Elon Musk says working from home is 'morally wrong'

Tesla chief executive last year told employees they needed to be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week or leave

Elon Musk said that there are only 'two or three' days in a year when he does not put in some 'meaningful amount of work'. EPA

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk hit out at people who work from home, saying that it is an insult to those who are required to physically be in the workplace.

“I am a big believer that people are more productive when they are [there] in person,” Mr Musk, chief executive of electric vehicle company Tesla, said in an interview with CNBC.

“It’s not just a productivity thing – I think it’s morally wrong.”

Mr Musk also brought Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution, into the discussion.

“The whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, ‘let them eat cake’ … it's like, really? You are going [to] work from home, and you are going [to] make everyone else who made your car come work in the factory … the people that come fix your house, they can't work from home, but you can?” Mr Musk asked.

“Does that seem morally right? That's messed up.”

The Covid-19 pandemic led to legions of workers becoming home-based, changed corporate norms, upended travel and boosted demand for shared office space that offers flexibility amid uncertainty.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, employees have been leaving their jobs at much higher rates than normal in what has been called “The Great Resignation”, as they seek a better work-life balance and more flexibility.

In March last year, a survey by financial services company Prudential found that 42 per cent of remote workers planned to look for a new job if their company did not continue to offer options to work from home in the long term.

Mr Musk has been a strong advocate for return-to-office policies.

In June last year, he told Tesla employees that “anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla”.

“This is less than we ask of factory workers,” he said at the time.

He also specified that the office must be a main Tesla office, not a remote branch unrelated to job duties.

• 

  Jared Kushner and Elon Musk watch the Fifa World Cup final match between Argentina and France. Getty Images

• 

  Mr Musk attends model and businesswoman Heidi Klum's 2022 Halloween party at Moxy Lower East Side, in New York City Getty

• 

  Mr Musk on stage next to Optimus the humanoid robot in Palo Alto, California, in September 2022 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing 'Cyber Rodeo' grand opening party, in Austin, Texas, in 2022 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk shakes hands with Brazil's then president Jair Bolsonaro, at the event Conecta Amazonia in Porto Feliz, Sao Paulo state, in 2022 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk and his mother, Maye Musk, arrive for the 2022 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in 2022 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk attends the start of the production at Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2022 AFP

• 

  Mikey Day as a lawyer, Cecily Strong as a judge, and host Mr Musk as Wario during the 'Wario' sketch on NBC's 'Saturday Night Live', in 2021 Getty

• 

  Mr Musk and son X Æ A-12 onstage at 'Time' Person of the Year in New York, in 2021 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla's China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, in 2021 Reuters

• 

  Mr Musk with Armin Laschet, at the time CDU party federal chairman and prime minister of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia, at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, in 2021 Getty

• 

  Mr Musk at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, in 2020 EPA

• 

  Mr Musk leaves a New York court in 2019, after a hearing in a lawsuit brought against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Getty

• 

  A prototype of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft in Boca Chica, Texas, in 2019 Reuters

• 

  Mr Musk and then partner Grimes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 2018 AFP

• 

  From left, Mr Musk, Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, then US president Donald Trump and Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky at the White House, in 2017 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk presents his plan to colonise Mars at the International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2016 EPA

• 

  Mr Musk with then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe after a test drive of the Tesla Model S P85D in Palo Alto, California, in 2015 Reuters

• 

  Mr Musk with then wife Talulah Riley at the 2011 British Academy Film Awards in London Getty

• 

  Mr Musk after Tesla's initial public offering at the Nasdaq market in New York, in 2010 Reuters

• 

  Then US president Barack Obama with Mr Musk on a tour of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2010 Reuters

• 

  Mr Musk in the Tesla Roadster electric car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, in 2009 Reuters

• 

  Mr Musk with music producer Quincy Jones at the Tesla Roadster launch party in 2008 AFP

• 

  Mr Musk answers questions about the new Tesla Model S all-electric car, at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California, in 2009 AFP

• 

  Elon Musk in Los Angeles in 2008. Getty

• 

  Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in 2004 Getty

Micro-blogging company Twitter was one of the first technology companies that allowed its employees to work from home permanently.

In May 2020, Jack Dorsey, the company’s chief executive at the time, announced the decision.

However, in November last year, Twitter's new owner Mr Musk sent a companywide email saying he was ending the permanent work from home policy.

He asked employees to come to the office at least 40 hours a week and also indicated that any alternative arrangements would need to be personally approved by him.

“The laptop class is living in La-La land,” Mr Musk told CNBC.

“People should get off their … moral high horse with the work-from-home.”

Mr Musk said that he works “seven days a week” and that there are only “two or three” days in a year when he does not put in some “meaningful amount of work”.