Elon Musk has told all Twitter staff to return to the office and face “difficult times ahead” in his first email to his employees, according to reports.
Mr Musk had previously threatened to ban remote working before taking over the company. In an email sent late on Wednesday, he carried through on that decision, saying that only he could approve people to work from home.
Much of Twitter’s workforce has been remote since the beginning of the pandemic. After that, Twitter announced that staff could work from home indefinitely, and many have relocated to work remotely.
Instead, those employees who survived Mr Musk’s mass layoffs must come into the office for at least 40 hours per week, he said.
Such requirements are already in place at other companies run by Mr Musk, including Tesla and SpaceX. Those requirements have typically come with the threat of sacking for people who do not come into the office enough.
Half of Twitter’s workforce was cut last week, in one of Mr Musk’s first acts as the owner of Twitter. His email to those who remain is the first direct communications from Mr Musk to all of his employees.
“Sorry that this is my first email to the company, but there is no way to sugarcoat the message,” Mr Musk told staff, according to reports. “The economic picture ahead is dire.”
He said that Twitter was too dependent on advertising, much of which has been pulling back from the site amid his controversial leadership of the company. Instead, he asked remaining staff to focus on subscriptions.
Mr Musk has been looking for ways to incentivise Twitter’s users to pay for its premium “Blue” service, for which he raised the price to $8. He has added a blue checkmark to that offering, allowing users to pay for what was previously an indicator that an account had been verified, leading to chaos.
