In a vitriolic email sent to his employees, the boss of Tesla asks them for 40 hours “minimum” of weekly presence in the office, otherwise they will be considered as “having resigned”.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has asked employees to return to the office or leave the company, according to an email sent to staff that has been circulating on social media.
“Everyone at You’re here is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. If you do not show up, we will consider that you have resigned“says the email distributed internally.
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Two sources have confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail and Tesla did not wish to react to the solicitations of the Figaro. One of Musk’s Twitter followers posted another email the executive allegedly sent to executives, asking them to work in the office at least 40 hours a week or “leave Tesla“. In response to the tweet, the billionaire, who agreed to take Twitter private in a $44 billion deal, said, “They should pretend to work somewhere else“.
“It will not be done by telephoning”
Big tech companies in Silicon Valley are not requiring workers to return to the office full-time, amid resistance from some workers and a resurgence in coronavirus cases. Tesla has moved its headquarters to Austin, Texas, but has one of its factories and engineering base in the San Francisco Bay Area. “There are of course companies that don’t need this, but when was the last time they shipped an awesome new product? It’s been a while,” Musk said in the email. “Tesla has created and will truly manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not be done by telephoning“.
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Tesla is joining a wave of companies making it mandatory for employees to return to the office. While some large employers have permanently adopted voluntary work-from-home policies, others, including Alphabet’s Google, are betting that pushing in-person interactions between colleagues is best.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted in March that Twitter offices would reopen but employees could still work from home if they wanted. “Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes working from home full-time forever“, said Parag Agrawal in a tweet dated March 3.