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Workplace

Twitter prepares for a possible employee exodus

CEO Parag Agrawal tries to boost morale.

Parag Agarwal of Twitter

Leaders are gearing up for what an employee phrased as an “undeniable exodus.”

Twitter

Twitter is reportedly preparing for an exodus of employees who may leave the company after it’s sold to Elon Musk.

According to Platformer, a newsletter by tech journalist Casey Newton, Twitter executives held an all-hands meeting Friday morning to answer questions from employees and, apparently, try to boost their morale.

“I believe there is something to be learned from this opportunity,” CEO Parag Agrawal reportedly told employees.

Twitter hasn’t agreed to any layoffs ahead of the sale, leaders are gearing up for what an employee phrased as an “undeniable exodus.” This anticipated turnover hasn’t started yet: The company’s attrition rate has stayed around 16%, Newton reported.

Minority employees might be especially likely to leave. One person asked Agrawal why employees from marginalized backgrounds should work for Musk, who doesn’t exactly seem interested in their concerns.

“Same reason I’ve said for everyone else,” Agrawal reportedly said. “You’re here doing your job. You’re here working with people you like working with. You believe in the work you do. You believe in your community. You believe [in] the impact your community [the work] has.”

Asked if Twitter could have avoided the takeover, Agrawal reportedly took some of the blame for the company not having “done things differently and better.” In the last five years, Twitter could have “been stronger technically,” inspired more trust around its policies and better monetized the product, he admitted. Any plans that Musk has to change Twitter’s product weren’t part of the decision to sell him the company, executives reportedly said.

One employee asked Agrawal why he personally voted for the sale. Unsurprisingly, he pointed to his fiduciary duty to shareholders, according to Platformer.

Allison Levitsky
Allison Levitsky is a reporter at Protocol covering workplace issues in tech. She previously covered big tech companies and the tech workforce for the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Allison grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley.
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