Elon Musk wants Twitter employees to return to office, plans to end work from anywhere policy

Elon Musk is reportedly planning to end Twitter's work-from-anywhere policy and bring employees back to the office. If true, the move is similar to Tesla's (the electric automaker also owned by Musk) mandatory work-from-office model. The new report adds that Twitter can make exceptions, and some employees can continue working from home if necessary. It is also reported that the new Twitter owner wants to slash the social media company's workforce by half to save operational costs.

Elon Musk to Twitter employees, go home if you are coming to office. Read email confirming layoffs

According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with internal matters, Musk and his new team of advisers have been weighing a range of scenarios for job cuts and other policy changes at San Francisco-based Twitter. The report does not specify when Musk intends to roll back the work-from-anywhere policy, though it could be in the coming weeks, as the new Twitter owner is already setting multiple deadlines for teams. Some time in June, Musk's automobile company, Tesla, also made it mandatory for employees to work from the office for 40 hours per week. In an email, he allegedly said that workers needed to return to the main office and not a remote branch.

Interestingly, Twitter's work-from-anywhere forever policy was retained by Parag Agrawal, the former company CEO, who was recently fired after the formal takeover.

At the time of announcing his decision to continue working from home, Agrawal tweeted, "But we're now at a stage where you're living your lives, adjusting to local health guidelines, and deciding what works best for you. So too, the decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe travelling for business, and what events you attend should be yours".

Meanwhile, the same report points out that Musk is planning to trim Twitter's workforce from 7500 to 3700. Last month, The Washington Post claimed that Musk might lay off approximately 5500 Twitter employees, reducing the headcount from 7500 to 2000. However, the figure was later updated to 25 per cent by the same publication.

The new Twitter owner has already ousted some key Twitter figures, which include ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. Bloomberg claims that Musk also laid off Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Berland, Chief Customer Officer Sarah Personette, and Jean-Philippe Maheu, who was vice president of global client solutions.

Meanwhile, Twitter is planning to charge users $8 for the prestigious Blue tick. The verification badge will be bundled with the Twitter Blue subscription that remains available in select countries. It may roll out in India soon, once Musk and the team fully update the verification system.