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A Twitter boss who was one of around 200 staffers laid off over the weekend has said she remains ‘deeply proud’ of her time at the firm – which included sleeping in the office while juggling strict deadlines set by Elon Musk.
Esther Crawford, who led Twitter’s move to charge users for blue ticks, said her hard was was not ‘a mistake’ after Musk axed 10 percent of staff during the latest round of cuts since he took over in October.
The layoffs, announced on Saturday, bring Twitter’s workforce down to under 2,000 – a sharp fall from the 7,500 employed when the billionaire first took over.
Crawford, who appeared to be a supporter of Musk’s regime, said on Sunday night: ‘The worst take you could have from watching me go all-in on Twitter 2.0 is that my optimism or hard work was a mistake. Those who jeer & mock are necessarily on the sidelines and not in the arena. I’m deeply proud of the team for building through so much noise & chaos.’
Saturday’s cuts targeted data scientists, engineers and product managers like Crawford, who led the launch of paid subscription service Twitter Blue.
Esther Crawford was one of around 200 workers axed by Twitter over the weekend. She was a support of Musk’s hard-working regime at Twitter and previously gained attention for sleeping in the office while working on strict deadlines set by the billionaire, who took over in October
Crawford stood by her ‘hard work’ after she was named among 200 Twitter workers who were axed
Product Manager Esther Crawford was seen sleeping on the office floor in November 2022
As details of the latest job cuts surfaced on Sunday, Musk tweeted: ‘Hope you have a good Sunday. First day of the rest of your life.’
Crawford famously backed Musk’s ‘extremely hardcore’ Twitter 2.0 culture when he first took over, and was pictured on the office floor in a sleeping bag with a sleeping mask in November 2022.
The layoffs impacted the largest number of people at the company since half the company was laid off in November last year, when employees learned they’d been let go after they were locked out of their emails and work computers.
The cuts this weekend were carried out in a similar fashion, when affected staff were logged out of their emails and laptops on Saturday night.
Several staff posted about the job cuts on Blind, an anonymous platform for tech workers.
‘People receive email at 2am on Saturday and access cut immediately. This will go down as one of the most extreme layoffs in entire corporate history,’ read a post on Blind.
The poster claimed layoffs hit the project management department the hardest and were spread across human relations, sales and marketing, engineering and finance.
Crawford, joined Twitter after founding a screen-sharing and video chat app called Squad, which Twitter acquired in 2020.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, who created the design studio Ueno, which the company bought in 2021, was also removed from his position at Twitter.
Martijn de Kuijper, a senior project manager, said he found out about lay off after being locked out of his email account.
The dismissal of much of the product team has led some to speculate that Musk is preparing to bring in entirely new teams.
The move comes despite Musk telling employees during a meeting in late November that no more plans for staff reductions were being made.
At the time, Musk defended the decision to fire 3,700 people, saying: ‘There is no choice when the company is losing over $4mn/day.’ He defended the decision, saying that all of those who were fired were offered three months of severance, ‘50% more than legally required’.
Musk flagged changes in November to turn Twitter into a more hardcore work environment, warning staff they will need to be on board or leave the company. Crawford’s willingness to sleep in the office as she worked on her deadlines indicated she was a supporter of Musk’s vision for Twitter.
Elon Musk has now axed more than half Twitter’s workforce since he bought the company last year for $44bn
As details of the cuts emerged, Musk tweeted ‘first day of the rest of your life’
Esther Crawford – Musk devotee and someone who had committed to the new hardcore way of life at Twitter – was among those who were shown the door over the weekend
It linked to an online form, in which Musk told employees that if they did not sign by 5pm Eastern time on Thursday they would get three months of severance pay.
Twitter corporate headquarters is seen in San Francisco, California on on November 04, 2022 – just as the period of chaotic layoffs began to unfold
The billionaire has been shrewd and direct about the financial turmoil facing the company and made clear prior to his official acquisition that cost-cutting would be the number one priority.
Employees at the time were told they needed to sign a pledge to be able to stay on in their roles. Staff received an email that read: ‘If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below.’
Following the diktat, the picture of Crawford laying on a brightly lit conference room floor went viral with the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork attached.
Many online mocked her, saying sleeping at the office points to an obviously unhealthy relationship with work and that she would likely be fired within weeks anyhow.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk