Elon Musk requested his workers to stop remote work and come back to the office, or they would be assumed to have “resigned.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has emailed his employees to come back to the office and work at least 40 hours per week, or they will resign.
“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers.” The email said, first obtained by electrek.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla allowed its employees to do remote work if they felt unsafe working on site.
As the pandemic subsides, many companies are urging their employees to come back to the office as some realize that they are not productive working remotely. Other companies even give incentives to their employees to come back to the office.
The email seemed authentic as a Twitter user asked Musk regarding this. The CEO replied: “They should pretend to work somewhere else.”
Musk emphasized that those who have senior roles should have more presence as he set an example by basically living in the factory:
“The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I lived in the factory so much – so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.”
He also highlighted companies that do remote work don’t achieve “great new products.”
“There are of course companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while.”
Furthermore, Twitter is known to have a permanent remote work policy. If Musk’s acquisition pushes through, Twitter staff might also see themselves in an office setting.
The full email states:
Subject: Remote work is no longer acceptable
Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers.
If there are particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible, I will review and approve those exceptions directly.
Moreover, the “office” must be a main Tesla office, not a remote branch office unrelated to the job duties, for example being responsible for Fremont factory human relations, but having your office be in another state.
Thanks,
Elon
He also issued an additional email:
Subject: To be super clear
Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.
The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I lived in the factory so much – so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.
There are of course companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while.
Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in.
Thanks,
Elon
