Elon Musk has demanded that Tesla office workers return to in-person work or be fired.
The policy, which was revealed in leaked emails sent by Musk to Tesla's management team on Tuesday, was originally reported by the electric vehicle news site Electrek.
"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. This is less than we ask of factory workers," Musk wrote.
Musk stated that he would personally evaluate any request for an exception to the policy, but that "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned." in most cases.
He further stated that the office must be the employee's primary workplace, as well as the location of other employees with whom they routinely contact - "not a remote branch office unrelated to the job duties."
Tesla did not react to a request for comment on the policy change, although Musk appeared to confirm it in a tweet on Wednesday morning when asked about it:
"Hey Elon...any additional comment to people who think coming into work is an antiquated concept?"
Musk replied: "They should pretend to work somewhere else."
The policy is diametrically opposed to that of the other tech business Musk is looking to acquire, Twitter, which has previously stated that workers can work from home "forever" if they desire.
"Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes working from home full-time forever," CEO Parag Agrawal wrote in a note to Twitter's nearly 100,000 employees in March.
That will not be the case with Tesla, however. Musk said it's especially crucial for senior executives to be seen in the office, which is one of the reasons he virtually resided at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, during the company's production struggles in 2017 and 2018.
"If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt," he wrote.
"Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth," he added. "This will not happen by phoning it in."
According to surveys, the majority of office workers prefer the option of working from home. Many companies outside of Twitter have announced more flexibility for employees who want to work remotely since reopening offices following COVID-19 shutdowns, primarily to retain or attract talent in a very tight labor market.
