Twitter quickly closed its places of work on Friday after telling workers they might be told by e mail later within the day about whether or not they’re being laid off.

The transfer follows per week of uncertainty in regards to the firm’s future underneath new proprietor Elon Musk.

The social media firm stated in an e mail to employees it could inform them by 9 a.m. Pacific time on Friday (12 p.m. EDT/1600 GMT) about employees cuts.

“In an effort to place Twitter on a healthy path, we will go through the difficult process of reducing our global workforce on Friday,” stated the e-mail despatched on Thursday, seen by Reuters.

Musk, the world’s richest individual, is seeking to lower round 3,700 Twitter employees, or about half the workforce, as he seeks to slash prices and impose a demanding new work ethic, based on inside plans reviewed by Reuters this week.

The firm’s content material moderation staff is anticipated to be a goal of the cuts, tweets from Twitter workers steered on Friday. Musk has promised to revive free speech whereas stopping it from descending right into a “hellscape”.

Twitter didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Twitter workers vented their frustrations in regards to the layoffs on the social community, utilizing the hashtag #OneTeam.

User Rachel Bonn tweeted: “Last Thursday in the SF (San Francisco) office, really the last day Twitter was Twitter. 8 months pregnant and have a 9 month old. Just got cut off from laptop access.”

Responding to the #OneTeam thread, Twitter’s Head of Safety & Integrity Yoel Roth, stated: “Tweeps: My DMs (direct message routes) are always open to you. Tell me how I can help.”

Roth was essentially the most senior government to message publicly with a tweet of assist for employees who’re shedding their jobs. He additionally appeared to nonetheless have his job. Last week, Musk endorsed Roth, citing his “high integrity” after he was known as out over tweets essential of former U.S. President Donald Trump years earlier.

Roth didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Twitter stated within the e mail that its places of work could be quickly closed and all badge entry suspended so as “to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.”

The firm’s workplace in Piccadilly Circus, London, appeared abandoned on Friday, with no workers in sight.

Inside, any proof the social media large had as soon as occupied the constructing had been erased. Security employees stated there have been ongoing refurbishments, refusing to remark additional.

The firm stated workers who weren’t affected by the layoffs could be notified through their work e mail addresses. Staff who had been laid off could be notified with subsequent steps to their private e mail addresses, the memo stated.

A member of safety employees at Twitter’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin instructed reporters that no one was coming into the workplace on Friday and workers had been instructed to remain house.

Another member of the safety employees locked the revolving doorways on the entrance of the constructing the place round 500 members of employees labored earlier than the layoffs started.

Some workers tweeted their entry to the corporate’s IT system had been blocked and feared that steered they’d been laid off.

“Looks like I’m unemployed y’all. Just got remotely logged out of my work laptop and removed from Slack,” tweeted a person with the account @SBkcrn, whose profile is described as former senior group supervisor at Twitter.

A category motion lawsuit was filed on Thursday towards Twitter by its workers, who argued the corporate was conducting mass layoffs with out offering the required 60-day advance discover, in violation of federal and California legislation.

The lawsuit additionally requested the San Francisco federal courtroom to challenge an order to limit Twitter from soliciting workers being laid off to signal paperwork with out informing them of the pendency of the case.

Musk has directed Twitter’s groups to search out as much as $1 billion in annual infrastructure value financial savings, based on two sources acquainted with the matter and an inside Slack message reviewed by Reuters.

He has already cleared out the corporate’s senior ranks, firing its chief government and prime finance and authorized executives. Others, together with these sitting atop the corporate’s promoting, advertising and human assets divisions, have departed all through the previous week.

Musk’s first week as Twitter’s proprietor has been marked by chaos and uncertainty. Two company-wide conferences have been scheduled, solely to be canceled hours later. Employees instructed Reuters they have been left to piece collectively data by means of media experiences, personal messaging teams and nameless boards.

The layoffs, which have been lengthy anticipated, have chilled Twitter’s famously open company tradition that has been lauded by a lot of its workers.

“If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home,” Twitter stated within the e mail on Thursday.

Shortly after the e-mail landed in worker in packing containers, lots of of individuals flooded the corporate’s Slack channels to say goodbye, two workers instructed Reuters. Someone invited Musk to affix the channel, the sources stated.

© Thomson Reuters 2022