Several rooms in the office have been converted into small sleeping quarters:
Elon Musk's "extremely hardcore" vision for Twitter seems to have manifested itself in sad little conference-room sleeping quarters at the company's recently depopulated headquarters.
On Monday, employees returning to work at the company's San Francisco location were greeted by modest bedrooms featuring unmade mattresses, drab curtains and giant conference-room telepresence monitors — a significant upgrade over the Therm-a-Rest+sleeping bag situation showcased by one Twitter employee in November. One room even has a plant.
A photo of one converted bedroom shared with Forbes showed bright orange carpeting, a wooden bedside table and what appears to be a queen bed, replete with a table lamp and two office armchairs just begging for convivial workplace collaboration.
One source said that no announcement or context was provided to employees, and presumed that the beds are for remaining "hardcore" staffers to be able to stay overnight at the office. "It's not a good look," they said. "It's yet another unspoken sign of disrespect. There is no discussion. Just like, beds showed up."
[...] In mid-November, Musk tweeted that he would be working and sleeping at the corporate offices along Market Street "until the org is fixed." However, that tweet has since been deleted.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @01:08AM (1 child)
Sleeping pod, corporate f*ck chamber or is it Elons casting couch?
(Score: 3, Funny) by ikanreed on Friday December 09, @03:24AM
But how's he going to get the horse there?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ledow on Friday December 09, @01:18AM (2 children)
Are the tax man and the planning authorities aware of this change of usage of a commercial building that's not compliant with residential requirements?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @01:20AM
Since Musk is full of shit
(Score: 4, Informative) by MostCynical on Friday December 09, @02:05AM
city officials are reportedly investigating [sfchronicle.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday December 09, @02:06AM (2 children)
This is what I've told my employers for the past 23 years:
- I don't mind over overtime once in a while but:
- You'll pay for it
- It's temporary, and if it becomes permanent, it means the company is in need of an extra employee, so I'll quit doing overtime.
- The time I spend at work, I don't spend with my family, and I only have so many hours left on Earth. Nobody goes to the grave saying "I wish I had worked harder". Your company matters less than my family.
Happy with that? If so, I'll sign up for the job. If not, you'd better tell me now because we're not going to have a healthy employer / employee relationship.
I've turned down jobs at the interview where the guy had offered me the job based on this. I'm glad I did. The employers I've had who agreed on my - totally reasonable! - terms, I have happy memories of work there. My current employer agrees with what I think work should be like too and I'm happily employed there.
That's why I moved out of the US. Musk-style shenanigans and pretend workplace heroism don't fly with me - and generally-speaking don't fly in Europe. If Twiiter needs people to sleep at work, then Twitter is dysfunctional and it utterly fucked.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by krokodilerian on Friday December 09, @05:55AM
These should be called common sense :)
Where I am right now, we specifically berate people for doing overtime. People are less efficient after a while, and whatever you write/do in those extra hours, you almost certainly need to drop and rewrite very soon.
The only acceptable reason for overtime is emergencies. Anything else is plain stupid - night shifts (people are just stupid at night), sleeping in the office (smell, having to shower, etc), and in general burns people out. There's no reason you should treat people like toner.
(I might also be a bit biased, because I had a friend that was driving home after a 24h(!) shift, fell asleep on the gas pedal and died, some 25-30 years ago. after that everyone took note)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @06:44AM
Not sure about the UK but many years ago an ex-colleague of mine started a job at a Scandinavian company.
The first few days he stayed back after working hours (I think partly waiting for traffic to clear and maybe to appear to be "hardworking" being the new guy).
Then a boss come around and asked him stuff like:
a) Is there something wrong with the project - not enough staff or resources? Any problems with the project schedule and plan?
b) Would he like some training?
c) Is he OK with the role/project?
After that he left on time...
But yeah it does make sense - if you've planned out the project properly it normally is not a good sign if team members are having to work extra hours regularly. And yes stuff happens, but that's also why that boss stepped in to check if anything has gone wrong or is about to go wrong...
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 09, @02:15AM (1 child)
Musk may be starting a Hookers and Blow incentive program. There's nothing to indicate that he's putting the hookers on the payroll. They may well be freelancers.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Friday December 09, @04:53AM
In that case, per this Stephen Colbert one-liner [youtu.be], it can serve both purposes.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Friday December 09, @02:24AM (12 children)
I think Musk needs a serious reality check.
He can get away with that shit at SpaceX, at least for limited crunch periods, because FRIKKIN SPACE! I'd bet his employees are mostly all on board with the grand long term vision - I doubt many go into the industry without that dream having set deep roots as a child, and his company is still so far ahead of the "competition" in driving that vision forward that it's not even funny.
*Maybe* he could get away with it at Tesla, because they're mostly factory jobs, not exactly ultra-high skilled.
Twitter though? They're just another social media/advertising company. I doubt very many employees are captivated by the dream, the tech people can likely get a list of competitive offers within weeks, and the content moderators.... well from what I've heard that's one of the most vile, psychologically damaging occupations there is. It's not likely to take much to convince them to jump ship.
Honestly, it seems to me there's only two realistic scenarios here - either Musk was willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money to destroy Twitter for some reason - or he had no effing clue what he was doing, didn't even bother looking at the laws he had to comply with, and is destroying it through incompetence.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @02:47AM (3 children)
Third scenario: the media is working overtime to try to portray Musk-owned Twitter as failing, grasping at every straw they can find. They don't like their playground being messed with, and now they are saline.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @04:16AM
salt of the earth...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @12:02PM (1 child)
Totally. This is totally common practice and every company has set up bedrooms in their buildings so that their employees are encouraged to work these hours and it's just that the media are only reporting this story!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @04:19PM
Common practice in Silicon Valley. Adult day care.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday December 09, @03:01AM (7 children)
I think this is worth pointing out: Most of what's left of Twitter's work force is being kept from leaving by US immigration law. Those who are working under H1B basically have only 3 options:
1. Put up with whatever treatment their employer puts them through.
2. Find another job that can sponsor their visa.
3. Get deported back to their country of origin. And thanks to the wait times, they will probably not be able to get back in.
Now, option 2 seems very doable. If you're coming out of Twitter, maybe you can work at some other big tech companies, right? Wrong! They're laying off staff, and have also put thousands of people into the same situation you're in. And you can go to the business-y kinds of employers like insurance companies and banks and such, but that's probably going to involve a significant pay cut. Oh, and to make time to get to the interview, you have to manage to escape your office for a while without getting caught and fired immediately (which leads to deportation).
So why don't they leave the country? Because they have families, kids, obligations, etc. Packing that up and heading out of the US isn't easy. Even if it's moving to someplace nice like the French Riviera, there's still going to be costs and difficulties pulling it off. Especially if you aren't allowed to come back, ever.
Those are the kinds of decisions these people are forced to make. I don't envy them. But it makes sense that Musk would treat them this way, given that his family fortune was built on the backs of not-quite-enslaved black African workers, and his plans for Mars include a system of not-quite-enslaved people who weren't billionaires on Earth to do all the work. It's worth remembering that at Tesla, he was forcing workers back to the factories in violation of California law, knowing full well it was likely many of them would catch Covid and some of them would die. That should give you some indications of how he views his employees, no matter what their qualifications and abilities are.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Friday December 09, @03:28AM
Turning temporary negotiating power into lifelong abuse is what being an employer is all about. The H1B program makes the perfect employee, at least as close as you can get in the US with that pesky 13th amendment.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 09, @04:17AM
🙄
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @04:25AM
He's the stereotypical psychopath.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @05:00AM
Wow, you made H-1B sound good for once. But you are still full of shit.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by krokodilerian on Friday December 09, @06:02AM (2 children)
> Now, option 2 seems very doable. If you're coming out of Twitter, maybe you can work at some other big tech companies, right? Wrong! They're laying off staff, and have also put thousands of people into the same situation you're in. And you can go to the business-y kinds of employers like insurance companies and banks and such, but that's probably going to involve a significant pay cut. Oh, and to make time to get to the interview, you have to manage to escape your office for a while without getting caught and fired immediately (which leads to deportation).
Hm. I find it hard to believe that there aren't companies actively working to poach people from twitter (If I was in the US, I'd be doing that right now). There are definitely some very bright people left there that would even accept a reasonable pay cut to just get out and be able to stay in the US, and they might be worth enough to companies that they don't even get a pay cut.
I saw this here (Bulgaria) first hand when the pandemic started - some companies did the stupid thing and just shut down whole teams without bothering to keep the good people they had. In 2 months all those had jobs in other places, even the non-EU people that were with work visas. Now those companies can't find anyone stupid enough to go working for them...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday December 09, @12:27PM (1 child)
My point there is that Musk is doing this at the same time that other major tech companies are also firing people. So while normally you'd be absolutely right, currently you're not (e.g. my own tech megacorp recently a layoff of 11,000 tech staff, and isn't hiring). So some might be able to make their escape, but on average some of them will be stuck. Also relevant here is that Musk has done it quickly enough that none of them have had time to put out a resume, get called for interviews, etc. Also, December is generally the worst time to try to make a job change because most hiring managers want to wait until January for either financial reasons or convenience reasons.
This is an admittedly completely temporary situation. I can guarantee you they're all looking for an exit. They're also stuck for a few months until the market clears. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
The really stupid part about this: All this abuse, costing him his entire tech staff, will give him maybe a few weeks of increased productivity out of the people who are left. And come January, he and his company will be even worse off.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday December 09, @03:19PM
Yep, but that really stupid part seems to be fairly common in general, and Musk seems to be demonstrating it increasingly often.
I wonder if at some point managers ego's don't lead them to grossly overestimate the value they provide their employees. Many of the employers I've dealt with seem to think they're doing their employees a favor by giving them a job - and never mind the fact that if that were true it would mean they were making horrible hiring decisions and didn't deserve their own job.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday December 09, @09:02AM (7 children)
So many tales get exaggerated, because it's currently trendy to hate on Musk. I wonder what the actual truth is?
Note that Twitter already had sleeping facilities, but apparently these were just sleeping bags or something. So Musk upgraded those to actual beds. That doesn't necessarily imply that he expect people to live on premises.
I've known numerous people who nap over their lunch breaks. Few companies provided any place to take those naps, so they would nap under their desks, or sitting in their chairs, or whatever. Providing an actual, comfortable place to nap is a nice thing.
So...what's the actual truth here? Who knows...
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @03:17PM (5 children)
"it's currently trendy to hate on Musk."
Musk fanbois will fanbois
He has been hated for a long time, you've only just noticed it now
because he's been actively showing what a sociopath he is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @04:24PM (4 children)
Musk haters gonna hate, just as instructed.
If he's a sociopath, bless humanity with more billionaire sociopaths.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @04:53PM (1 child)
put them all on an island, and nuke it from space.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @05:14PM
FAP FAP FAP
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 09, @06:33PM
That's going hardcore!
(Score: 2) by helel on Sunday December 11, @03:17AM
There's a very reasonable case to be made that every billionaire already is a sociopath. No individual with a functioning moral compass could hoard that much wealth while so many starve.
Republican Patriotism [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by helel on Sunday December 11, @03:15AM
You mean the earlier reports that Musk was encouraging people to sleep in the office when he first took over and accompanied photo of someone in a sleeping bag? I feel like the claim that the media is focusing too much on Musk installing beds and not enough on him forcing people to sleep on the floor isn't quite the defense you think it is.
Republican Patriotism [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Saturday December 10, @11:58PM
This is like an ironic strike, led by the richest man on earth. Who's management, and what are they striking for? Management is government, and they're striking for housing.
Just loads and loads of irony. Look, Musk can be quite a douche and he's certainly no "man of the people" but let's look at this from an alternative PoV--you've got a city where people are working from home, but it's ridiculously expensive to live there, to the point where they'll move out if they can work from home and *simultaneously* you've got people parking vans, living in tents, under over-passes and what not. The hardcore homeless aren't techies, but some of them work. Some people couch-surf. I've actually known people with technical ability who lived in places like Livermore, but screwed the commute during the week and RV camped in the parking lot of a tech company and... see where I'm heading here?
There are no good guys here. There are no bad guys. There's a system that's addicted to expensive housing, talking out its ass about making housing affordable; so when anything comes along that threatens to make housing affordable (like 2008), they throw an absolute hissy-fit and do everything they can to make housing expensive again *because the system will come crashing down any other way*.
Of course Musk isn't in this to be a revolutionary; it's most likely just greed and a megolomaniacal need to make everybody live like him but he's being accidentally revolutionary and corporate-anarchist in the mold of Uber and AirBNB, which are basically exchange-traded rackets designed to break transit and short-term lodging cartels respectively, cartels that had solid roots in the trade-union model of old, particularly taxis.
For further irony, I've often considered that while homelessness is generally involuntary, in some sense it's a kind of strike too--against a situation where "the rent is too damned high", so Musk boarding up six-figure techies in an office, and dudes in tents down in Santa Cruz are in a bizarre union of sorts, spiritually though not in reality picketing the powers that be, refusing to participate, carrying signs:
ON STRIKE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING.
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