Elon Musk orders Tesla execs back to the office
- Reference: 1654116916
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/01/elon_musk_tesla/
- Source link:
In [1]an email sent to Tesla underlings and obtained by [2]the New York Times , Musk tells Tesla execs that remote work is no longer acceptable.
"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," Musk's missive mandates. "This is less than we ask of factory workers."
[3]
Musk, the world's richest person at the moment, allows that he may, at his discretion, bend his rules for "particularly exceptional contributors" – if you have to ask, that's probably not you. The billionaire poly-boss and Twitter influencer further stipulates that "office" as he defines it means main office, not some remote branch unrelated to one's duties.
[4]
[5]
Tesla, which does not maintain a PR department, did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the authenticity of the directive. But Musk did not challenge its authenticity when responding to the Whole Mars Catalog's [6]request , in light of the position he outlined in his memo, to offer his thoughts on "people who think coming into work is an antiquated concept."
"They should pretend to work somewhere else," Musk [7]responded .
[8]
The Register asked Tesla whether Musk would spend his CEO hours henceforth in a company office or whether he would do some work remotely. We don't expect an answer.
Musk's marching orders appear to be unlikely to reduce annualized executive turnover at Tesla, which in 2019 was estimated to be a staggering 44 percent for those reporting directly to the CEO, [9]according to Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi. That's compared to an average of 9 percent at other Silicon Valley companies.
The " [10]olly olly oxen free " memo might even make retention worse. Remote work, a matter of necessity at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has won over the majority of workers. According to staffing firm Robert Half, [11]66 percent of job candidates aren’t willing to return to the office. And [12]a survey of 1,000 US hiring managers conducted by Upwork last year found that 40.7 million American professionals, or about 28 percent of respondents, are expected to be fully remote in the next five years.
[13]SEC probes Musk for not properly disclosing Twitter stake
[14]Elon Musk needs more cash for Twitter buy after Tesla margin loan lapses
[15]Pentester pops open Tesla Model 3 using low-cost Bluetooth module
[16]Twitter buyout: Larry Ellison bursts into Elon's office, slaps $1b down on the desk
In contrast to Tesla, other Silicon Valley firms have made waves by granting workers more flexibility rather than less. Airbnb, for example, last month declared [17]employees could work from anywhere .
When companies offer employees less flexibility, it seldom looks good. IBM's decision in 2017 [18]to order staff to work from one of its six main offices was seen by company critics as [19]a way to encourage older workers to leave . And [20]Yahoo ! 's 2013 ban on working from home did little for the company's image.
[21]
But Musk's position at least dovetails with Tesla's interest in selling cars – those who aren't commuting to the office may be less inclined to buy a vehicle to make that daily journey. ®
Get our [22]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/TechEmails/status/1531994582669348864?s=20
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/01/technology/elon-musk-tesla-spacex-office.html
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YpfhgPXPfCB4DR3bwqDSowAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YpfhgPXPfCB4DR3bwqDSowAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YpfhgPXPfCB4DR3bwqDSowAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://twitter.com/WholeMarsBlog/status/1531860024871493632?s=20
[7] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1531867103854317568?s=20
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YpfhgPXPfCB4DR3bwqDSowAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://electrek.co/2019/08/14/tesla-executives-directly-elon-musk-turnover-rate-report/
[10] https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/olly+olly+in-come-free
[11] https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/the-future-of-work/the-new-remote-work-rules-for-success
[12] https://www.upwork.com/research/future-workforce-report
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/27/the_sec_is_probing_elon/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/26/musk_twitter_margin_loan/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/ble_vulnerability_lets_attackers_steal/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/musk_twitter_ellison/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/29/airbnb_work_from_anywhere/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/08/ibm_no_more_telecommuting/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/09/ibm_workfromhome_cull_companywide/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/30/flexible_working_now_law_for_all_of_uk/
[21] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YpfhgPXPfCB4DR3bwqDSowAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[22] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Prediction
He's requiring management to work to almost the same conditions as factory workers in terms of hours on site. Make of that what you will.
Re: Prediction
Am I right?
Except for that last sentence, yes. Fatasses are incapable of learning that part.
40 hours a week, minumum?
and that's "less" than is expected of factory workers? What are the working hours of factory workers at Tesla? Most of the civilised world has reduced the working week to less than 40 hours. It sounds like working for Musk is a last ditch effort in job hunting or a love of Musk! I wonder how he'll cope with his EU factories having laws on the number of hours in a working week?
Re: 40 hours a week, minumum?
...cope with his EU factories having laws on the number of hours in a working week?
They do not cope...
True story, more than 15 years ago: working for IBM in a country having a 37 hour work week (and as such stated in my contract). The time registration tool could not be used to fill in only 37 hours and you had to account for 40 hours of work each week. You got errors and complaints if only 37 hours were accounted for. Obviously, that was utter and complete bullshit accounting, but management ignored the discrepancy and the obvious problem(s). Therefore, employees did not really take time registration very seriously anymore and just put in some numbers. Nobody seemed to care.
Re: 40 hours a week, minumum?
I imagine the Cybertruck team comes into the factory every Monday, puts a slab of bulletproof cold rolled stainless steel into the sheet metal bender, watches the machine destroy itself, and then says "I guess we work from home until this is fixed."
Re: 40 hours a week, minumum?
He moved Tesla to Texas in part because of Alameda County's audacity in demanding he protect his workers from COVID (and they even backed down and let the factory keep working when they shouldn't have). He wants a light-touch regulatory environment (except for abortion of course, which is heavily regulated in Texas).
But a woman's right to choose, environmental and labor protections and even a functioning energy grid appear to be meaningless issues for His Greatness the Genius Man-Child.
Time sheets
In a profession treating chargeable time as sacrosanct I gave up time sheets years ago. Did the right thing : installed a time recording package (running under DOS - yes, DOS); pick up the phone - keyboard click to start the timer; put down the phone - click to stop it. I was genuinely shocked to find most phone calls are barely 2 minutes. Especially when time is routinely recorded in 5 minute segments.
So half the chargeable time was illusion.
And I could not figure out at all how I was getting by on 1.5 hours work a day.
Ego Musk
Musk seems to forget that Tesla isn't the only game in town anymore (and SpaceX won't be for much longer). Every automotive company is expanding their electric division and that will only grow as countries ban the sale of new petroleum vehicles.
'My way or the highway' only works if the highway isn't more appealing.
Prediction
Ex-billionaire Elon Musk in his first interview since the collapse of Tesla says that he regrets his decision about forcing workers into offices. He says that he learned that the workers are people and not cattle that you can order around.
Am I right?