During the pandemic years, the home office became a valued and, for many, long-awaited privilege. Yet Elon Musk has recently challenged this now-established practice and unsettled many of his employees in the process.
Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced that remote work will no longer be permitted at his company. In an internal e-mail, he instructed employees that each person must spend a minimum of 40 hours per week in the office.
In a second e-mail, he stated that failure to comply would be interpreted as a resignation. When a Twitter user asked whether he had a comment for those who consider mandatory office presence outdated, Musk replied curtly:
“They should pretend to work somewhere else.”
It is evident that many organisations — including major tech firms such as Amazon and Apple — continue to debate their stance on remote-work policies. Apple, for instance, requires its staff to be in the office three days a week, while Amazon employees negotiate their attendance with their managers.
Musk also used the opportunity to criticise companies that do not enforce office presence, asking pointedly:
“When was the last time they delivered a truly great new product?”
In an earlier article, we discussed the contrasting findings of a Stanford University study — published in the Harvard Business Review — which paints a markedly different picture of productivity in remote settings.
What are your thoughts on this?
