Mere days after cutting its workforce in half, Twitter is asking some employees to return, according to Bloomberg, Engadget reported.
Citing two sources within the company, the outlet reports management at Twitter has come to the realization it either let some workers off by accident or without realizing that their experience was essential to building the features Elon Musk wants to bring to the platform.
According to Engadget, a decision to bring back some employees would cap off a chaotic weekend at Twitter. The company began Friday by laying off approximately 3,800 employees, a move that gutted teams across the company, including those responsible for developing new accessibility features. On Saturday, the company briefly began rolling out its new paid verification system. One day later, the company reportedly made the decision to delay the release of the feature until after the US midterm elections.
The New York Times reported that Twitter is delaying the rollout of verification check marks to subscribers of its new $7.99 a month subscription service until after Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to an internal post viewed by The New York Times and two people with knowledge of the decision.
Elon Musk’s quest to lay off about half of Twitter’s workforce may not be going entirely to plan, Business Insider reported. The company has already asked some to return, according to posts on the Blind app and Insider sources, including one who also shared a screenshot of confirmation from a Twitter employee.
Insider also surveyed the Blind app, a professional community where verified employees have anonymous conversation, and found posts indicating Twitter employees who the company had laid off had been asked to come back. According to Insider, one user wrote: “It’s true, I was asked to come back Saturday morning,” while another simply said: “Can confirm”.
More than one news site pointed toward the Twitter account of Casey Newton, (who writes for Platformer). He wrote the following thread:
Multiple sources and Twitter Blind chats now saying that the company has begun to reach out to some people it laid off yesterday asking them to come back. Whoops!
From Twitter Slack: “sorry to @- everybody on the weekend but I wanted to pass along that we have the opportunity to ask folks that were left off if they will come back. I need to put together names and rationales by 4PM PST Sunday.
“I’ll do some research but if any of you who have been in contact with folks who might come back and who we think will help us, please nominate before 4”
“I think we might use some android and iOS help.”
Firing thousands of workers, who were notified via email and or by discovering they had been locked out of Slack and email accounts, was an absolutely terrible way to treat the workers. I find it very hard to believe that the majority of the laid-off workers will want to give Twitter a second chance, especially since things have become extremely chaotic since Elon Musk took over.