Elon Musk speaking at Tesla Investor Day.
Provided by: Tesla
Elon Musk on Tuesday retracted an attack on a disabled Twitter employee fired by his company and apologized for what he called a “misunderstanding.”
On Tuesday, Musk questioned the work performance of Haraldur Soleifsson, nicknamed “Hari,” who said he had “hardly worked in the last four months.”
“I want to apologize for misunderstanding Mr. Hari’s situation,” Musk tweeted. “It was based on what was said to be untrue, or true in some cases, but meaningless.”
“He’s considering staying on Twitter,” Musk added.
Thorleifsson, an Icelandic entrepreneur with disabilities, found himself drawn into a verbal battle with Musk after asking about his employment status. Thorleifsson and his Twitter no longer have a communications department, but his questions from CNBC about the controversy went unanswered by the time of publication.
On Monday, Thorleifsson, 45, tweeted to Musk that he had been locked out of his work computer for several days and had not received a response from Twitter’s human resources department on whether he had been fired.
he suggested he may have been one of the 200 employees I think he was let go by the company. in February. Thorleifsson lives and works in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, with his wife and his two children.
Musk, an avid Twitter user, asked Thorleifsson, “What kind of work have you been doing?” In response, Thorleifsson responded that a software-as-a-service contract saved the company his $500,000 and led the prioritization of design projects.
Upon closer inspection by Musk, Thorleifsson identified the SaaS contract that saved the company money as the design platform Figma, and said his prioritization work related to “all active design projects.” said.
Musk went on to respond with two laughing face emojis, then tweeted a link to a clip from the comedy movie “Office Space,” which parodied office culture.
After his exchange with Musk, Thorleifsson said he was informed by Twitter’s human resources manager that he had been fired.
Musk also criticized Torleifsson for his work at the company, saying he “didn’t do any real work. He was making excuses for his typing disability and tweeting like a storm at the same time.” rice field.
If an employee has to ask their boss on Twitter if they still have work to do, something is clearly wrong.
Matt Monnet
UK and Ireland Country Lead, Deel
Dogecoin co-creator and Musk ally Billy Markus expressed his displeasure with Musk’s tweet. In a since-deleted response to Marcus, Musk said, “He sucks, sorry.”
After one Twitter user said he had worked directly with Tolleifsson and that his work ethic was taken to “the next level,” Musk told Tolleifsson, “What’s the truth, I was told “We had a video call to understand what was going on.” Musk has since apologized and suggested that Thorleifsson is considering staying on his Twitter.
Matt Monette, UK and Ireland country lead for talent platform Deel, says that while remote work is becoming more common, tech layoffs are on the rise, “the need for effective internal communication is increasing. there is,” he said.
“Something is clearly wrong when an employee has to ask their boss on Twitter if they still have work,” Monnett told CNBC in an email. We have to make sure that the rules are followed.”
The case is one of the strangest twists yet in the story surrounding Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. Musk agreed to buy the social media site for his $44 billion last year. Since then, he has sought to cut costs significantly to make it a profitable venture.
As part of that strategy, Musk laid off thousands of Twitter employees. It cut another 200 jobs last month, according to the company. Report from The New York Timeshas reduced staff numbers to 2,000 from about 7,500 in October.
person of the year
Thorleifsson joined Twitter as Senior Director of Product Design following the sale of digital brand design agency Ueno to Twitter in 2021. Thorleifsson explained that his disability made it difficult for him to do manual tasks for long periods of time without getting hand cramps.
according to Iceland review, Torraifsson, has been named Iceland’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2022. One of his reasons is the sale of Ueno and the installation of wheelchair ramps across the country.
Thorleifsson says part of the reason he sold the company was unfavorable financial terms, but it was also because his disability made it difficult for him to do manual labor.
Soleifsson reportedly By choosing to receive the sale price as a salary, I was able to pay 46% income tax instead of the standard 22% tax rate on my investment income.
Thorleifsson said he wasn’t sure if he would receive severance pay. “Corporations let people go. It’s within their rights,” Trulifeson said on Twitter. “They usually tell people about it, but it seems like an optional part on Twitter right now.”
It’s not yet clear what he’ll do next, but he plans to open a restaurant named after his mother in downtown Reykjavik “soon,” he said Tuesday.
