During the interview with Tech Today India, Agarwal recalled the day when he went to sleep and read an email. He mentioned that many people will be impacted and he had no idea about how it will take place, but he revealed that employees at Twitter India were expecting layoffs to happen. There was also uncertainty among the employees working out of the India offices, as the new boss or the company didn’t reveal much information.
The idea is to force all employees to work all the time in order to make Twitter profitable. The United States offices of Twitter have built bedrooms with all basic amenities. In fact, one of Musk’s emails stated that employees will be asked to work after office hours if required, and now the remaining employees at Twitter are forced to work from the office every single day and finish their shift timings. It was mentioned that this change was made due to Musk acquiring the microblogging platform in October 2022. There were no rules on when to shift timings or come to the office. As long as the job was done by one team, another team stood by and everything was fine. Agarwal mentioned that there was no micro-management or “human-centric” culture when he joined the firm. Talking about the work culture, he said, “I am grateful to have been a part of Twitter.” Nothing was going on in my mind.
The fact that multiple instances of an employee being fired have been reported earlier on Twitter, because they corrected a billionaire person, is not the only mistake. Under Musk’s reign, a globally followed work culture similar to that was established. Agarwal also added that it was alright for him to make mistakes when he was a part of Twitter.
Some employees at the firm have started their own consulting businesses and are taking a break. Among them, some employees have been impacted by the jobs that have been added. He added that those who choose to leave the company will be given severance pay or can opt for a more intense work culture. In an email sent by Musk, he warned the remaining employees to be ready for a hardcore work environment. After receiving Musk’s ultimatum, most of the employees who resigned did so voluntarily, while others were laid off. This includes a percentage of employees estimated to be around 80-90 per cent (approximately 250 employees) from India. Sharing further, he revealed that some of them have received job offers from much larger companies than Twitter, and he is glad to stay in touch with his former colleagues. Despite the layoffs, he said that he spent the best years of his career at the tech firm in India.
“Request my severance,” he stated. Afterwards, he chuckled when asked what he would say to Elon Musk if given the chance. The former Twitter employee went on to explain the payment structure, noting that employees in India have received two months of non-working compensation and that only severance remains outstanding. Agarwal disclosed that Twitter has yet to compensate affected employees and he anticipates receiving it by the end of January. While he stressed the importance for companies planning layoffs to promptly provide employee benefits such as severance pay, he attributed the job cuts resulting from Twitter layoffs solely to the macroeconomic landscape.
