Elon Emails

'To be super clear': 40 hours in the office or resign

From:
Elon Musk
Date:
May 31, 2022
To:
All Tesla employees
Subject:
To be super clear
Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned. The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I lived in the factory so much – so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt. There are of course companies that don't require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It's been a while. Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in. Thanks, Elon

About this email

Follow-up to all staff: everyone must spend at least 40 hours a week in the office where their colleagues are, or be assumed to have resigned; Musk says he lived in the factory so workers could see him.

Notes

Second of two emails sent the same day; widely reported (Bloomberg, CNBC, The Verge).

Where it came from

Leaked to press; attribution confirmed.

Tesla, company-wide memo. Tags: remote-work, return-to-office, policy, work-ethic