BUSINESS
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business
Meta Title: Twitter Employees Quit Over Elon Musk's Demands
Meta Description: Hundreds of Twitter employees have left after Musk's ultimatum for 'long hours at high intensity'. Top management fired as culture shifts to
URL: https://financedigest.com/after-elon-musks-ultimatum-twitter-employees-start-exitinghtml

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By Sheila Dang, Paresh Dave and Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) -Hundreds of Twitter Inc employees are estimated to have decided to quit the beleaguered social media company following a Thursday deadline from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave.

The departures highlight the reluctance of some of Twitter’s 3,000 or so employees to remain at a company where Musk earlier fired half of the workforce including top management, and is ruthlessly changing the culture to emphasize long hours and an intense pace.

[Musk took to Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/elon-musk-plans-to-cut-half-of-twitter-jobs-bloomberg-news.html "Elon Musk plans to cut half of Twitter jobs – Bloomberg News") late on Thursday and said that he was not worried about resignations as “the best people are staying.

The billionaire owner also added: “We just [hit another all time](https://www.financedigest.com/coca-cola-hbc-flags-one-time-195-million-hit-from-russian-operations.html "Coca-Cola HBC flags one-time 5 million hit from Russian operations") high in Twitter usage…,” without elaborating.

Musk met some top employees on Thursday to try to convince them to stay, said one current employee and a recently [departed](https://www.financedigest.com/hundreds-of-tyson-foods-employees-to-depart-as-company-closes-offices-wsj.html "Hundreds of Tyson Foods employees to depart as company closes offices – WSJ") employee who is in touch with Twitter colleagues.

The [company also notified employees](https://www.financedigest.com/why-more-companies-are-asking-new-employees-to-commence-employment-before-christmas.html "Why more companies are asking new employees to commence employment BEFORE Christmas.") that it will close its offices and cut badge access until Monday, according to two sources. Security officers began kicking some [employees](https://www.financedigest.com/how-a-strategic-office-design-can-affect-the-wellbeing-and-productivity-of-employees.html "How a strategic office design can affect the wellbeing and productivity of employees") out of one office on Thursday evening, one source said.

Over 110 Twitter [employees across](https://www.financedigest.com/700000-employees-across-the-uk-have-access-to-fair-finance-will-reach-one-million-employees-in-2017.html "700,000 Employees Across The UK Have Access to Fair Finance, Will Reach One Million Employees in 2017") at least four continents had announced their decision to leave in public Twitter posts reviewed by Reuters, though each resignation could not be independently verified. About 15 employees, many in ad sales, posted their intention to [stay at the company](https://www.financedigest.com/analysis-u-s-companies-spend-billions-on-stay-at-home-tech-boding-ill-for-office-properties.html "Analysis-U.S. companies spend billions on stay-at-home tech, boding ill for office properties").

In Twitter’s internal chat tool, over 500 employees wrote farewell messages on Thursday, a source familiar with the notes said.

A poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies [employees through their work](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-protect-your-employees-mental-health-while-remote-working.html "How to protect your employees’ mental health while remote working") email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, had showed 42% of 180 respondents opting for “Taking exit option, I’m free!

A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants said they “clicked yes to stay, I’m hardcore.”

The exact number of [employees intending to leave the company](https://www.financedigest.com/different-employee-engagement-outcomes-for-u-s-and-canadian-companies-amidst-continued-economic-growth-pressures.html "DIFFERENT EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT OUTCOMES FOR U.S. AND CANADIAN COMPANIES AMIDST CONTINUED ECONOMIC GROWTH Pressures") could not be immediately established.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

PLATFORM STABILITY

The departures include many engineers responsible for fixing bugs and preventing service outages, raising questions about the stability of the [platform amid](https://www.financedigest.com/meta-to-wind-down-nfts-on-platforms-amid-crypto-bust.html "Meta to wind down NFTs on platforms amid crypto bust") the loss of employees.

On Thursday evening, the version of the Twitter app used by employees began slowing down, according to one source familiar with the matter, who estimated that the public version of Twitter was at [risk of breaking during the night](https://www.financedigest.com/survey-shows-10-of-small-business-owners-get-less-than-4-hours-sleep-every-night-worrying-about-business-risks.html "Survey shows 10% of small business owners get less than 4 hours sleep every night, worrying about business risks").

“If it does break, there is no one left to fix things in many areas,” the person said, who declined to be named for fear of retribution.

Reports of [Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/loreal-denies-report-saying-it-suspended-twitter-ad-spending.html "L’Oréal denies report saying it suspended Twitter ad spending") outages rose sharply from less than 50 to about 350 reports on Thursday evening, according to website Downdetector, which tracks website and app outages.

In a private chat on Signal with about 50 Twitter staffers, nearly 40 said they had decided to leave, according to the former employee.

And in a private Slack [group for Twitter’s current and former](https://www.financedigest.com/shareholder-group-iss-backs-barclays-board-over-former-ceo-staley.html "Shareholder group ISS backs Barclays board over former CEO Staley") employees, about 360 people joined a new channel titled “voluntary-layoff,” said a person with knowledge of the Slack group.

A separate poll on Blind [asked staffers to estimate what percentage of people would leave Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/twitter-asks-some-laid-off-workers-to-come-back-bloomberg-reports.html "Twitter asks some laid off workers to come back, Bloomberg reports") based on their perception. More than [half of respondents estimated at least 50% of employees would leave](https://www.financedigest.com/more-than-half-of-workers-are-open-to-leaving-their-current-employers.html "MORE THAN HALF OF WORKERS ARE OPEN TO LEAVING THEIR CURRENT EMPLOYERS").

Early on Wednesday, Musk had emailed Twitter employees, saying: “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly [competitive world](https://www.financedigest.com/how-music-sound-can-help-financial-brands-differentiate-in-a-competitive-world.html "How Music & Sound Can Help Financial Brands Differentiate in a Competitive World"), we will need to be extremely hardcore.

The email asked staff to click “yes” if they wanted to [stick around](https://www.financedigest.com/the-artificial-joints-market-to-stick-around-based-on-organic-expansion.html "The Artificial Joints Market to stick around based on organic expansion"). Those who did not respond by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday would be [considered to have quit and given a severance package](https://www.financedigest.com/4-questions-to-consider-before-embarking-on-a-contract-packaging-expansion.html "4 questions to consider before embarking on a contract packaging expansion"), the email said.

As the deadline approached, employees scrambled to figure out what to do.

One team within Twitter decided to take the leap [together and leave the company](https://www.financedigest.com/the-digital-ir-revolution-how-new-technology-is-bringing-companies-and-shareholders-closer-together.html "The digital IR revolution: how new technology is bringing companies and shareholders closer together"), one employee who is leaving told Reuters.

[Blue hearts and salute emojis flooded Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/musk-to-relaunch-twitters-blue-check-subscription-on-nov-29.html "Musk to relaunch Twitter’s blue check subscription on Nov 29") and its internal chatrooms on Thursday, the second time in two weeks as Twitter employees said their goodbyes.

Notable departures included Tess Rinearson, who was tasked with [building a cryptocurrency team](https://www.financedigest.com/build-a-strong-remote-team-with-these-5-steps.html "Build A Strong Remote Team With These 5 Steps") at Twitter. Rinearson tweeted the blue heart and salute emojis.

In an apparent jab at [Musk’s call for employees to be “hardcore,” the Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/musks-twitter-deal-could-test-tesla-executive-bench.html "Musk’s Twitter deal could test Tesla executive bench") profile bios of several departing engineers on Thursday described themselves as “softcore engineers” or “ex-hardcore engineers.

As the resignations rolled in, [Musk cracked a joke on Twitter](https://www.financedigest.com/musk-halts-twitters-coveted-blue-check-amid-proliferation-of-imposters.html "Musk halts Twitter’s coveted blue check amid proliferation of imposters").

How do you make a small fortune in [social media?”](https://www.financedigest.com/yoono-discuss-the-importance-of-social-media-checks.html "Yoono discuss The Importance of Social Media Checks") he tweeted. “Start out with a large one.”

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas, Hyunjoo Jin in [San Francisco](https://www.financedigest.com/paul-jasper-joins-rimon-laws-san-francisco-office-as-partner.html "Paul Jasper joins Rimon Law’s San Francisco Office as Partner") and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Additional reporting by Martin Coulter and Akanksha Khushi; Editing by Sam Holmes and Mark Potter)


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