By Cristian Bustos. Originally published at ValueWalk.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has warned workers that they should leave the car manufacturing company if they do not return to office. The stern message was sent via email Tuesday, as many companies are looking to return to the new normality triggered by Covid.
Warning
The email, seen by Reuters read: “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”
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Tesla did not respond when requested for comment, while two sources confirmed the authenticity of the email. The company relocated its headquarters to Austin, Texas, but the San Francisco Bay area still hosts a factory and its engineering complex.
Other Silicon Valley firms have allowed employees to remain in remote work as some fear an uptick in coronavirus infections.
In the email, Musk said, “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.”
Musk’s Stance
The tech billionaire continued, “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.”
Reuters reports that Elon Musk reopened a Tesla factory in Fremont, California, in May 2020, disregarding Alameda County’s lockdown measures to limit Covid infections. At the factory, Tesla informed of 440 between May and December that year.
“Last year, Musk’s rocket company SpaceX reported 132 COVID-19 cases at its headquarters in the Los Angeles-area city of Hawthorne.”
Elon Musk’s stance comes at a time when other big tech firms are debating over a return to office ever since cases have dropped significantly. It is also in stark contrast to that of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), the company Musk intends to buy, which has offered employees a more flexible policy.
CEO Parag Agrawal told its 100,000 employees in March, “Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes working from home full-time forever.”
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