Elon Musk shuts Twitter staff out of offices as hundreds quit

Elon Musk has locked Twitter staff out of offices until next week as hundreds of employees reportedly resigned after being given an ultimatum by the billionaire. 

The closure until Monday was revealed in an email to staff, with no reason was given.

Hundreds of employees have quit the company after Mr Musk told staff they "need to be extremely hardcore" or leave, according to The Verge.

Entire internal teams have reportedly resigned in response to the edict, including groups of software developers responsible for ensuring Twitter's website loads correctly whenever a user logs on.

Many members of an internal clearing house for software support requests, known as the "Command Centre", have also left the company.

Twitter had around 2,900 employees on Thursday evening Mr Musk's deadline to sign up to his new working conditions expired.

Mr Musk, the social network's self-styled "Chief Twit" had already laid off half of the company's workforce after taking over, though he was subsequently forced to ask some of them to return in order to build the platform he envisaged.

Mr Musk softened his earlier edict against working remotely, writing in an email on Thursday: "All that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution."

The email to staff announcing the closure said: "Hi, Effective immediately, we are temporarily closing our office buildings and all badge access will be suspended. Offices will reopen on Monday, November 21st.

"Thank you for your flexibility. Please continue to comply with company policy by refraining from discussing confidential company information on social media, with the press or elsewhere.

"We look forward to working with you on Twitter’s exciting future."

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the office shutdown "suggests further lay offs are coming".

She added: "For those members of staff that did vote with their feet on the new demands, it proves as a stark reminder to employers of how society has changed. 

"Flexibility and working from home are now must, not nice, to-haves."

Some Twitter users have begun deleting their private direct messages to each other over fears the company will start reading them – although DMs are not encrypted or subject to any special protections – while others have begun looking at alternative social media sites such as Mastodon. 

Reference: The Telegraph: Chris Price, Gareth Corfield -