Elon Musk’s managerial style has not endeared him to everyone at Twitter, but one New Zealand employment law specialist says some of his tactics would not even be legal in this country.
Musk took over as chief executive of the company after acquiring it in a US$44 billion (NZ$71.79b) takeover.
He fired much of its full-time workforce by email early this month and was expected to eliminate numerous contract jobs for those responsible for fighting misinformation and other harmful content.
Earlier this week, he sent an email to remaining staff, telling them they should decide by Thursday evening, local time, whether they wanted to remain with the business. Those who did not accept a new way of working would be give three months’ severance pay.
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Musk wrote that employees “will need to be extremely hardcore" to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0" and that long hours at high intensity will be needed for success.
A number of engineers also said on Twitter they were fired after saying something critical of Musk, either on Twitter or on the company’s internal messaging system.
Alison Maelzer, a partner at law firm Hesketh Henry, said New Zealand employment law would not allow for much of this approach.
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