Mankind goes through a difficult time over the past three years. We had a pandemic, from which we still did not recover completely. We have an evident and stronger than ever global warming. Furthermore, we have many ongoing wars and to make the situation even worse, a new virus starts spreading globally.
The least that could have been done for people all over the world is to give them the opportunity to work remotely, when and where they have the conditions to do so. Like any other company in the world, Tesla permits remote work for all its employees since the pandemic started, back in 2019.
No More Work From Home! – Elon Musk Demands Tesla Employees To Come Back In Office. If They Don’t They’ll Be Fired
However, now, Elon Musk thinks it is time to put an end to it and get back in the office. Back to the good old 40-hour workweeks. He makes himself very clear about this and says that this is not a recommendation, but an order that needs to be in power immediately.
He’s sent two emails on the matter making clear how seriously he sees the presence of his employees in the office.
“Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of forty 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.” – the CEO points out – “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 says in the first email.
“If there are particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible, I will review and approve those exceptions directly.” – the billionaire states.
“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.” Musk says in the second email giving a great amount of significance to the physical presence.
He continues by pointing out that senior employees are the first ones that ought to return to the office. They need to be an example for the younger generation. He adds that he “lived in the factory so long” in order to raise Tesla to what it is today. Had he not done it, “Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.”
“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.” – The boss adds.
In several interviews, and responses to Twitter questions on the matter, Elon points out that according to his analysis the productivity of his employees is much higher when they are at the factory. “They can pretend to work somewhere else” – he says.
In the meantime, throughout the world, there are many analyses and questionnaires that are countering Elon’s opinion on this topic. Many results have shown that the productivity of an individual can be high, or low in both, home and office work. It is not the location, but the personality of the person that contributes to that how productive he/she will be during the working 8 hours.
But, nobody can change Elon’s mind. Once he decides on something he wants that to be done as soon as possible. Without any questions, without any complaints. In a recent interview with Financial Times he says that Americans are ‘trying to avoid going to work at all’. According to him, that is not the way to build a strong and firm infrastructure.
The pandemic is at an end and there is no significant risk of working from the office. For example Twitter, the company that he currently is in negotiations to buy keeps the remote work policy. They announce that they urge their employees to work from home if they feel to be more productive that way. Of course, if that is what makes them happy and gives them a boost in productivity. More companies follow this example. We have Atlassian, Meta, Reddit, Airbnb, and Aquent as some of the sounding names and companies that allow and moreover, embrace ‘work from home’.
As a comparison and as a great example of how things should work Musk refers to the Chinese factories. He takes the fact that Chinese workers sometimes won’t even leave the factory. Moreover, Musk says that every business owner that sees his business as successful even in 10-20 years’ time should abide by these rules. They should avoid employing people who have an ‘American’ mentality. The point of a successful worker is not just to go there, work 8 hours and leave. A successful worker is one that is willing to put in extra hours and extra work, to see the company succeed and advance. A worker that finishes the given task without question.
Twitter is one of the more flexible companies there are when the ‘work from home’ topic is in question. They continue this practice even after the pandemic is over. Their employees continue to work from home when possible.
Twitter at the moment is amidst a takeover from the new owner. And the new owner is nobody less than the billionaire himself, Elon Musk. Due to some banal issue that occurs on the way, the Twitter deal is on hold and the company is in panic, trying to prove some of the claims they had been advertising. But, it is safe to presume that sooner or later, Elon will proceed with the deal and buy the company.
One question pops up before all. Will the remote working policy be subject to changes, same as the censorship policy when Elon Musk takes over? His past actions surely suggest so.
