Twitter’s “days of rest” for employee are now a thing of the past under new owner Elon Musk, according to a report Thursday.
Twitter began offering one companywide paid rest day per month, in addition to normal paid time off, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy was meant to help reduce burnout among staffers.
But Musk has eliminated future “days of rest” from Twitter’s calendar this week, sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg. The move came as Musk swiftly overhauls Twitter’s workplace culture after completing his $44 billion deal to buy the firm last week.
The Post has reached out to Twitter for comment on the change.
Musk interrupted one of Twitter’s “days of rest” even before he became the company’s owner and CEO. In April, employees reportedly learned that Musk had rejected an offer to take a seat on Twitter’s board of directors just before a scheduled day off — a development that left workers stressed out instead of relaxed.
The policy change is the latest indication that Musk will set new standards for Twitter’s internal culture during an ongoing reshuffling effort.
Musk is reportedly planning to lay off about half of Twitter’s 7,500-employee workforce, with impacted workers expected to learn their fate on Friday, according to Bloomberg. The cost-cutting effort was widely expected as Musk expressed concern that he had overpaid for the company.
In another major internal shift, Musk is reportedly planning to end Twitter’s remote work policy and require employees who aren’t laid off to report to the company’s offices. The billionaire had previously enacted a strict return-to-office policy at his electric car firm Tesla.
Meanwhile, some Twitter employees were reportedly told to prepare to work “24/7” earlier this week to hit Musk’s Friday deadline for a revamped “Twitter Blue” service. The Twitter CEO plans to charge users $8 per month for “blue check” verification badges and other perks.
Employees are purportedly concerned that they would be out of a job if they were unable to meet the deadline.
On Wednesday, Twitter’s director of product management Esther Crawford caused a stir after she was photographed sleeping on the office floor — with a sleeping bag and eye mask — as Musk’s tight deadlines loomed.
“Since some people are losing their minds I’ll explain: doing hard things requires sacrifice (time, energy, etc),” Crawford said while explaining the photo. “I have teammates around the world who are putting in the effort to bring something new to life so it’s important to me to show up for them & keep the team unblocked.”