Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that remote work is unacceptable

The CEO stated that he was open to remote work requests in certain circumstances but that they would need to be considered “exceptional” for approval. He wrote, “If there are exceptional contributors for which this is not possible, I will review those exceptions and approve them directly.” 

He said that 40 hours of work in person is less than what we expect from factory workers.

In a follow up email, Electrek found that the CEO claimed that his own experience of living almost in the Tesla factory was what led to the company’s survival. He wrote, “The more visible your presence must be the higher up you are” There are companies that don’t require this. But when was the last time they launched a new product? It’s been awhile.”

Many companies have had to quickly implement remote working policies after the pandemic. Now they are evaluating whether or not they need to bring employees back to the office. Some companies, such as Apple are trying a hybrid approach where employees only come into the office for a portion of the week.

Tesla’s hardline approach makes it an outlier in the “new normal.” Both of his emails can be viewed at Electrek.