San Francisco Orders Twitter to Stop Using Conference Rooms as Bedrooms or Get a New Permit
Armchairs, bedside tables, and mattresses have all been spotted at Twitter HQ.
By Gabrielle Bienasz •
Go bed permit — or go home.
The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection told Twitter's construction contractor Monday that it needed to change the classification for meeting rooms that are instead being used as bedrooms, according to Insider.
The correction notice said "it was observed that some of the conference rooms were being used as employee sleeping or rest areas," per the outlet.
Twitter's CEO and owner, Elon Musk, purchased the company in October and then took it private, laid off half the staff, and installed a different and "extremely hardcore" work culture.
An early photo of an employee sleeping in the office in a sleeping bag went viral.
When your team is pushing round the clock to make deadlines sometimes you #SleepWhereYouWork https://t.co/UBGKYPilbD
— Esther Crawford (@esthercrawford) November 2, 2022
Related: Photo Exposes Overworked Twitter Employee Sleeping on Office Floor: 'Pushing Round the Clock'
In early December, Forbes reported on a photo of a meeting room at Twitter being converted into bedrooms, with armchairs and a bedside table, which set off an investigation from the Department of Building Inspection.
The BBC also reported in early December around that time an employee said Musk had been sleeping at the office since completing the purchase and that one conference room had become a "hotel room."
A worker at the city's Planning Department told the San Francisco Chronicle that the distinction is important because meeting rooms cost different amounts than bedrooms for buildings that are used commercially.
Musk previously called the conversions simply "providing beds for tired employees," on Twitter.
