That has left the office in disarray. With people packed into more confined spaces, the smell of leftover takeout food and body odor has lingered on the floors, according to four current and former employees. Bathrooms have grown dirty, these people said. And because janitorial services have largely been ended, some workers have resorted to bringing their own rolls of toilet paper from home.
Mr. Musk’s erratic and hands-on style has thrown off a number of workers, as he often interrupts meetings seemingly at random, talking for long stretches and asking some top leaders to be sounding boards for his ideas, two people familiar with his management of Twitter said.
He has also asked some leaders to snuff out the sources of leaks to the press and anonymous posts on social media sites, three people said, and is focused on eliminating people inside the company he believes are opposed to him.
Workers expect more layoffs. Because the sales staff was cut less than other teams in earlier rounds of dismissals, some people anticipate further cuts to the division. U.S. revenue numbers continue to flag, with advertising revenue down significantly over the first week of December compared with where it was one year ago, two people said.
Despite the steep cuts, Mr. Musk has continued to spend in some areas. Twitter has hired several new employees in recent weeks, replacing workers who were terminated during mass layoffs in November.
But the training process for new employees has been significantly reduced, cutting to 90 minutes what was once three days of orientation that included information on compliance with privacy and security agreements with global regulators, three people said. In one case, a new hire contacted a former employee on LinkedIn to get an understanding of how services worked at the company, according to the former worker.
Mr. Musk has also brought in dozens of engineers from his other companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, to work at Twitter. While Tesla engineers are not on Twitter’s payroll, the automaker has billed the social media firm for some of their services as if they were contractors, according to documents seen by a former Twitter manager.
