Elon Musk Warns Twitter Staff of ‘Difficult’ Times Ahead as He Ends Remote Work: Report

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles on June 13, 2019. Mike Blake/Reuters

Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk has reportedly sent his first email to staff, ending remote work arrangements and warning of tough times ahead in the face of economic headwinds.

Musk’s email, according to Bloomberg, says that “the road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed,” while telling staff they need to be in the office for at least 40 hours a week with immediate effect.

Exceptions to the in-office requirement will be weighed and possibly approved on a case-by-case basis, Musk added.

Twitter did not immediately return a request from The Epoch Times for confirmation of the content of Musk’s email.

Musk’s decision to end remote work at Twitter comes as little surprise as he teased the move in an all-hands call with staff shortly after announcing his takeover plans.

“The bias needs to be strongly towards working in person but if someone is exceptional, then remote work can be ok,” Musk said at the time, citing a detrimental impact on intra-staff communication when working away from the office.

At the same time, Musk said that “it would obviously be insane if someone is excellent at what they do but can only work remotely to fire them.”

“I’m not in favor of things that are, like, mad. I’m in favor of things that build the business and make it better,” he added.

Musk has since bought Twitter for $44 billion, calling the platform a “digital town square” where a broad range of ideas can be debated “in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence.”

The new Twitter chief’s email announcing an end to remote work arrangements stands in contrast with the company’s prior management team, which had put in place a policy allowing employees to work from anywhere.

The change is one of several Musk has made since the takeover, including taking away a pandemic-era perk that gave Twitter staff a monthly companywide day off for rest.

He’s also pushing for Twitter users to pay an $8 monthly fee for a verified “blue check” while pledging to cut down on bots and eliminate deceptive practices from the platform.

Musk recently confirmed a claim that some Twitter employees were selling verification badges to certain users “behind the scenes.”

He also announced a permanent ban on Twitter users impersonating other people on the platform without specifying that they were operating as “parody” accounts.

Musk also confirmed that he had carried out layoffs because Twitter was losing over $4 million per day.

“Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50 percent more than legally required,” he wrote in a post on Twitter.