Elon Musk Just Told Employees To Return To The Office Or 'Pretend To Work Somewhere Else'

The pandemic forced many people and companies to adapt to working from home, and while some have embraced that model, others — like Elon Musk — are ready to go back to the old way. And they're willing to fire anyone who doesn't agree.

Musk warned his Tesla and SpaceX staff via an internal memo on Tuesday that they'd better start showing up to the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week. And if they're not cool with that, he told them to "depart" the company.

A SpaceX-focused blog shared the leaked memo early Wednesday, and Musk doubled down on it with a Twitter response.

"They should pretend to work somewhere else," he wrote.

Yikes.

Musk told workers at both companies that they must "spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week," the New York Times reports.

He went on to explain that he think it's important to be "visible," especially if you're more senior at the company.

"That is why I spent so much time in the factory — so that those on the line could see me working alongside them," he said in the memo to SpaceX staff. "If I had not done that, SpaceX would long ago have gone bankrupt."

Many tech companies are trying to figure out what the future of work looks like in a post-COVID world, including Apple, Microsoft, Meta and Google, which have all announced and then walked back or adjusted their plans over the last year.

Twitter, too, will have to figure out what its back-to-work model looks like, although it's pretty clear what Musk will do if he does end up closing his deal to buy the company. He even joked a few months back about turning the Twitter headquarters into a homeless shelter because of all the remote workers on Twitter's staff.

We're guessing it's only a matter of time until other bosses start using Musk as a reason to bring WFH employees back — whether they like it or not.