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The head of electric car company Tesla, South African billionaire Elon Musk, ordered all Tesla employees to return to offices, declaring that remote work would no longer be acceptable.
The new policy was shared through emails that were leaked on social networks.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on the emails, one of which appeared to be directed at company executives.
Anyone unwilling to follow the new rules can “pretend they’re working somewhere else,” Musk said on Twitter, when asked regarding the company’s new labor policy.
“Everyone at Tesla is expected to spend a minimum of 40 hours per week in the office,” read one of the leaked emails. “If you don’t show up, we’ll assume you’ve quit.”
The emails said employees should report to one of the company’s main offices, “not a remote branch that is unrelated to job duties.”
Musk assured that he himself would review any requests for exceptions to the policy he announced.
He added that full-time face-to-face work is what factory workers are required to do and that in-person collaboration was key to the company’s success.
“Of course there are companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they pushed a great new product? It’s been a while,” he said in one of two emails leaked on social media.
“Tesla has created and will create and produce the most exciting and significant products of any company on Earth. This will not happen over the phone.”
various options
Companies in different industries are defining whether to maintain the remote work practices that have spread during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some sectors, like banking, signaled early on that they expected employees to return to offices, while in others, like the tech industry, many companies have said they will work remotely indefinitely. Many others have opted for a hybrid system.
Office occupancy in the US is approximately 43%, according to data from Kastle, a company that handles magnetic card revenues in thousands of buildings in the country.
‘He lived in the factory’
image source, Archyde.com
Musk is famous for his own attitude towards work. He rarely takes vacations and during a difficult period for Tesla, he slept on the factory floor.
“The higher your title, the more visible your presence should be,” he wrote in one of the emails, referring to the remote work policy.
“That’s why I lived so long in the factory, so that those on the lines [de producción] they might see me working next to them. If I hadn’t done that, Tesla would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.”
Musk had previously spoken negatively regarding remote work, writing on Twitter earlier this year: “The whole stay home Covid thing has misled people into thinking you don’t really need to work hard. An awakening is coming!” hard!”.
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