If you’re reading this while working remotely, Elon Musk is judging you.
In a recent interview with CNBC, the tech CEO came down hard on work-from-home culture, saying he thinks it’s “morally wrong.”
Musk, who told Tesla workers last year to return to the office or “depart Tesla,” has long been vocal about his belief that people are more productive in person. However, on Tuesday, he said it’s not only about productivity, it’s also a “moral issue.”
“The people who make your food that gets delivered can’t work from home. But you can? Does that seem morally right?” he said in the interview. “It’s messed up to assume that they have to go to work, but you don’t.”
Musk, also the CEO of SpaceX, said he believes people should “put 40 hours in” and that it doesn’t “necessarily need to be Monday through Friday.” He said he works seven days a week, and that days in a year where he does not put in “some meaningful amount of work” only add up to “about two or three.”
Despite Musk’s opinion, in a 2022 Cisco survey, 78% of respondents said remote and hybrid work improved their overall well-being. Still, there is an argument for one glaring problem posed by remote work beyond the CEO’s argument of productivity and morality: commercial real estate.
Remote work has upended the commercial real estate industry
Across the U.S., nearly 20% of office spaces are vacant, and those numbers almost double in big cities like New York and San Francisco, where less than half of the cities’ office spaces are occupied, according to property management company, Kastle Systems.
The trouble with vacant buildings isn’t just the eeriness they possess or the dust they collect, but the trillions in debt they potentially foreshadow. According to Morgan Stanley, nearly $1.5 trillion in commercial real estate debt will be due by the end of 2025, and a potential surge of loan defaults could be catastrophic for an already fragile banking system plagued by three bank failures in 2023 thus far.
Related: Fully Remote Work May Be A Relic of the Past, According to a New Report
However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 72.5% of businesses said their workers rarely or never worked from home in 2022, marking a close return to the pre-pandemic number of 76.7%.
[ad_2]
Source link
JPMorgan global market strategist Jack Manley and The Fitz-Gerald Group principal Keith Fitz-Gerald discuss Tesla’s investor day and if now is the time for investors to get off the sidelines on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday that working from home is “morally wrong” when others in the service industry still have to show up in person.
“There are some exceptions, but I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, ’Let them eat cake,’″ Musk told CNBC.
“It’s like, really, you’re going to work from home and you’re going to make everyone else who made your car come work in the factory? You’re going to make the people who make your food… that they can’t work from home? The people that fix your house – they can’t work from home? But, you can? Does that seem morally right?” the billionaire asked. “That’s messed up.”
He said he saw it as both a productivity issue and a moral issue.
ELON MUSK TELLS TESLA EXECUTIVES HE MUST PERSONALLY APPROVE ALL HIRING IN NEW MEMO: REPORT
Elon Musk walks in the Paddock prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 6, 2023, in Miami. ((Photo by Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) / Getty Images)
Musk said that workers need to get off their “moral high horse” with their “work from home bulls—.”
He added that he is a big believer that employees are more productive when they are in person.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
The “laptop class,” Musk noted, is living in “la-la land.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building on Jan. 24, 2023, in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)
“I’m saying like, look, put 40 hours in,” Musk said. “And, frankly, it doesn’t even need to be Monday through Friday. You could work Monday through Thursday. And, also, I think people should take vacations.”
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks in Los Angeles June 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
Musk said there are probably two or three days annually that he does not put in a full day’s work.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Many companies have reversed pandemic work-from-home rules, with others operating remotely or in a hybrid setting permanently.
[ad_2]
Source link
Elon Musk faced backlash for arguing that people who worked from home were “morally wrong” because it was unfair to those who could not work remotely.
In an interview with CNBC’s David Faber on Tuesday, Mr Musk described the people working remotely as “laptop classes”, saying that the issue extended beyond productivity concerns.
He likened the concept of working from home to a quote often attributed to Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution.
“I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, ‘Let them eat cake’,” Mr Musk said. “It’s not just a productivity thing. I think it’s morally wrong.”
Mr Musk criticised the hypocrisy of expecting service industry workers to go to work while others had the privilege of working from home.
“Get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bulls**t,” he said.
“People building the cars, servicing the cars, building houses, fixing houses, making the food, making all the things that people consume. It’s messed up to assume that, yes, they have to go to work, but you don’t” he said.
“It’s not just a productivity thing, I think it’s morally wrong.”
The tech mogul has been a fierce advocate of return-to-office policies. He imposed a strict policy in Tesla in June 2022, warning employees that they would lose their jobs if they did not comply.
The policy required employees to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office a week and anything less would be “phoning it in”.
“The laptop class is living in la-la land,” he said.
Mr Musk’s comments on work-from-home culture generated a divided response on the internet, with many lashing out at him.
“Being one of the world’s richest man, @elonmusk sounded tone deaf when he himself expects ppl to eat cake rather than share his wealth. @davidfaber just sounds like a boomer with his ‘productivity’ whining. Ppl are as productive and engaged working from home – if not more,” a Twitter user said.
Another user, Lora Kolodny, pointed to another CNBC report which said Tesla will carve out deals for “exceptional” employees amid the company’s hardline policy to return to work. The report, which cited sources, said Tesla was struggling to bring all its employees back to the office due to a lack of resources.
“Uhhh – REALLY!? Because as far as I know, Tesla and Twitter under Musk’s management will grant ‘exceptional’ employees right to work from home. Memba this?” Ms Kolodny said.
In the hour-long interview, Mr Musk also said he did not care for the consequences of his unfiltered and unabashed views on Twitter even if it meant incurring financial losses.
“I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” he said.
He added that Twitter will attempt to rehire some of its staff after dramatically firing employees following his controversial takeover of the microblogging platform. He acknowledged that the job cuts were too deep.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures… Unfortunately, if you do it fast, there are some babies who will be thrown out,” Mr Musk said, adding there is a possibility of rehiring people who were let go.
[ad_2]
Source link