An engineering manager at Twitter reportedly threw up in a trash can near his feet after he was asked by new CEO Elon Musk to fire hundreds of people. The employee was given a list by Musk's advisors that contained the names of hundreds of employees when the manager felt nervous and started vomiting, the New York Times.
The graphic description was made public in a sweeping New York Times report on Friday and provided a grim picture of Twitter's reorganization as it deals with managerial resignations, emigrating advertisers, and revenue issues. But Musk has been ruthless with his decisions ever since he took charge of Twitter.
Too Difficult to Follow Orders
Twitter has fired thousands of workers over the past week, and it hasn't exactly been an easy process for either the workers who were let go or some of the people who were in charge of firing them.
A team of reporters was deputed by the New York Times to investigate the mass firing and the internal work condition at Twitter since the takeover by Musk.
On one occasion, the journalists wrote, "One engineering manager was approached by Mr. Musk's advisers — or 'goons,' as Twitter employees called them — with a list of hundreds of people he had to let go. He vomited into a trash can near his feet."
Since Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover, The Times has spoken with 36 current and former employees. According to some of these individuals, many staff members learned about the mass layoffs through an internal Slack channel where HR and legal teams discussed the upcoming action two days before it started on November 4.
A widely circulated Slack post indicated that as many as 3,738 employees could lose their jobs. The outlet said that the workers started exchanging information and bidding their goodbyes right away.
Employees were alerted by email on November 3 that they will learn about their employment status the following morning. The following day, 80 percent of Twitter's engineering team was gone, making up half of the company's workforce.
Turmoil at Twitter
According to the report, those that stayed behind "slept in the office while they worked grueling schedules to match Mr. Musk's orders."
In order to keep the business operating on fumes, Musk told employee, "Those who are able to go hardcore and play to win, Twitter is a good place," according to The Times. "And those who are not, totally understand, but then Twitter is not for you."
Several laid-off workers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Twitter, alleging that the company misled them about their severance compensation prior to Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the company and convinced them not to look for work elsewhere.
Additionally, Musk reportedly required a payroll audit to confirm Twitter's employees were "real humans" before they received their regularly scheduled bonuses and were subsequently laid off, according to the report.
However, according to a Bloomberg report, which cited two people familiar with the situation, dozens of laid-off workers were reportedly asked to return because some were fired accidentally and others were fired before management realized their work and experience could be useful to help build new features Musk wants for the website.
