It must be fun working for Elon Musk.
The self-proclaimed Chief Twit who recently fired roughly half of Twitter’s workforce, now has demands for the people who are still working at Twitter.
In an email seen by The Washington Post, and first reported on by former Uber and Skype engineer Gergely Orosz, Musk essentially issued an ultimatum to Twitter employees, asking them to commit to an “extremely hardcore” new Twitter.
Recipients reportedly had to actually click a “yes” link in the email as a condition to remain employed at Twitter.
In the email, Musk said that this will mean “working long hours at high intensity,” and that “only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”
The email, which was sent on Wednesday morning, comes shortly after another recent ultimatum by Musk, which required Twitter employees to go back to working from the office or resign.
Shortly after taking the reins at Twitter, Musk laid off about half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, as well as a reported 4,400 of the company’s 5,500 contract employees. Some of those who were fired were people who dared criticize or correct Musk publicly. And the layoffs have been so messy that Twitter reportedly had to ask some of the people it fired to come back.
Meanwhile, Musk’s strategy of rapidly introducing new features or removing old ones has backfired in a number of ways. Most importantly, Musk’s decision to start charging for the blue checkmark – the one that used to prove someone’s identity on the platform – caused a flurry of fake news and impersonations, prompting Twitter to retract the feature until Nov. 29.
