According to an internal document sent to Twitter employees and seen by AFP on Friday, “about 50% of employees will be affected” by the ongoing layoffs at the company.
The Californian company acquired by Elon Musk last week and which employed 7,500 employees at the end of October, began a series of layoffs around the world and announced the temporary closure of its offices.
Previously, Reuters said Twitter will notify employees via email on Friday if they have been laid off, temporarily close its offices and deny employees entry, after a week of uncertainty about the company’s future under the new owner. , Elon Musk.
The social media company said in an email to employees that it will notify them by 9am PT (12pm EDT / 1600 GMT) about the layoffs.
“In an effort to put Twitter on the right path, we will tackle the difficult process of shrinking our global workforce on Friday,” read the email sent Thursday and viewed by Reuters.
According to internal plans, seen by Reuters this week, Musk, the richest man in the world, is considering firing about 3,700 Twitter employees, or about half of the company’s workforce, as he tries to cut costs. and impose new business rules.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Twitter said in the email that its offices will be temporarily closed and employee access cards suspended to “help ensure the safety of every employee as well as Twitter’s systems and customer data.”
The letter states that the social media platform says that Twitter employees who are not affected by the layoffs will be notified via their work email addresses, while those who have been fired will be notified of the next steps on their personal email. .
Some employees tweeted that they had been denied access to the company’s electronic system and expressed concern that this indicated they would be fired.
“It looks like I’m out of work. I’ve been remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack messaging,” wrote a Twitter user, describing him as a former company manager.
Twitter employees filed a class action against the company Thursday, claiming it was conducting mass layoffs without giving them the required 60-day notice, in violation of federal and California law.
The lawsuit asked the San Francisco federal court to issue an injunction to prevent Twitter from requiring employees, who are being fired, to sign documents without informing them of their legal status.
According to two people familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message seen by Reuters, Musk called on Twitter teams to save up to $ 1 billion in annual infrastructure costs.
It has already fired the company’s senior employees such as its CEO and senior executives in the financial and legal sectors. Others, including the directors of advertising, marketing and human resources, have also left the company in the past week.
Chaos and uncertainty reigned in Musk’s first week as a Twitter owner. Hours later, two company-wide meetings were scheduled and canceled. Employees told Reuters they were left to gather information through media reports, private message groups and anonymous forums.
The long-overdue layoffs have dulled Twitter’s famous culture of openness that many of its employees have praised.
“If you are in an office or on your way to the office, please go home,” Twitter said in the email Thursday.
Two employees told Reuters that shortly after the email reached the employees’ email, hundreds flocked to the company’s Slack channels to say hello to their colleagues, and that someone invited Musk to join the channel. .
