“Working from home will be the downfall of civilization….” – Elon Musk

Elon Musk Discloses His Disdain For The Work-From-Home Movement

In an interview with CNBC’s David Faber on Tuesday, The Tesla and Twitter CEO did not mix his words as he expressed his disdain for the work-from-home movement. Silicon Valley “laptop classes” need to get off their “moral high horse” with their “work-from-home bulls***,” he stated.

Musk was discussing return-to-office policies that are being increasingly pushed by tech leaders. This is particularly a concern since employees had previously been promised generous remote work mandates by top executives.

“I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, ‘Let them eat cake.’ It’s not just a productivity thing,” Mr. Musk said. “I think it’s morally wrong.”

Musk labeled the work-from-home movement as ‘hypocritical’ since the ‘laptop class wants to work from home while expecting service workers to continue to show up in person.

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“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 people who make your food that gets delivered—they can’t work from home? Does that seem morally right?” He asked.

“People should get off their goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit,” he reiterated. While the comments by Musk are the strongest, he’s made regarding work-from-home policies, he has been very critical of it for a while.

Musk Is A Longtime Critic Of Working From Home

The work-from-home movement gained momentum in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. White-collar professionals stayed inside, but those who were considered essential had to go to work outside. After the pandemic, some companies, more so in the tech industry, the ‘laptop class as Musk labels them, continued to work from home.

However, this slowly became unfeasible for companies due to slackened productivity and growing investor demands. Many companies including Amazon and Salesforce have demanded workers begin to return to offices.

Some companies gingerly tried to get employees back in shifts while Musk took a more direct route.

In June 2022, Elon Musk ordered Tesla staff back to the office on a full-time basis. In an internal email, Musk highlighted fairness, saying that the 40 hours per week required of corporate personnel was “less than [what] we ask of factory workers.”

Once he took over Twitter in November 2022, Musk ended Twitter’s permanent remote work policy. This was one of the first acts as the new CEO and owner of the social media company. However, when more workers than he had anticipated were eager to quit because of the new policy, he later eased his demands.