Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images
Who, if anyone, does Elon Musk feel is an essential part of Twitter? Whose contributions are valuable enough and “hardcore” enough for him? Would you be willing to bet your job on it?
In new emails sent to Twitter employees today and obtained by The Verge, Musk dares managers to approve remote work at their own risk. “At [the] risk of stating the obvious, any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company,” he writes. He has given all employees until 5PM ET Thursday to say yes to staying at his “extremely hardcore” Twitter or leave.
Here is what Musk wrote in his emails today:
Regarding remote work, all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution. It is also expected that you have in-person meetings with your colleagues on a reasonable cadence, ideally weekly, but not less than once per month.
At risk of stating the obvious, any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company.
While the first message might seem to soften Musk’s previous sound bite of a stance — “if you can show up in an office and you do not show up at the office, resignation accepted” — the reality is that Musk had previously suggested he was going to take responsibility for denying remote work requests.
“Managers will send the exceptions lists to me for review and approval,” he wrote on November 10th, the day after his first Q&A with employees.
But now, he’s telling those managers that anyone who stands up for a remote worker is putting their head on the chopping block, too.
I can almost hear a movie villain now: “Who else wants to play hero?”
It’s now in the best interests of every Twitter manager to say no to remote work requests, even if they believe they’re deserved. And that way, Musk won’t have to say no himself.
Incidentally, a disabled employee is now suing Twitter over Musk’s ban on remote work.
Twitter was once the foremost company offering remote work. In May 2020, the company announced its employees could work from home “forever.” When it reopened its offices in March 2022, then-CEO Parag Agrawal reiterated that working from home “forever” would still be an option.