Tech genius and multi-billionaire Elon Musk stated that working from home is “morally wrong” in an interview the CNBC’s David Farber last Tuesday.
In his interview, Musk argues that it is hypocritical for white collar workers to work from home while also expecting service workers to remain working in person. Musk questions if it is morally right for a person to work in the comfort of their own home, on a laptop, while expecting car manufacturers, delivery drivers, food workers, etc., to show up on site.
“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. I think it’s morally wrong,” Musk said.
Musk also called remote employees the “laptop class,” and said that working from home is, “bullsh*t.”
“I’m saying, like, put 40 hours in,” he continued. “And, frankly, it doesn’t even need to be Monday through Friday. You could work Monday through Thursday. And, also, I think people should take vacations.”
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a significant portion of businesses to allow employees to work from home instead of coming into a physical office location. When the pandemic came to an end, many businesses continued to employ primarily remote employees or shifted to a hybrid schedule due to its popularity.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 35% of employees that have the option to work from home choose to do so. Most remote employees say it is most beneficial because it helps them balance work and personal life, but other benefits like freeing up time that would otherwise be spent in a traffic-heavy and expensive (thanks to record high fuel prices) commute. Employers who make the switch from in-person to fully remote also benefit by saving on the costs of having employees in the office.
Despite this, Musk argues that remote work decreases productivity and innovation for a company. Musk has expressed this concern for quite some time. When the multi-billionaire acquired the social media platform Twitter, he sent a memo to all employees telling them that remote work will be ending and that they will be required to come into the office for 40 hours a week.
Musk isn’t the only one to change their remote policy, either. Amazon, which last December saw a 50 percent stock decline from its all-time high, is rolling back its work-from-home policies as well. Amazon has announced that employees will be required to be in the office at least three days a week.
