Twitter is under investigation by city officials in San Francisco following a complaint that the company allegedly converted rooms in its headquarters to sleeping quarters, an inquiry that has drawn scorn from Elon Musk.
As of Monday, the office has “modest bedrooms featuring unmade mattresses, drab curtains and giant conference-room telepresence monitors” with four to eight beds a floor, employees told Forbes. The changes appear to be part of Musk’s plan for “hardcore Twitter” in which he’s demanded workers dedicate “long hours at high intensity” after he fired nearly half the company’s workforce.
But the San Francisco Chronicle reported the company has not applied for any permits to use portions of the building for residential purposes.
The San Francisco department of building inspection confirmed to several media outlets that it is investigating the matter after receiving a complaint and that it plans to inspect the company’s headquarters.
NEW: The BBC has obtained pictures of inside Twitter - rooms that have been converted into bedrooms - for staff to sleep in.
— James Clayton (@JamesClayton5) December 7, 2022
The city of San Francisco is investigating as it's a commercial building. pic.twitter.com/Y4vKxZXQhB
“We need to make sure the building is being used as intended,” a department spokesperson, Patrick Hannan, told the Washington Post. “There are different building code requirements for residential buildings, including those being used for short-term stays. These codes make sure people are using spaces safely.”
The department has contacted the building representatives to conduct an inspection and if the headquarters are no longer up to building code, it will issue a notice of violation. They city treats all property complaints and owners the same, Hannan said.
“No one is above the law,” Hannan said.
Musk was critical of the investigation. “So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?” he said on Twitter with a link to an article detailing an account from a father who says his baby overdosed on fentanyl after being exposed to the drug at a city playground.
So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl. Where are your priorities @LondonBreed!?https://t.co/M7QJWP7u0N
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2022
No city or police officials have confirmed whether or not the child’s emergency was the result of fentanyl exposure.
Some workers have already reported sleeping in company headquarters. Twitter’s director of product management, Esther Crawford, shared a photo last month of her sleeping in the office with an eye mask and sleeping bag. “When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork,” Crawford wrote on Twitter.
When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork https://t.co/UBGKYPilbD
— Esther Crawford ✨ (@esthercrawford) November 2, 2022
Employees told Forbes that no announcement was made about the new beds but that they believed they were there so workers could stay in the office overnight.
“It’s not a good look,” they said. “It’s yet another unspoken sign of disrespect. There is no discussion. Just like, beds showed up.”
