Twitter employees respond to Elon Musk’s appointment

The world was surprised when one of Twitter’s most famous users, Tesla and SpaceX CEO and owner, Elon Musk invested in the social media platform. In exchange for $2.9 billion, Musk was given a board seat and a 9.2% stake in Twitter.

Investments are commonplace, but given the status and reputation of Musk, some employees have expressed concern about the future of Twitter. In fact, there appears to be an expectancy of change within Twitter just days after the deal was done.

Former Tesla board member Steve Westly warned Twitter about the pace of work that will come with Musk’s involvement when he spoke to Bloomberg: “My advice to Twitter executives is put on your track shoes now because Elon is going to push you to pick up the pace.

“Here we are day one into this and he’s already saying ‘Hey, maybe it’s time to get that edit function in there.’ I think he’s going to shake things up,”

Employee feedback at Twitter

Given the controversial stances of Musk on vaccines and public safety, and reports of racial bias and sexual harassment at his company Tesla, some employees are concerned about what his appointment will mean for their jobs and the company.

The Washington Post shared a message sent on Slack by a Twitter employee: “Quick question: If an employee tweeted some of the things Elon tweets, they’d likely be the subject” of an investigation from HR, and “are board members held to the same standard?”

Evidently, some Twitter staff want board members who lead by example. So Musk’s tweets appear to be a source of friction in the company. Not having the right leaders can be an issue for companies when it comes to retention.

In an effort to ease concerns about leadership, it has been reported that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is still “the tiebreaker” when it comes to company decisions.

Agrawal responded to questions from staff writing in a company-wide email: “We say that Twitter is what’s happening and what people are talking about right now.

“Often, we [at] Twitter are what’s happening and what people are talking about. That has certainly been the case this week, as employees have questioned how the company will run.”

In an effort to create open communication, Agrawal also stated:  “Following our board announcement, many of you have had different types of questions about Elon Musk, and I want to welcome you to ask those questions to him.”

Whether Musk will be able to answer questions about his own use of Twitter, his criticism of the platform, and his controversial views remain to be seen.

However, this reaction does show the importance of internal communication within companies, and the belief that managers and senior staff should model good behavior, not be treated differently from employees.