- Elon Musk told Twitter staff that they should expect to work 80-hour weeks, per Bloomberg.
- Musk previously got rid of remote working, telling workers 40 hours in the office was a minimum.
Elon Musk issued a series of stern warnings during an address to Twitter staff on Thursday, including an expectation of 80-hour work weeks, per Bloomberg.
Twitter's new owner earlier rolled back the company's work-from-home policy in an email sent to staff at 2:39 a.m. Musk said: "Everyone is required to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week" unless they were "physically unable" to travel to an office.
Musk's "minimum" requirement could more than double given his latest statement. While working on the controversial new $8 verification feature, some Twitter managers told staff to work 84-hour weeks – or 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, CNBC reported.
Musk himself is now laying down these demanding expectations, and also added that there will be fewer office perks like free food. In the same address, he said that Twitter could go bankrupt if it doesn't start making more money.
US federal law says that working more than 40 hours a week demands 50% more pay for overtime hours.
Per The Verge's transcript of Musk's Q&A and with employees, Musk told staff to work with "a maniacal sense of urgency."
He also referred to his management of Tesla and SpaceX, explaining that "a small number of exceptional people can be highly motivated [and] can do better than a large number of people who are pretty good and moderately motivated."
SpaceX staff have previously worked all-nighters, with 60-hour weeks said to be "part-time." Musk himself slept on the factory floor, but the company has also been fined for safety violations.
Musk added that Twitter Blue subscriptions had "extremely high urgency," because advertising revenue could suffer in a recession. The subscription allows users to purchase a blue-tick, resulting in numerous troll accounts pretending to be companies and celebrities.
Twitter briefly added an "official" tag to distinguish some legitimate accounts before Musk "killed it," although it has now been re-added.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.