'Laid Off, Called Back, Now Fired': Viral Ex-Employee Post Recounts Twitter Management Horror

Twitter appears to be again laying off employees who were asked to return, but this time without the earlier promise of three-month severance.

Elon Musk’s hostile $44-billion takeover of Twitter has brought several drastic changes to the microblogging platform. Perhaps the most impactful of them has been the sudden layoff of nearly half of Twitter’s 7,500-employees-strong global workforce. Surprisingly, after laying off nearly 3,700 workers, Twitter reportedly reached out to some laid-off employees who were laid off by mistake. Now, as per a social media post by a former employee who was one of the few who was called back, Twitter is again laying off employees who were asked to return, but this time without the earlier promise of three-month severance.

As per a post made by a former Twitter employee on anonymous professional network Blind, shared on Twitter by Reddit product lead Peter Yang, the said employee was laid off from the microblogging company in early November and then called back shortly after.

The employee was laid off by Twitter with a promise of three-month severance pay. However, the employee was soon called back “because they think I am ‘critical talent’ and was asked to do documentation and provide ‘code samples’.”

Now, Twitter “abruptly” laid off the employee “without any reason,” with the company now offering them four weeks of severance instead of the earlier promised amount. 

The employee then added that they were on H1B visa and only has 60 days to find a job “during the holidays”, requesting employment lawyers to help out. 

It should be noted that Blind is an anonymous app and there's no way to verify who this employee is and if the claims he made are actually genuine. So, this report should be considered with a pinch of salt.

When Twitter started laying off employees, Musk said there was “no choice” as the company was losing over $4 million per day. He also said, “Everyone exited was offered three months of severance, which is 50 percent more than legally required.”

Later on November 22, Musk reportedly said that Twitter was finally done with layoffs and that it was looking to hire again, especially in the roles of engineering and sales. Musk also added that employees are encouraged to offer referrals. “Significant portions of technology stack need to be rebuilt from scratch,” Musk reportedly said, adding that Twitter will set up engineering teams in India, Japan, Indonesia, and Brazil.