Last week, Elon Musk sent out his first email to Twitter employees since taking over the tech company, informing all staff that he will no longer allow employees to work remotely.

Twitter’s “work from home forever” policy was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic under former CEO Jack Dorsey. The policy promised employees that they could continue to work from home after the pandemic. But Musk is ending this policy and is demanding that all Twitter staff must work in person. In the past, Musk has implied that employees who work from home “pretend to work.”

“The road ahead is arduous and will require intense work to succeed. We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed unless you have a specific exception. Managers will send the exception lists to me for review and approval. Starting tomorrow (Thursday), everyone is required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. Obviously, if you are physically unable to travel to an office or have a critical personal obligation, then your absence is understandable. I look forward to working with you to take Twitter to a whole new level. The potential is truly incredible.”
Twitter email from Elon Musk to Twitter employees, transcribed by CNBC

The decision to end work-from-home is one of many steps Musk has taken in recent weeks to change how Twitter is ran. Musk has also fired nearly half of Twitter’s entire staff. The new CEO explains that his philosophy when running a company is to have “a small number” of “high-intensity employees” work to achieve company goals.

That is my philosophy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2022

Musk has now given the remaining Twitter employees a deadline to decide whether or not they want to continue working for the company. Employees are being asked to quit if they do not agree with the changes and new vision of Twitter with Musk as the CEO.

In a memo to the company, Musk wrote, “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore. This will mean working long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”

After severe backlash from Twitter’s new subscription service that allows verification checkmarks for everyone that pays the $8 per month plan, it remains to be seen what new changes Musk plans on bringing to the social media platform next.