Lessons in How Not to Fire People

There may not be a good way to fire people. But there absolutely is a bad way.

- Alex Webb

In fact, several bad ways. And Twitter Inc.’s self-appointed chief twit, Elon Musk, seems to have hit on most of them. Some employees were laid off by email. Others found they’d been locked out of their work laptops and messaging channels before they even had official word of their dismissal.

There was no mention by Musk of the most important reason the firings were necessary—namely that he needs to find some $1.2 billion to pay the interest on the debt he raised to fund the deal. Worse: He’s repeatedly seemed to blame employees for the company’s problems.

In