Elon Musk.
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Twitter employees were told to leave offices immediately on Thursday, Insider confirmed.
All offices were closed and employees’ badge access was revoked, possibly until Monday.
Less than half of Twitter’s employees committed to Elon Musk’s “hardcore” vision.
Twitter’s offices abruptly shut down on Thursday as reports emerged of mass resignations at the beleaguered social media company.
Company officials told employees all buildings were temporarily closed, effective immediately, and that their badge access would be revoked for the time being, Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer first reported. Insider confirmed that Twitter employees’ badge access was suspended and that they were being told to leave the offices, which are expected to reopen on Monday.
The reason behind the abrupt closure was that Twitter CEO Elon Musk and others were afraid employees would “sabotage the company” and because they are working out whose access needs to be revoked, Schiffer reported.
Twitter took similar action earlier this month ahead of layoffs in an effort to prevent departing employees from taking unwanted action. The email sent to employees announcing layoffs were incoming explained the offices would be temporarily closed.
“To help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data, our offices will be temporarily closed and all badge access will be suspended. If you are in an office or on your way to an office, please return home,” the email said, adding: “Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.”
The latest closure came just over one week after Musk put an end to remote work at Twitter. In his first company-wide email since taking over, Musk told employees they would no longer be allowed to work remotely and needed to return to the office within days. Musk clarified Thursday that employees could still work remote with their manager’s approval.
It also came as reports described mass resignations at the company. After Musk called for employees to commit to “Twitter 2.0” — his “extremely hardcore” version of the company — or be part of voluntary layoffs with severance pay, less than half of the roughly 4,000 employees chose to stay on Thursday.
Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.