Elon Musk gives Tesla executives ultimatum: Return office or leave company

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Tesla CEO Elon Musk has given an ultimatum to company executives: return to work at the office or leave the firm, according to an email circulating Wednesday on social media.

"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. This is less than we ask of factory workers," read the email with the subject, “Remote work is no longer acceptble.”

"If there are particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible, I will review and approve those exceptions directly," he added.

The e-mail was sent to the company's executive staff Tuesday at 1.19 p.m. local time, according to the email.

"Moreover, the 'office' must be a main Tesla office, not a remote branch office unrelated to the job duties, for example being responsible for Fremont factory human relations, but having your office be in another state," said Musk.

Later, he wrote a comment under the circulating email on Twitter, saying: "They should pretend to work somewhere else."

In a second e-mail with a subject, “To be super clear” that has also been circulating on social media, the CEO said "Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned."

Tesla is one of many American companies that ask employees to mandatorily return to the office in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

While some companies allow employees to permanently work from home, others have adopted a hybrid approach.