Elon Musk doesn't think remote work is acceptable

Hey you, sitting at home reading this article between afternoon Zoom calls. First: Thank you. Second: Elon Musk doesn’t think you’re working very hard. At least he seemed to have said as much in a leaked email bearing the subject line, “Remote work is no longer acceptble [sic].”

In Musk’s message to Tesla’s executive staff Tuesday, the CEO allegedly wrote that, “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.” A reminder here that 40 hours typically fulfills a full-time work schedule.

Musk also added in his note that the office locations at which employees on certain teams work are inflexible, per this new policy—they cannot just use “a remote branch unrelated to job duties” at an office in another state—and that he would personally review and grant any exception requests.

Tesla’s new policy is by far the strictest among the major tech brands. Earlier this year, Apple and Google started implementing rules mandating employees work from the office at least three days per week. Neither company's policy is permanent for now, and plans have been delayed due to Covid outbreaks, but Apple's director of machine learning, Ian Goodfellow, left the company over its return to work policy. 

Meanwhile, Meta/Facebook announced that employees returning to the office would need to be there at least half the time, in perpetuity, but added that many Meta employees could and should work from anywhere their jobs allowed. However, the company is cutting its free laundry, dry cleaning and valet service for employees staying in Silicon Valley, and will readjust salaries based on the cost of living for those moving to work remotely in a new city.  

One of the most liberal of the WFH policies actually belongs to Twitter, which Musk is currently attempting to buy and/or get out of buying, and which in March announced that its employees could WFH “forever.” In its notice, Twitter leadership highlighted that they want employees to be able to work from “wherever they feel most productive and creative.” Musk’s leaked message seems to suggest the exact opposite, but he didn't comment on whether this policy would extend to Twitter, should the deal go through. 

The pandemic effectively offered companies the greatest work-from-home pilot program in history, and it seems to have been successful. According to a two-year analysis of more than 800,000 employees that was published in February 2021 by Great Place to Work, “most people reported stable or even increased productivity levels after employees started working from home.” 

The analysis also found that employees were “willing to give extra to get the job done” and that it was often poor leadership that led to lowered productivity at home. 

But Musk seems to not be easily swayed. When asked by a Twitter user how he’d respond to employees who think coming into the office each day is an “antiquated concept,” the billionaire fired back a curt response: “They should pretend to work somewhere else.”