Tesla boss Elon Musk has told all employees they run the risk of being fired if they do not return to the office and stop working remotely.
The richest person in the world, who also runs SpaceX and tries to take over Twitter, told Tesla employees that the remote working conditions introduced in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic already they would not be acceptable.
In an email to staff seen by Electrek and Bloomberg, Musk said office workers should work a minimum of 40 hours a week on site.
“Anyone who wants to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean * minimum *) 40 hours a week or leave Tesla,” he wrote. “That’s less than what we ask of factory workers.”
Tesla’s position goes against other leading technology companies such as Apple and Google, which have adopted a hybrid approach that gives workers more flexibility with where they work.
In a follow-up email, Mr. Musk wrote, “The bigger you are, the more visible your presence should be. That’s why I lived so long in the factory, so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I hadn’t, Tesla would have failed a long time ago.
“Of course, there are companies that don’t require it, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while. Tesla has created and will manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. “This will not happen by calling him.”
Certain exceptions would be made to the new rules in office, Musk wrote, though only for “exceptional collaborators” who had their direct approval.
Mr Musk responded to a screenshot of the first email posted to Twitter on Wednesday, tweeting: “They should pretend they work elsewhere.”