Twitter reportedly asks terminated employees to return to the office

Twitter Inc. terminated thousands of employees late last week, and now it was reported that the company wants some of them back. Following the takeover of Elon Musk, about 3.500 staff were said to have been terminated on Friday, Nov. 4.

As many people lost their jobs after the controversial $44 billion acquisition, Twitter is contacting dozens of workers again and asking them to return. Based on the reports, the social media company told them that they were included in the job cuts by mistake.

In addition, the company said its management only realized that some of the axed roles are necessary for creating the new features that Musk has been envisioning. Those that were contacted were let go before officials figured out that their work and experience are needed in the company. This insider information has been shared with the media by a source familiar with the matter.

Last week’s job cuts affected 50% of the company’s total workforce in the U.S. The termination also included staff in the social media platform’s trust and safety team. It has let go of Yoel Roth, the global head of safety & integrity.

Other people that were laid off held roles in the communications unit, content curation team, machine learning ethics, and human rights units. Some engineering and product teams were also cut.

Musk explained that the company has no choice but to reduce the number of its workers as it is losing money. The new owner of Twitter shared this detail through a tweet not long after the job termination.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” the 51-year-old billionaire tweeted on Friday. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported that many employees only learned they were let go after being sent emails or via a notice posted on Slack instant messaging app and company-wide systems. It was noted that with Twitter asking many employees back, it just shows how rush the decision to fire people was.

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