Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to Tesla employees on Wednesday, telling them to “pretend to work somewhere else” if they disagreed with the company’s policy.
He sent a series of emails instructing employees to return to the office or face termination.
“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,” Musk wrote.
NEW: Elon Musk gives ultimatum to Tesla execs: Return to office for work or leave, "remote work is no longer acceptable" pic.twitter.com/tmoTmLBlUa
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 1, 2022
“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,” he added, taking a hard stance on returning to office.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a shot at companies that still allow remote work.
“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,” he wrote in one of the emails.
Musk did not deny sending these emails to employees. He stated in a tweet: “They should pretend to work somewhere else” if they disagree with the company’s return-to-office policy.
“The more senior you are, the more visible your presence must be. 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,” Musk said.
Moreover, he added, 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”.
“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,” Musk added.
