Elon Musk admits telecommuting… if you previously worked 40 hours a week in the office | Economy

Elon Musk has always been a pioneer. He founded PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. Now, in post-pandemic times, he also wants to innovate in terms of teleworking. For him this is not a substitution of face-to-face work, but an addition. See compatible both. In other words, he accepts that employees connect remotely, but if they have previously spent the entire day in the office.

Musk’s job offer was leaked on Twitter, the company he has agreed to buy. Apparently, he formulated it in a message to Tesla executives with the subject: “Remote work is no longer acceptable” [con errata incluida]. Musk wrote that “anyone who wants to work remotely needs to be in the office a minimum”—”and I mean *minimum*,” he added—“40 hours a week or leave Tesla. This is less than what we ask of the factory workers.”

And just in case there was any doubt, he explained that the office “must be a main Tesla office, not a remote branch unrelated to job functions.” For example [no se puede]he explained, “being responsible for human resources at the Fremont factory, but having the office in another state.”

The message has been published by a technology website. Musk has not openly confirmed that the original message was his, but has hinted that it was by answering a question from the website’s Twitter account in which he said: “Hi Elon, a lot of people are talking about this email. leaked email, any additional comments for people who think going to work is an outdated concept? To which the businessman replied: “They should pretend they work somewhere else.”

Musk also says that if there are “especially rare cases for which this is impossible,” he will personally review and approve those exceptions.

Bloomberg underscores the reference to Tesla factory workers, especially given the conditions at some of the electric carmaker’s plants, such as the one in Shanghai. According to the US agency, thousands of employees have been locked up for months, working 12-hour shifts, six days a week. Until recently, many slept on the premises, as part of a COVID-19 bubble, with day and night shift workers using the same beds, in makeshift dormitories.

This policy of presence of the richest man in the world can be a drama for Twitter employees, who already see the arrival of the investor with fear of dismissal. The company reopened its San Francisco offices in late March, but CEO Parag Agrawal gave all workers permission to telecommute, the option chosen by many. If you combine the fear that Musk will move the company’s headquarters, as he did with Tesla, with the opposition to remote work, the prospects are not the best for the employees of the social network.

Musk’s ways are known and opposed to Twitter’s business culture. When Tesla struggled to meet production targets for its Model 3, Musk stayed overnight at the plant until the situation turned around and he fired workers who couldn’t keep up with him.

It is also counted that Musk once threatened to fire all the interns for standing in a long queue for coffee at SpaceX, and he set up cameras to make sure it didn’t happen again. and there has been other emails sent to the staff that have been leaked on social networks and feed that image of a despotic and visionary leader.

Recently, a more serious scandal has come to light. SpaceX paid $250,000 (235,000 euros) to a stewardess to bury a sexual harassment complaint against Musk, as published Insider. Musk denied that the accusations of harassment were true, although not that the payment was made.