Unsure If Still Employed, This Twitter Worker Asks Elon Musk For Layoff Confirmation. Gets Roasted Instead

A round of public roasting, a funny video clip, and an eventual confirmation of layoff awaited the Twitter employee.

Musk earlier claimed that severed employees were paid above-industry-standard packages after being laid off.

Source : Getty

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took over Twitter in a hostile $44-billion takeover in October 2022. Ever since then, in order to cut company costs, the new CEO started laying off employees across the globe, so much so that the total workforce of Twitter now reportedly stands at around 1,300, down from around 7,500 last year. Amidst all this, Haraldur Thorleifsson, a Reykjavík-based entrepreneur and (now former) Twitter employee, asked Musk if he was still employed at the company since HR wasn’t offering any communication on being laid off. 

What followed next was a round of public roasting, complete with a funny video clip, from the world’s second-richest man. 

On Tuesday, Thorleifsson, who goes by ‘Halli’ on Twitter, posted a tweet tagging Musk, saying that nine days ago, access to his work computer was disabled, along with nearly 200 other Twitter employees. He was referring to the most recent round of layoffs at Twitter late last month. 

It should be noted here that Thorleifsson isn't just a regular employee. His creative agency Ueno was acquired by Twitter in 2021 and he asked for the acquisition price to be paid as salary, so that he could pay 46 percent in taxes instead of 22 percent, to show his gratitude towards his Finnish education. He has over 68,500 followers on Twitter. 

“Your head of HR is not able to confirm if I am an employee or not. You’ve not answer my emails,” wrote Thorleifsson, adding that if his post gets enough retweets, perhaps Musk himself would offer a response. 

To this, Musk replied, “What work have you been doing?”

What work have you been doing?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

After getting approval from Musk that he won’t be breaking confidentiality to discuss his role openly, Thorleifsson listed some of his tasks and responsibilities on Twitter, including the likes of leading design critiques to help “level up design across the company,” hiring design managers, worked on redirecting focus on younger users, and more. 

Musk immediately replied, saying that he needed photos to prove his performance, “or it didn’t happen.” He additionally said that Twitter hasn’t hired design roles in four months, and asked Thorleifsson to list the changes he made to “help with the youths.”

- Level up from what design to what? Pics or it didn’t happen.
- We haven’t hired design roles in 4 months
- What changes did you make to help with the youths?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

To this, Thorleifsson responded that he can’t provide photos or proof since his computer was locked. In the end, Musk responded with a funny clip from the 1999 comedy, “Office Space”.

Would you say that you’re a people person?https://t.co/kLD9NWHVIT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

Later on, Thorleifsson confirmed in a separate tweet that after his interaction with Musk, Twitter’s HR head reached out to him to confirm that he was no longer employed (having not done so over the past nine days of communication). 

Thorleifsson said that the layoff was “totally ok and it happens all the time. Companies let people go, that’s within their rights. They usually tell people about it but that’s seemingly the optional part of Twitter now.”

Sticking to sarcasm, Thorleifsson said, “I've been laid off and I'm ok with that. Next up though is finding out if Twitter will pay me what they owe me per my contract. Or, will Elon Musk, one of the richest people in the world, try to avoid paying?”

But ok, fair enough, I've been laid off and I'm ok with that.

Next up though is finding out if Twitter will pay me what they owe me per my contract.

Or, will @elonmusk , one of the richest people in the world, try to avoid paying?

Stay tuned!!

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

Despite Musk earlier claiming that severed employees were paid above-industry-standard packages after being laid off, several media reports have suggested that Twitter is yet to offer compensation to majority of employees who were fired since Musk’s takeover. 

Even those employees who did receive a severance weren’t happy. In Jauary this year, nearly 800 former employees were reported to be seeking damages for the promised compensation.