Since Musk took the helm, the company has cut 3,700 jobs, about half its workforce. In the process, Musk wanted to confirm that Twitter employees were “real people,” and ordered a payroll audit to confirm that was the case before issuing pre-planned stock awards to employees, media reported Friday.
On Oct. 28, the day after Musk finalized the Twitter acquisition, he met with Twitter human resources executives and said he wanted to lay off employees immediately.
Shares previously granted to Twitter employees will vest on November 1, according to the plan, which is a retention bonus that Twitter regularly issues to employees.
A team within Twitter built a model that found firing employees before then could mean the company pays millions in legal fees and fines.
When Musk learned that immediate layoffs would be costly, he agreed to delay the layoffs, the people said. Before the bonus was issued, though, Musk ordered a payroll audit to make sure Twitter's employees were "real people" because he feared "ghost employees" who were still on the books would get part of the bonus.
Musk directed Twitter's chief accounting officer, Robert Kaiden, to conduct a payroll audit. Kayden asked managers to confirm if they knew certain employees and to prove they were in fact human. Ultimately, Twitter made mass layoffs on November 4.
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