Twitter fired half its staff. Now it is asking some of them to come back

After laying off roughly half the company on Friday following Elon Musk’s $US44 billion ($68.6 billion) acquisition, Twitter is now reaching out to dozens of employees who lost their jobs and asking them to return.

Some of those who are being asked to return were laid off by mistake, said two people familiar with the moves. Others were let go before management realised that their work and experience might be necessary to build the new features Musk envisions, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information.

Peiter Zatko’s alleges Twitter has been infiltrated by foreign government agents.Credit: Bloomberg

Twitter cut close to 3700 people this week, via email, as a way to trim costs following Musk’s acquisition, which closed in late October. Many employees learnt they lost their job after their access to company-wide systems, such as email and Slack, were suddenly suspended. The requests for employees to return demonstrate how rushed and chaotic the process was.

A Twitter spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment. Twitter’s plan to hire back workers was previously reported by Platformer.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $US4M/day,” Musk tweeted on Friday.

Twitter has close to 3700 employees remaining, say people familiar with the matter. Musk is pushing those who remain at the company to move quickly in shipping new features, and in some cases, employees have even slept at the office to meet new deadlines.

Over the weekend, Twitter rolled out a new Twitter Blue subscription plan, offering a verification check mark for any user who pays $US8 a month. The company also said it would soon be launching other features, including half the ads, the ability to post longer videos and to get priority ranking in replies, mentions and searches.

The New York Times reported Twitter will delay changes to the check marks until after Tuesday’s midterm elections, after users and employees raised concerns that the plan could be misused to sow discord.

The elections will decide whether Republicans or President Joe Biden’s Democrats will control Congress. Employees on the trust and safety team were part of the job cuts, the company’s head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth said in a tweet this week.

Bloomberg

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