Whichever side of the remote vs. in-person debate you fall on, I think this is a net positive for the industry. More companies are starting to become strongly opinionated on the topic and that leads to a wider spectrum of options when searching for a job. There are many people out there who hate fully-remote and are suffering as a result of the isolation. There are also people out there who are thriving due to remote work. Both can co-exist at different companies.
Of course, springing this on already remote workers is problematic. Tesla is no stranger to low employee retention. In the short term they will have an exodus but perhaps in the longer term they'll have a workforce more aligned to their culture.
This is an excellent take. I personally never want to work in an office again, but I know many—many, many—people who never want to work remotely again after the past two years of pandemic.
We need both: companies that want to support fully remote staff and those that want everyone in-office every day. Having companies with strong stances is a good shift for everyone because enables workers to easily figure out where they do (or do not) want to work.
> Of course, springing this on already remote workers is problematic. Tesla is no stranger to low employee retention. In the short term they will have an exodus but perhaps in the longer term they'll have a workforce more aligned to their culture.
From Elon Musk's statement, Tesla's employees have far more pressing matters plaguing their employee relations than the crapfeat that's this remote vs on-site stance.
Once your eggregious boss makes it his point to refer to mandatory minimum work hours of 40h/week, this means Tesla's employees are already being exploited and subjected to abusive working conditions that are recognized and imposed from the very top.
Elon Musk sounds like a Dickensian factory worker, and working for such a character sounds equally soul-crushing, even if you work from home.
> The decision is far more about the culture leaders want to create in their organisations than about the “right” or “best” way to do things.
Given the distain in Elon Musk's messages on this topic, he is very much opining on what is "right" and "best", and not about the culture he wants to build.
To quote Matt Levine[1], who I think was making the same point more eloquently:
> Elon Musk does not like remote work, which, you know, fine, but this strikes me as being less about remote work and more about a general culture of being ostentatiously intense
Of course, springing this on already remote workers is problematic. Tesla is no stranger to low employee retention. In the short term they will have an exodus but perhaps in the longer term they'll have a workforce more aligned to their culture.