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Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, criticized working from home yesterday night, calling it "morally wrong" and unjust to service workers who still have to report to work.
Musk, the second richest man in the world with a net worth of $175.8 billion, has frequently condemned working from home, which became necessary for many people during Covid-19 lockdowns.
However, the practice has persisted in the post-pandemic age for many enterprises.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday night, the business magnate—who also owns the social media site Twitter—referred to workers in Silicon Valley's computer sector as the "laptop classes living in la-la land."
He told the network’s David Faber that he believes being in the office boosts productivity, but also said his opposition to working from home was a ‘moral issue’.
In the wide-ranging interview, Musk said employees that have so far refused to return to offices after Covid-19 restrictions ended need to ‘get off their moral high horse’ and get back to work like others have, pointing to service workers.
‘The whole work-from-home thing, it’s sort of like, I think it’s, like, there are some exceptions, but I kind of think that the whole notion of work-from-home is a bit like, you know, the fake Marie Antoinette quote, “Let them eat cake,”‘ he told Faber.
‘It’s like, it’s like really? You’re gonna work from home and you’re gonna make everyone else who made your car come work in the factory? You’re gonna make people who make your food that gets delivered – they can’t work from home? The people that come fix your house? They can’t work from home, but you can?’
‘Does that seem morally right?’ he asked. ‘That’s messed up.’
When asked by Faber whether he thought it was a moral issue, Musk said ‘yes’.
‘It’s a productivity issue, but it’s also a moral issue,’ he told the interviewer. ‘People should get off their goddamn moral high horse with this bulls–t because they’re asking everyone else to not work from home while they do. It’s wrong.’
Silicon Valley execs – and others across the country – have been frustrated by workers resisting a return to the office, despite directives urging them to do so.
Companies such as Amazon and Salesforce have demanded workers begin returning to the office after signs that productivity was slackening, CNBC reported.
Musk also covered his on-going leadership of Twitter during the interview.
He scrapped Twitter’s own working from home policy when he took control of the company in November last year, ordering its employees back into work.
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