If you want an example of the worst way to lay off staff, take a look at Twitter. The social media company, which was bought by billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion (€44 billion) last week, began the process of making a large number of employees redundant on Friday. The Irish office wasn’t spared, more than 50 per cent are expected to be affected by the move.
But it wasn’t the scale of the lay-offs that was the worst part. Tech companies are shedding jobs, some in large numbers, as the global economic slowdown bites. Rather, it was the manner in which the cuts were communicated to affected staff — via their personal email.
Described by an insider as “carnage”, the lay-offs were “random and indiscriminate”, and seemed to have little input from team managers.
Both current and soon-to-be former staff were locked out of the Twitter offices, with the company claiming it was to protect the safety of employees, user data and Twitter systems.
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[ Elon Musk plans to cut up to half of Twitter workforceOpens in new window ]
[ ‘Carnage’ at Twitter Ireland as staff hear of their fate by emailOpens in new window ]
As lay-offs go, it was brutal.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected. There had been reports of a 75 per cent reduction in staff. But it may not be the end of the story. While Musk is determined to remake the social media company to fit his own needs, he must still stick to local employment laws, including for his Irish and other European staff. And with a class-action suit already filed in the US against Twitter because of the cutbacks, it seems the billionaire’s legal troubles may be just getting started.
In the meantime, he is left with demoralised, likely demotivated staff who know they could easily be next on the chopping block.
