Earlier this month a couple of emails sent by Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, were leaked onto social media and have since been added to the long list of controversies involving the richest man in the world.
On the first one, sent to his executive staff, Musk is short and to the point, declaring an immediate end to remote work at Tesla and making it clear that the company will no longer support it.
In the other email, also presumably sent to executive staff as a continuation to the previous email and entitled “To be super clear”, Musk affirms that not showing up for work in the office means they will assume a resignation.
It’s not clear whether there was a protest from the staff over his declaration.
Questioned on Twitter about his views, a user asked for Musk’s reply to people who thought coming to work is an antiquated concept, and Musk’s reply was blunt:: “They should pretend to work somewhere else.”
Musk has faced a lot of criticism since, especially with his implication that companies that adopt remote work don’t create great products. Many companies around the world are now offering full-time remote positions, sometimes even for applicants from different countries.
The pandemic forced companies of all sizes to adopt some sort of remote work policy, including (but certainly not limited to) the entertainment industry. Many major movies and games released post-2019 were made during lockdown with limited in-person meetings and lots of remote work to make up for it.
To name a recent example of a successful case in remote work: video game developer Bungie, known for creating the Halo series and now responsible for the free-to-play shooter Destiny, developed the entirety of the Witch Queen expansion while working from home.
Bungie has over 800 employees and the entire team was allowed to work from home during the pandemic. The launch of the Witch Queen was by far their most successful expansion launch, and earlier this year, Sony bought Bungie for $3.6 billion.
Most notably, even now that work was allowed to return to the office, Bungie continues to offer remote positions in the company to candidates from states outside of their Washington area.
Musk has been criticized for what most people consider an antiquated view, but also for his unnecessary jab at other companies that vouch for remote work. He didn’t name any company directly, but perhaps his broad statement was even more offensive for implying that any company that adopts remote work is worse by default.
No one disagrees that it's within his right to determine how employees should be present or not, but that’s not the issue. It seems that from his blunt email, there has been discussion inside the company for employees to be allowed to work remotely to some capacity – perhaps even from the executive staff. Musk’s stance on the matter is one thing, but it's his apparent close-mindedness on the issue that sparked so many debates.
For a company that prides itself on its innovation and technology, it seems backward for Musk to be against such a simple change and one that would not be hard for Tesla to adopt.
