Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ben Zeisloft.
Elon Musk, the incoming owner of social media platform Twitter, notified thousands of employees whether they would be staying at the company or departing amid efforts to reduce operating costs.
Reports emerged earlier this week indicating that the world's richest man was preparing to dismiss 3,700 of the 7,500 employees at Twitter. Some managers had been asked to create lists of employees to fire, with the layoffs slated to occur before employees are scheduled to receive stock benefits as part of their compensation.
The first email, included in full below, informed fired employees that they would no longer have access to Twitter systems and can expect information about their severance packages within a week. Although they are no longer expected to work, the employees will still receive compensation and benefits through January.
The second email, included in part below, told remaining employees that Musk has been listening to customers and other stakeholders on suggestions for improving Twitter. The workers were reminded to demonstrate respect for dismissed colleagues and refrain from talking to the media in accordance with company policy. Twitter offices will be closed until Monday.
The dismissal of rank-and-file Twitter employees comes after Musk immediately fired multiple members of the company's leadership upon taking control of the platform last week, including chief executive Parag Agrawal and legal czar Vijaya Gadde, who pushed for the suspension of former President Donald Trump and suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story days before the 2020 election.
Musk, who also leads Tesla, SpaceX, and a handful of smaller startups, released a statement last week explaining that his $44 billion acquisition deal was motivated by a desire to foster open dialogue and free expression.
"The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence," Musk said.
"There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society."
However, Musk revealed that a number of corporate advertisers have since paused their relationships with Twitter at the request of left-wing activist groups, who claimed that Musk would promote the spread of hateful rhetoric on his platform.
The email to fired employees:
Hello,
As shared earlier today, Twitter is conducting a workforce reduction to help improve the health of the company.
These decisions are never easy and it is with regret that we write to inform you that your role at Twitter has been impacted.
Today is your last working day at the company, however, you will remain employed by Twitter and will receive compensation and benefits through your separation date of February 2, 2023.
During this time, you will be on a Non-Working Notice period and your access to Twitter systems will be deactivated. While you are not expected to work during the Non-Working Notice period, you are still required to comply with all company policies, including the Employee Playbook and Code of Conduct.
Within a week, you will receive details of your severance offer, financial resources extending beyond your Non-Working Notice period.
At that time you will also receive a Separation Agreement and Release of Claims and other offboarding...
The email to remaining employees:
Hello -
Thank you for your patience through this transition and for your commitment to the important work you do at Twitter. We are sending this email to confirm that your employment is not impacted by today's workforce reduction.
Throughout the last week, Elon has spent time with a number of employees, customers, partners, policymakers and Twitter users. He is looking forward to communicating with everyone about his vision for the company soon.
We know you likely have a number of questions and we will have more information to share next week. In the meantime, please note that until Monday, Birdhouse is temporarily offline, our office buildings are temporarily closed and all badge access is temporarily suspended. Offices will reopen on Monday, Nov. 7th.
Thank you for continuing to demonstrate respect for impacted colleagues as we navigate these changes. As a reminder, we expected you to continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.
We look forward to working with you on Twitter's exciting future.
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