Tesla Tesla CEO Elon Musk issues ultimatum to remote workers but worries, that not Microsoft will save you.

Tiana Watts-Porter, Technical Recruiter at Microsoft, issued a rescue call on LinkedIn. Inviting Tesla employees to break free from the confines of their desks and factory floor. At Microsoft and affiliates LinkedIn and GitHub, offering ALL THE OPTIONS!!! As declared in a now-deleted post that specifically mentioned Tesla employees at Microsoft, can do things their way and be themselves! And if that means working in your PJs at home, that's perfectly fine.

The invitation comes after Elon Musk said goodbye to remote work in a series of leaked emails and follow-up tweets. With Musk's previous insistence that Tesla is a technology company, many are wondering why he is deviating from the trend of remote work.

CEOs and industry professionals reacted predictably to the news: Not all jobs require you to be in an office during zoom calls. To state the obvious, Tesla constructs physical objects. No one is suggesting that employees do some industrial welding from the comfort of their apartment, but car manufacturing is more than just working the assembly line, roles like design and engineering use software to build vehicle concepts and systems.

Marketing, business development, accounting, human resources, finance, and a variety of other roles do not require an office. Furthermore, it's amusing to hear productivity advice from someone who spends the majority of his time on Twitter.

Not to mention that Musk’s email admits to overworking his employees, stating that they must work a "minimum of 40 hours." This is less than they ask of factory workers. And, when it comes to factory floor jobs, they don't want people who work in dangerous environments with robots and machinery to be overworked and exhausted. Tesla is getting a lot of flak, with German unions representing the newly opened Brandenburg Gigafactory offering to help local workers.

Tesla employs approximately 4,000 people in Germany, out of a total workforce of approximately 99,000 worldwide. "Americans are slackers." There are simply a lot of extremely talented and hardworking people in China who firmly believe in manufacturing. And they won't just be working until the wee hours of the morning. They'll be using 3 a.m. oil. So they're not even going to leave the factory.

In America, people try to avoid going to work at all costs. Elon Musk also revealed on Twitter that all employees share the same restrooms. Don't Know if Elon Musk wants to spend his life sleeping on the floor in a factory as a one-man solution to bring IT and OT workers together. With his pile of cash, he could cushion any cold, hard floor. But what about parents, caregivers, pet owners, and anyone else who wants a life outside of work?

Musk reportedly sent an email to Tesla employees yesterday titled "pause all hiring worldwide," citing a need to cut staff by about 10%. Not sure how many people in non-manufacturing roles will switch to companies that offer better work-life balance.

But these are people who can work in any job, and Musk’s mention of people going to work somewhere else and the need to cut staff seems oddly convenient. It all sounds like a convenient way to justify reducing employee numbers and lowering severance costs by convincing people to quit.