Elon Musk Sends First Email to Twitter Staff, Bans ‘Work-from-home’ Culture

Elon Musk has issued the first general email to Twitter employees as the new owner and CEO of the microblogging platform. In the company-wide memo, the outspoken businessman stated that he is discontinuing Twitter’s “work from home forever” policy. Musk noted that the company’s staff must be physically present no less than 40 hours a week. Furthermore, the Tesla CEO said he is personally responsible for approving alternative arrangements.

Musk further struck out “days of rest” from Twitter staff calendars. This non-working day(s) was a monthly day off introduced during the height of the pandemic.

In the inaugural Twitter staff email, Elon Musk noted that the company needs significant subscription revenue to survive the economic downturn. To improve Twitter’s chances of weathering said crunch, the Tesla and SpaceX boss is making changes to its operational mode. Reports state that Musk plans to shift the social media giant’s business so that it generates at least 50% of its revenue from subscriptions. This way, the seasoned business executive opines that the San Francisco-based organization would become less reliant on advertising. However, advertising revenue has always constituted a sizable chunk of Twitter’s revenue haul, and Musk admitted he does not expect that to change anytime soon.

Elon Musk Inaugural Email to Twitter Staff Effective Immediately

Musk’s new rules become effective immediately, as he said there is no way to disregard the bleak economic outlook. In his message to staff, the billionaire wrote, “The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed”. He further stated that the topmost priority over the next few days is identifying and suspending any verified spam accounts, bots, and trolls.

New owner Musk is ringing in the changes at Twitter amid a string of additional lower-level resignations at the social media giant. Notable among such staff departures is that of Chief Information and Security Officer Lea Kissner, who wrote:

“I’ve made the hard decision to leave Twitter. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing people and I’m so proud of the privacy, security, and IT teams and the work we’ve done. I’m looking forward to figuring out what’s next.”

Kissner’s departure message sparked a thread of sympathetic responses, to which he also replied:

“I’ve loved this job and we got *so* much done, but here we are.”

Musk Reputed Work Ethic

Musk’s order that Twitter employees physically return to work reflects his dissatisfaction with the company’s existing work culture. It also reflects a similar policy he implemented at Tesla earlier in the year. At the end of May, Musk demanded that Tesla employees log in no less than 40 hours a week at the office or resign. In one of the warning emails sent, the brash businessman said, “If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”

Reports at the time also stated that some Tesla employees who were unable to return immediately physically were granted a grace period. However, according to the workers, Tesla fired them when they failed to return to the office.

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