It seems that Musk was serious when he said that working from home was not an option, with employees now finding that their movements are being tracked by the company.
According to an internal message from the company, staff who don’t come into the office are going to get automated emails from the company.
Musk’s company is one of the few big tech organizations going against the grain of remote working, with others, such as Twitter, AirBnB, and countless others, acknowledging that flexibility can be both rewarding and productive for staff.
Paying the Price for Working from Home
Musk is not a fan of his employees working from home. Last month, the CEO sent an email to all staff telling them that they either headed to the office or found another job.
“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla.” – Elon Musk
It appears that the company is recording who is and isn’t showing up at the offices, by keeping records of which employees are scanning their work passes in the building. A member of staff shared a message with The Telegraph that said those who are avoiding their office desk will receive an automated email.
“You are receiving this email because there is no record of you using your badge to enter a Tesla facility on at least 16 days over the 30-day period ending on June 28.” – Tesla message to staff
People who receive the message are invited to explain their absence to their managers.
Musk is Behind the Times on Remote Work
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, Musk is wrong about remote work. They’re also more productive. The work/life balance has been changed by removing the commute for many employees.
The cat is out of the bag when it comes to remote work. 25% of professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of the year.
It has become a big draw for prospect employees. It will be hard for companies to attract top talent if they don’t offer flexibility, with workers choosing to work for companies that do. The prospect of receiving automated emails for not showing up to the office five days a week is unlikely to be that appealing, when another company may offer the same position, completely or partially remote.
We will chalk this one up to another case of Musk being wrong, like the time he said the US would have no Covid-19 cases by April 2020.
Remote Working is Here to Stay
The new normal is remote working, despite what Musk might think. You have to look at its competitors to see that most tech companies don’t think the same about remote working policies. Microsoft, Meta and Google have all adopted a hybrid working plan, despite the fact that they may work from home indefinitely until Musk becomes the CEO.
The switch to remote work has been sudden, but then as they say, necessity is the mother of invention and the Pandemic accelerated the move to remote working considerably.
Thanks to the proliferation of systems such as web conferencing and VoIP, this move has been made infinitely easier. The move to many of us working from our homes just twenty years ago would have seemed impossible, but tech has ensured that we can collaborate as easily as if we were sitting in the same room as our colleagues, no matter what location we are in.
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