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Elon Musk tells Twitter staff only “exceptional” workers will be allowed to work remotely

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Elon Musk has told Twitter staff he prefers workers in the office, but could bend the rules for "exceptional" staff.

Musk held a town hall meeting with Twitter employees on Thursday, answering concerns about how he would govern the firm, from layoffs to product management.

He placed a bid to purchase the social media giant for $44 billion but has publicly wavered on the subject of spambots.

The Tesla billionaire has made it very clear he really prefers in-person work.  "You want to aspire to do things in person," he said at the meeting, per a recording an attendee shared with Insider.

READ MORE: CEOS CALL ELON MUSK’S RETURN TO OFFICE PLAN “TONE DEAF”

Leslie Berland, Twitter's director of people and CMO, stated at the town hall that 1,500 "tweeps" (aka Twitter workers) are fully disconnected. The remaining 6,000 are mostly hybrids.

In general, Musk believes that only high-level staff should be permitted to work remotely: “If somebody is exceptional at their job, then it's possible for them to be effective, even working remotely."

Musk went on to say that he requested Tesla leaders to offer a list of "great contributors," and that they would then determine if remote work would be feasible.

Still, in the case of approving someone to work from home, Musk would want them to come in to get to know co-workers.  

Musk said: "If you're walking down the street and pass your colleague and you don't recognize them, that would not be good,"

Musk added: "The bias definitely needs to be strongly toward working in person," he said later,

He told staff Twitter does not produce the same product as Tesla, his electric vehicle firm.

But he's been tough on the staff there.

Musk reportedly told Tesla executives in late May to come into the office or quit.

He later said on Twitter: "They should pretend to work somewhere else."

"Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week."

"If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned."

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In 2020, Twitter provided a permanent work-from-home option, and the prospect of a shift under a new owner seemed to worry staff.

According to a source in the meeting, the corporate Slack began to "go off" over Musk's declared attitude on working from home. Elon Musk and Twitter did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Source: Business Insider

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