Elon Musk banned remote work on Twitter in his first email to staff since buying the company, warning that the social media platform needs ‘intense work’ in the office to straighten out its fortune.
“The road ahead is arduous and will require hard work to succeed,” he wrote in a company-wide email sent to employees on Thursday morning and seen by the Financial Times.
“We are . . . changing Twitter’s policy so that remote work is no longer permitted, unless specifically exempted.
Employees must be in the office for at least 40 hours per week, except for those “physically unable to travel” or with “a critical personal obligation”, according to the email.
Musk added that he would review and approve any exemptions to the policy himself, asking officials to compile lists of any staff wishing to continue working remotely.
Twitter’s new policy matches Musk’s demands at another company he runs, Tesla, where in June he insisted staff report to work at least 40 hours a week in the office or find a new job.
It comes a week after Musk cut about half of the company’s 7,500 employees. Several top executives have now also left, sparking fears over data security and privacy compliance, especially given how quickly the platform has rolled out new features since Musk took over. .
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, one of the top consumer protection regulators, said on Thursday it was “following recent developments on Twitter with grave concern.” Twitter signed a strict consent decree in 2011 pledging to better protect user data, which the regulator continues to oversee.
“No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees,” the FTC added. “Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we’re ready to use them.”
On Thursday morning, Twitter’s chief information security officer, Lea Kissner, announced their departure. Separately, a company attorney warned on the company’s Slack channel that Musk is taking a cavalier attitude to privacy regulations and that the company could potentially face significant fines from the FTC. according to a report by The Verge that was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter. . Twitter’s chief compliance officer and chief privacy officer have also left the company, according to the Verge report, which was confirmed by the person familiar.
Since taking the reins just a few weeks ago, Musk has seemed to be doubling down on his “go fast, fail fast, move on” approach to running the company, introducing and dropping new features within hours, in addition to upsetting Twitter’s work practices. .
The email to Twitter employees, originally reported by Bloomberg, was the first they had received directly from Musk since its $44 billion takeover of the social media platform. Musk instead used his personal Twitter account to publicly brainstorm new initiatives and products for the company.
The remote working decision was met with frustration by some staff who walked away from the office during the coronavirus pandemic and now face long commutes, two former Twitter workers said.
Former chief executive Parag Agrawal had said in March, before Musk offered to buy the company, that staff could work from home “full-time forever”.
3) Where you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes WFH full-time forever. 4) Distributed work will be difficult. We will have to be proactive, intentional, learn and adapt. 5) Thanks to the team that supports us on a daily basis.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) March 3, 2022
A Twitter employee said: “It’s not a huge surprise given how [Musk] does things in other companies. [The] the manner of communications and the lack of notice did not help to bring people with him.
Bruce Daisley, former European Vice President of Twitter, said: “It’s an easy management mistake to conclude that employees working from home are less productive or collaborative than those in the office. . .[but]teleworkers work more, not less. Generally, when we feel that we can maintain a better harmony between work and personal life, we feel happier in our work. Musk might find his team finds themselves more frustrated with this extra hit against them.
Last week, Musk warned that the platform had seen a “massive drop in revenue” since completing its takeover.
Musk also asked staff members to work around the clock on new products, including a subscription fee for users to have access to a blue check mark on their profile, as well as features such as the button of change.
Twitter’s new office rules put it at odds with its social media rivals, all of which have implemented flexible working. At TikTok, staff have been told to return to the office at least two days a week from September this year, while Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has encouraged remote working, with several senior executives based out of the country. company headquarters.
