Key Points
- Elon Musk has reportedly sent a message telling Twitter staff he expects them to work long hours at high intensity.
- Those who do not sign a pledge will reportedly be given a severance package of three months' pay.
- Dr Kristy Goodwin says humans are 'physiological incapable' of doing cognitively taxing work for extended periods.
Twitter owner has reportedly told staff to work longer hours or leave, according to a message that outlined his expectations for the "new Twitter" workforce.
Staff were given the option of committing to a pledge or with Mr Musk saying the company would need to be "extremely hardcore" in building "Twitter 2.0".
But does working longer hours result in an increase in productivity, and is it actually possible?
What did Elon Musk tell Twitter workers?
Mr Musk reportedly gave staff until Thursday to pledge to work "long hours at high intensity", according to a message seen by the Washington Post,
Those who do not confirm their commitment will receive three months' severance pay.
"Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore," the message from Mr Musk said.
"This will mean long hours at high intensity. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade."
It comes after almost half of the social media giant's staff were laid off as part of a major overhaul following the billionaire's takeover of the company.
Last week, he reportedly told staff in an email remote working would no longer be allowed, and he expected workers to be in the office for "at least" 40 hours per week.
Are his expectations realistic?
Digital wellbeing and peak performance researcher Kristy Goodwin said humans are not biologically designed to work long hours at high intensity.
Dr Goodwin told SBS News that Mr Musk's expectations would not be realistic for most employees.
"From a neurobiological perspective, the prefrontal cortex - the part of our brain that does the heavy lifting - really only has a maximum of four to six hours of battery life per day," she said.
"Biologically, we just aren't primed to do cognitively taxing work for hour upon hour, so from a biological perspective this is not working within our neurobiological constraints; it's a physiological incapability."
Dr Goodwin said for the average person, working longer days would be unlikely to result in an increase in productivity.
"What some of the preliminary research is showing is if we work within shorter time constraints, our productivity often doesn't diminish, because we are focused and productive," she said.
"The law of diminishing returns is the idea that past 5pm, even though we might be sitting there, doing work, the output is so much lower because we're either physiologically exhausted, or we're psychologically exhausted."
What are the laws around long work days?
According to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, a full-time employee is, for a calendar month, an employee employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week, or 130 hours of service per month.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not limit the number of hours employees over 16 can be required to work, but covered non-exempt employees must receive overtime pay for any additional hours worked above 40 hours in one work week.
In Australia, awards and other agreements set our maximum ordinary hours. According to Fair Work Australia, full-time employees can work a maximum of 38 hours each week unless an employer asks them to work reasonable extra hours.
When work is performed outside the ordinary hours listed in an award or agreement, overtime pay or time off in lieu is applied.
Could Twitter have a new leader soon?
Mr Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organisational restructuring this week.
He made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his US$56 billion ($83.1 billion) pay package at Tesla was based on easy-to-achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors.
Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time that Mr Musk is devoting to turn around Twitter.
"There's an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganise the company," he said in his testimony. "But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter."
With Reuters
