Twitter’s headquarters were unexpectedly closed on Thursday, after claims of mass resignations at the embattled social media giant.
Company executives reportedly informed employees that all buildings would be temporarily shuttered, effective immediately, and that their badge access would be suspended for the time being. Twitter workers’ badge access has been suspended, and they have been forced to leave the premises, which are set to reopen on Monday.
The rationale for the unexpected lockdown was that Twitter CEO Elon Musk and others were concerned that staff might “sabotage the company” and that they were determining whose access should be denied.
Twitter adopted a similar step earlier this month, ahead of layoffs, to keep leaving employees from taking unwelcome action. The email informing staff that layoffs were imminent noted that the offices would be temporarily shuttered.
“To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended. If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home,” the email said, adding: “Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.”
The most recent shutdown comes little over a week after Musk ended remote work at Twitter. Musk informed staff in his first company-wide email since taking control that they would no longer be permitted to work remotely and would be required to come to the office within days. Musk stressed on Thursday that staff might still work remotely with the agreement of their manager.
It also coincided with claims of huge resignations at the corporation. Following Musk’s request for staff to commit to “Twitter 2.0,” his “extremely hardcore” version of the firm, or face voluntary layoffs with severance compensation, fewer than half of the roughly 4,000 employees elected to stay on Thursday.
Musk and his team spoke with several uncertain staff this week to attempt to persuade them to stay. Some workers who had called in by videoconference began to hang up after the 5 p.m. deadline in one such meeting. The deadline passed on Thursday, even as Musk proceeded with his presentation.