"Working from Home Is Morally Wrong," Musk's Stern Warning

"Service staff go to work, but IT staff work from home"
"It's not a productivity issue... it's morally wrong"

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has expressed strong opposition to remote work, drawing significant attention. He argued that it is not merely a productivity issue but an 'immoral' and 'hypocritical' act.

On the 16th (local time), Musk discussed various topics during an interview with the U.S. economic broadcaster 'CNBC.' In particular, Musk continued his criticism of remote work in a strong tone.

Elon Musk [Photo by Yonhap News]

He said, "I think remote work is similar to the phrase attributed to Marie Antoinette, 'Let them eat cake,'" adding, "It is not just a simple productivity issue, but morally wrong."

He continued, "While people think that service staff should appear in person, it is hypocritical for tech company employees to work from home," criticizing, "Tech workers are the laptop class living in La La Land."

Musk emphasized, "People need to get out of the 'X'-like moral superiority of remote work."

Musk's aversion to remote work is already well known. Previously, Tesla ended remote work in the first half of last year and required executives to return to the office.

Musk [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to an internal email obtained by 'Bloomberg' at the time, Musk said, "Those who want to work remotely must work at least 40 hours a week in the office or leave Tesla," adding, "This is less than what we require from factory workers."

After acquiring the social networking service (SNS) operator 'Twitter' in November last year, Musk also enforced a ban on remote work. At that time, the remote work culture was already deeply established within Twitter.

However, in a letter to employees, Musk announced the immediate abolition of remote work, stating, "Employees must be in the office at least 40 hours a week."

He explained the reason for banning remote work, saying, "(Twitter's) path forward will be difficult," and "To succeed, intense work is necessary."

He also emphasized, "Considering the future economic outlook, I cannot sugarcoat the impact this will have on advertising-dependent companies like Twitter."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.