Elon Musk warns Twitter managers they'll be fired for backing employees who are not 'excellent,' even as hundreds refuse to work for Twitter 2.0

• Twitter workers are confused about Musk's new mandate for returning to full-time office work.
• Musk clarified his position in emails on Thursday, including a warning to managers.

Elon Musk on Thursday clarified his stance on remote work at Twitter while adding a warning to managers who are now held responsible for reporting employee performance.

In back-to-back emails seen by Insider, Musk further clarified his stance around remote work amid mass confusion inside the company about how a new mandate effectively ending remote work at Twitter would be implemented. Twitter employees have worked for almost two years under a "work from anywhere" company policy allowing them to work from home full-time if they wished and in any state. Musk is changing that, saying in his first email to staff that only "exceptional" employees will be allowed to continue working from home alongside those who get an "exception" that Musk will sign off on.

Although he slightly softened that stance a week ago, Musk further clarified on Thursday what is needed to get such an exception.

"All that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution," Musk wrote in the first of his emails. "It is also expected that you have in person meetings with your colleagues on a reasonable cadence, ideally weekly, but not less than once per month."

The emails come just a few hours before a deadline Musk gave on Tuesday to every remaining worker at the company. He told Twitter employees who made it through a mass layoff two weeks ago that they needed to show their desire for working at his new "extremely hardcore" "Twitter 2.0" by clicking a signup link before 5 pm ET Thursday. Those who do not sign up, Musk said, will be considered to have resigned from the company.

Many Twitter employees have signed up to continue working for Musk by clicking the link, which only offered an option for "yes," two current employees told Insider. Meanwhile, hundreds of others have not, leaving some team managers who intend to stay wondering how they may be able to keep organizations operating after another possible wave of departures. Part of the reason for Musk dialing back his stance on remote work is managers lobbying on behalf of team members they need who do not work out of an office or who may even be out of state.

"This is stressing me out," one employee said. "A lot of people I need have not heard back regarding return to office plans."

After a few minutes went by, however, Musk followed up on his first email with a tougher stance that's come to be expected of his leadership style at Twitter. He put managers throughout the company on notice that, should they try and keep members of their team who are not performing at an "excellent" level, managers themselves will be fired.

"At risk of stating the obvious," Musk wrote, "any manager who falsely claims that someone reporting to them is doing excellent work or that a given role is essential, whether remote or not, will be exited from the company."

Are you a Twitter employee or someone else with insight to share? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com, on secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267, or through Twitter DM at @hayskali. Reach out using a non-work device.