Elon Musk Wants Tesla Employees To Ditch Remote Work Or Quit

Elon Musk has made it clear to employees that the luxury of remote work is no longer acceptable at the company, and those who wish to work from home should either commit to 40 hours of office-based work beforehand or prepare to clean out their desks. The Tesla chief sent home the message via an email addressed to Tesla employees, and it has since been confirmed by Tesla investor Sam Nissim. 

The r/TeslaMotors sub-Reddit's moderator also claims to have received confirmation from Tesla employees regarding the email. In the email titled "Remote work is no longer acceptable" [sic], Musk wrote that a Tesla employee will only be allowed to work from home if they first log 40 hours at a "main" Tesla office, and not a remote branch office. The billionaire made it clear that employees in disagreement with the work policy described above can "depart Tesla."

In a follow-up email that was accessed by Electrek and titled "To be super clear," Musk clarified that the office in question is one where a Tesla employee's colleagues are located, and not "some remote pseudo office." The email further adds that if a worker doesn't show up at office premises, it would serve as an assumption they have resigned. Musk also stressed that senior employees should especially maintain a more visible presence.

When a Twitter user asked Musk whether the email content circulating around the web was legit and what he thinks about people with an "antiquated" view about working from an office, Musk replied that such people should "pretend to work somewhere else." In his second email, Musk cited himself as an example, adding that he spent a lot of time at Tesla's factory just so that employees could see him working in person. In 2018, Musk told CNBC that he was sleeping on the floor of Tesla's factory to save time that he would otherwise spend on going home and taking a shower. 

The Tesla chief further adds that if he hadn't been there at the factory premises in person, Tesla would've gone bankrupt a while ago. Musk also suggested that he recognized many companies have embraced remote work but followed up with a sarcastic question that asked about the last time that such companies shipped a "great new product." 

Musk concluded that making exciting and meaningful products — something he claims Tesla excels at — won't happen via remote calls and out-of-office work. Tesla recently raised eyebrows when it was reported by Bloomberg that Tesla plans to keep workers holed in at its Shanghai factory, while Musk's praise for Chinese employees burning the midnight oil also got lambasted for promoting an unhealthy work culture.