Date :- 19-01-2023
Watsupptoday Desk

People working for Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon, Twitter, Meta, among others are living in uncertainty amid layoffs. Elon Musk’s Twitter was among the first companies to announce job cuts but the way layoffs were conducted at the US-based company worried everyone around the world. Musk fired thousands of Twitter employees around the globe including India without any prior notice. It was in early November when suddenly thousands of Twitter employees lost their email, badge, and Slack access and received a mail stating "you are laid off". One of the impacted Twitter India employees is Yash Agrawal, who is 25 and worked as a Public Policy Associate until he received the layoff email in the first week of November 2022Recalling the day, Agarwal during an interview with India Today Tech said he read the email and went to sleep. He revealed that employees at Twitter India were expecting layoffs to happen but had no idea about how it is going to take place and how many people will be impacted. Agarwal also said that there was uncertainty among employees working out of India offices since not much was revealed by the company or even the new boss at that point in time. Nothing was going in my mind. I am grateful to have been a part of Twitter while sharing his experience working at the tech company. Talking about the work culture Agarwal said that when he joined the firm it had "human-centric culture" and there was "no micro-management". Managers were fine as long as the job is done. The team stood by one another. There were no rules on when to come to office or shift timings. Now, that has changed with Musk acquiring the microblogging platform back in the month of October 2022. Remaining Twitter employees are now forced to work from office every single day and finish their shift timings. In fact, in one of the emails, Musk stated that if required employees will be asked to work after office hours. In the United States, Twitter has built bedrooms in offices with all the basic amenities. The idea is to force employees to work all the time and make Twitter a profitable company. Agarwal also added that when he was a part of Twitter it was "alright to make mistakes" but not repeat them again. Similar work culture was followed globally. However, under Musk’s reign, one mistake and the employee is fired. Multiple such instances have been reported earlier. In fact, at one time Musk fired an employee on the Twitter platform and that was only because the person corrected the billionaire with facts. Despite the layoffs, the former Twitter India employee said years spent at the tech firm were "the best". He further revealed that he is in touch with ex-colleague and is glad that some of them have received job offers from much bigger companies than Twitter. Sharing an estimation, among 250 employees (approx) working from India, nearly 80-90 per cent (approx) are out of the company. The percentage includes employees who are laid off and the ones who resigned voluntarily mostly after Musk’s ultimatum email. In the mail, Musk warned remaining employees to be ready for a "hardcore" work culture or leave the company with severance pay. He added that among the impacted employees, some have got jobs, some have started their own consulting firm and others are taking a break. Impacted by Twitter layoffs, Agarwal said that he has no one but themacroeconomic scenario to blame for job cuts. Although he emphasized those companies planning layoffs must ensure to provide employee benefits like severance pay on time to impacted employees. Agarwal revealed that Twitter is yet to pay the severance to impacted employees and he is expecting to get it by end of January. Further detailing the pay structure, the former Twitter employee said that employees in India have received 2 months of non-working pay and it is only severance that is due. When asked what would he tell Elon Musk if he was given an opportunity, he laughed. Pay my severance.