In November, when Elon Musk bought Twitter, Esther Crawford became a mini-celebrity. Her executive, who had worked at the company since 2020, posted a photo of her on the internet in which she was seen sleeping with a mask and a jacket on the floor of her office. “When your team is striving to reach the objectives sometimes

As thousands of her colleagues found out they’d been fired via email, she tried to impress the new boss by showing that no one was putting in more hours at a company that was expected to implode in a matter of days.

His gesture served to see how far things have moved in the culture of work. Until recently, Crawford could have found enough voices sympathizing with his decision. Of course you do, pursue your dream, impossible is nothing, whoever wants something costs them, sleeping (in beds) is for cowards, leaders don’t rest, in this company we are one big family.

But in November 2022, after two and a half years of pandemic fatigue, with a cost-of-living crisis that does not lead to empathy with Silicon Valley, and with the workforce debating between making a little big resignation or quiet quitting, that is, , get out of your job or work the minimum, Crawford’s hashtag was received with criticism and mockery bordering on cruelty. Esther, daughter, you are not going to inherit Twitter no matter how much you sleep in the office, she was told in better and worse ways.

Musk, moreover, aligns himself with so many other businessmen from all trades who are desperate to drag their employees back to the offices and tear them from the comfort of telecommuting – at the Uber headquarters in San Francisco they have designed cubicles that give the sensation of being in a treehouse; at Goldman Sachs, in New York, there are food trucks with donuts and lobster; In most companies you simply receive an email from human resources forcing you to attend in person.

Just a month ago, the Financial Times dedicated to Esther Crawford, one of the very few women in Elon Musk’s court, an article charting her rise on the new Twitter. She was head of the new Twitter Blue and paid Twitter, she had endorsed the less sensible ideas of her boss. For some former employees she was a “creeping who sold her soul for 15 minutes of fame.” Others commented that she is kind and that she gives personalized mugs to her team members.

In the end, it mattered little. This weekend Musk fired Esther Crawford along with 50 other employees.