Twitter has told employees that the company's office buildings will be temporarily closed, with immediate effect.

Twitter has told employees that the company's office buildings will be temporarily closed, with immediate effect

 Twitter has told employees that the company's office buildings will be temporarily closed, with immediate effect. In a message seen by the BBC, workers were told that the offices would reopen on Monday 21 November. The announcement comes amid reports that large numbers of staff were quitting after new owner Elon Musk called on them to sign up for «long hours at high intensity» or leave. «We will not let these makings of a digital P&O pass unchecked, » said Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, referring to the ferry operator's decision to sack staff and replace them with agency workers earlier this year

There are signs that large numbers of workers have resigned because they have not accepted Mr. « Musk's new terms. » «They claimed everyone on their team had been sacked. "The manager of that team, his manager was terminated. And then that manager's manager was terminated. «Another person said they had resigned even though they had been prepared to work long hours. "I didn't want to work for someone who threatened us over email multiple times about only 'exceptional tweeps should work here' when I was already working 60-70 hours weekly, « they said

In response to staff leaving, former Twitter vice-president Bruce Daisley told the BBC there were former Twitter engineers claiming the social media platform could »fail as soon as Monday«.» There's a large number of features that really seem to be predicated on having engineers on site, « he said. "If

those engineers have gone, then it does threaten the sustainability of the product

Pledge allegiance

Musk told Twitter staff that they had to commit to working long hours and would «need to be extremely hardcore» or leave the company. In an email to staff, the firm's new owner said workers should agree to the pledge if they wanted to stay, the Washington Post reported. Musk said. Earlier this month the company said that it was cutting about 50% of its workforce

Employees have been tweeting using the hashtag #LoveWhereYouWorked and a saluting emoji to show they were leaving the firm. Despite the turmoil at the company, Mr. Musk took control of Twitter the company had about 7,500 staff. The firm was also reported to have employed thousands of contract workers, the majority of whom are understood to have been laid off. The world's richest person became Twitter's chief executive after buying the firm last month in a $44bn deal