Elon Musk on remote work

Let me start by saying I’m not too fond of Elon Musk stories.      I’m going somewhere with this, however.

Let’s catch up.  Last week, Musk demanded his employees come back to the office or “pretend to work somewhere else.”    The email to employees indicates that if workers don’t show up to the office, “we will assume you have resigned.”.  There is an exception for those he grants permission to continue to work from home.       That was followed by a Reuters report that Musk was looking to cut about 10% of the Tesla workforce.   Oh, and today, he may be backing those cuts off.     

For context, in 2018, he cut 9% of salaried workers… and in 2019, he cut 7% of full-time employees.  In 2020 they did pandemic-related furloughs.   

As a fun coda to this, Microsoft recruiters (in a now-deleted tweet) specifically called out that Microsoft offers all the options.   

What’s an easy way to cut your workforce?  Piss some of them off, so they quit on their own.    Honestly, I’m dismissive of all the noise that links Musk to remote work.    I don’t believe Tesla is the model of remote work anyway… and frankly, Musk sounds like a horrible manager. 

But encoded in his message are two parts – first, he will approve those prickly, worth it employees.     And second, he’s cutting staff – which he does aggressively.

Don’t read this as a statement on remote work.  Read it as a way to cut staff… which others will jump on.   Microsoft is savvy.     From a management perspective. who do you want to manage you?