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> His approach to remote-vs-in-office work is less that of a data-informed futurist and more that of an autocrat. Nobody can read minds of course, but I think

> His approach to remote-vs-in-office work is less that of a data-informed futurist and more that of an autocrat. Nobody can read minds of course, but I think it is smart to not always take people at face value and consider all of their motives in saying anything. Personally I think Elon Musk is probably strongly supporting working in the office for 2 reasons. (Obviously pure speculation) 1) Forcing an ultimatum is a means of achieving a stealth layoff. Tesla probably wants a few percent of people to quit and trim expenses without losing investor confidence, as their stock price is of course inflated. (My prediction is that many businesses are probably going to be needlessly promoting working from the office to try and effectively achieve a round of layoffs by having a percentage of people quit) 2) The people who are the loudest about working from home probably are the biggest workplace trouble-makers about relative non-issues. To give an example: I know that this is genuinely a sensitive issue for some, but we all know that there are at least some people who are loudly trying to milk Covid-19 for eternity so they can stay home from work and meanwhile are going out to eat at restaurants and living life care-free.

joyeuse6701 4y ago
What’s wrong with living life care free and restaurants? If they get their work done I see nothing wrong with a positive outlook on life and supporting the economy with restaurant dining. If someone’s productivity slips from wfh then address the issue sure.
- logicalmonster 4y ago
  > What’s wrong with living life care free and restaurants? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's what I've been strongly advocating for during the last 2 years. Go out there and live your life normally as you see fit. One problem is that at least some people out there are trying to milk Covid-19. Publicly, they tell their employer they're too scared of Covid-19 to come to the office so they get to stay home. Privately, they go out every weekend and interact with people normally and live their life.
scarab92 4y ago
Not sure about the stealth layoff take. It's too unfocused, you'll lose people you want to keep and keep people you want to lose. Severance isn't that expensive and gives a lot more control. Agree with your second point though. There's even people absuing remote work to work multiple jobs simultaneously.
- logicalmonster 4y ago
  > Not sure about the stealth layoff take. It's too unfocused, you'll lose people you want to keep and keep people you want to lose. Given how political worldview seems to be pretty correlated with concern about stuff like Covid-19 and the new labor movement that has emerged, I'd suspect that it's reasonably focused.
ravel-bar-foo 4y ago
Another relevent consideration here is that SpaceX and Tesla are both fundamentally manufacturing businesses, which developed their processes via rapid iteration. I assume that means the managers and engineers are expected to be closer to the factory floor than in other businesses. So WFH for Musk's businesses might actually be very impractical.
k1ko 4y ago
or 3) Being a manufacturing business, it's bad for company culture. It further divides your executives and 'pencil pushers' as their own privileged above that of the grunts actually creating the products.

joyeuse6701 4y ago

What’s wrong with living life care free and restaurants? If they get their work done I see nothing wrong with a positive outlook on life and supporting the economy with restaurant dining. If someone’s productivity slips from wfh then address the issue sure.

logicalmonster 4y ago
> What’s wrong with living life care free and restaurants? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's what I've been strongly advocating for during the last 2 years. Go out there and live your life normally as you see fit. One problem is that at least some people out there are trying to milk Covid-19. Publicly, they tell their employer they're too scared of Covid-19 to come to the office so they get to stay home. Privately, they go out every weekend and interact with people normally and live their life.

scarab92 4y ago

Not sure about the stealth layoff take. It's too unfocused, you'll lose people you want to keep and keep people you want to lose. Severance isn't that expensive and gives a lot more control. Agree with your second point though. There's even people absuing remote work to work multiple jobs simultaneously.

logicalmonster 4y ago
> Not sure about the stealth layoff take. It's too unfocused, you'll lose people you want to keep and keep people you want to lose. Given how political worldview seems to be pretty correlated with concern about stuff like Covid-19 and the new labor movement that has emerged, I'd suspect that it's reasonably focused.

ravel-bar-foo 4y ago

Another relevent consideration here is that SpaceX and Tesla are both fundamentally manufacturing businesses, which developed their processes via rapid iteration. I assume that means the managers and engineers are expected to be closer to the factory floor than in other businesses. So WFH for Musk's businesses might actually be very impractical.

k1ko 4y ago

or 3) Being a manufacturing business, it's bad for company culture. It further divides your executives and 'pencil pushers' as their own privileged above that of the grunts actually creating the products.