I once had my job ended (contract employee and they decided to end the contract) mid-commute home before. I worked there that whole day, and then I got a call on the drive back, pulled over to answer the call, and was told not to come in to the office next Monday, the company would mail me my belongings.
What do you gain from that. Could have just pulled me aside while I was there at the end of the day, stand someone next to me while I packed up my shit, and let me go home with my stuff at least. I don't remember if I actually did get that stuff mailed to me even (it wasn't a whole lot, at least).
"What do you gain from that. Could have just pulled me aside while I was there at the end of the day, stand someone next to me while I packed up my shit, and let me go home with my stuff at least."
They're afraid of people freaking out and making a scene... or worse.
For safety reasons it's better to prevent fired employees from coming in to work at all.
I understand the why, but most of the why is mitigated by having someone present and watching you and escorting you out of the building, which is why I said have someone stand with me.
I've had the other done to me (and have even been the escort at a few other layoffs before) at several other companies, and it's never been an issue (I've unfortunately been present for many company layoffs, I have a bad track record of joining a company while they are growing and within about a year of joining, or nearly so, they start missing targets or lose major contracts and start laying people off).
Seen this happen to at least 100 people at this point. No scene. I don't doubt that someone theoretically could make a scene, but it's not common enough to warrant the insulting nature of the other.
Like I would never work for that company again, and was tempted to leave them a bad Glassdoor review as a result (much more permanent than a brief outburst in-office). But other companies I was laid off from that let me gather my things in person I would at least consider going back to at some point.
However, for Twitter, this is such a mass layoff I don't really blame them for not doing it in person (most of the ones I was present for were like 20 people at a time at most). Plus there was clearly going to be layoffs ahead of time, if I worked there I would have already brought most or all of my crap home so it wouldn't matter much anyway.
What do you gain from that. Could have just pulled me aside while I was there at the end of the day, stand someone next to me while I packed up my shit, and let me go home with my stuff at least. I don't remember if I actually did get that stuff mailed to me even (it wasn't a whole lot, at least).