Elon Musk to Tesla, SpaceX employees: 40 hours in the office or find another job

Tesla kept its Fremont factory open in defiance of local health orders in 2020. The company has since moved its headquarters to Austin but maintains major engineering offices in Palo Alto. — AFP

Elon Musk expects Tesla employees to work from the office full time or find a new job, according to two company memos sent this week. Musk wrote that "remote work is no longer acceptable," and added on Twitter that those who think offices are antiquated should "pretend to work somewhere else."

In the first of two memos, Musk 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." He also noted "This is less than we ask of factory workers."

Tesla kept its Fremont factory open in defiance of local health orders in 2020. The company has since moved its headquarters to Austin but maintains major engineering offices in Palo Alto.

The world's richest man wrote that in-person work was critical for success: "There are of course companies that don't require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product?"

Musk issued a similar mandate at his other company, SpaceX, according to multiple reports. It's unclear if he would institute similar rules at Twitter, which he agreed last month to buy for US$44bil (RM193bil). Mandating an office return would be a major change, after Twitter said most employees can stay remote forever soon after the pandemic began. Musk has since raised questions about the social media company's fake accounts and said the deal is "on hold," while Twitter officials have stated they expect the deal to close.

Remote work has been the subject of ongoing debate ever since the pandemic led wide swaths of the US workforce to turn their homes into offices and embrace meeting over Zoom.

Many studies have shown that remote work has no discernible impact on productivity — and may even improve it. Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University and one of the leading experts on remote work, estimated last month that 25% to 35% of US workers are still working from home.

Tesla's rules are stricter than many large companies that are allowing workers to stay home at least part-time. Many tech giants have settled on a hybrid approach, arguing in-person collaboration is essential. Google announced in March it expected employees to return to the office three days a week. Apple told employees the same, though recently paused the plan after coronavirus case rates began to surge in the Bay Area and elsewhere.

Others, however, have embraced the idea of working remotely, citing both the benefits for employees, including flexibility and reduced commute times, as well as competitive advantages in hiring.

Last month, TaskRabbit, the worker-for-hire app, said it would be closing all of its offices, allowing employees to work from wherever they wanted. "Coming in just for the sake of coming in, I don't think is going to work," CEO Ania Smith told the Chronicle. – San Francisco Chronicle/Tribune News Service