In recent years, big technology companies have dangled ever more generous benefits to entice engineers in a seller’s talent market. Layoffs, a rarity in Silicon Valley over the last decade, have typically come with the consolation of generous severance packages often including months of salary and healthcare coverage.
Now that expectation is collapsing — and nowhere more rapidly than at Twitter, where thousands of employees are suddenly facing the prospect of joblessness in a newly chilly employment landscape.
Under new owner Elon Musk, the social media platform is preparing to terminate a large portion of its workforce — about half of its 7,500 workers, according to Bloomberg.
In an email shared with the Los Angeles Times, the company said all employees would be notified of whether they still had their job via email by 9 a.m. Friday. All offices will be temporarily closed and badge access suspended, and any employees at an office were asked to return home, the email said.
After the completion of Musk’s $44-billion takeover a week ago, there has been widespread concern among employees about what severance benefits they might receive and how Musk might seek to reduce the expected payout.
The Twitter layoff news comes during widespread layoffs in the tech industry, with Lyft announcing a layoff of 13% of its staff and Stripe cutting 14% of its workforce.
Stripe announced a generous severance pay of 14 weeks plus more for longer tenure, as well as six months of healthcare,...
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