Elon Musk orders Tesla execs back to the office Tesla supremo Elon Musk has declared that executive staff at his battery-powered vehicle biz shall not work from afar. In an email sent to Tesla underlings and obtained by the New York Times, Musk tells Tesla execs that remote work is no longer acceptable. "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a …
Am pro work from home, as much as possible. I have been working from home often, even before covid.
Tesla is not a software company. Their main products are physical products, made in a factory with production lines, etc.
If a substantial number of staff are already reporting to work daily, cos they work on the factory floor (and so need to be physically present), it doesn't seem fair to the floor staff if office staff seem to be getting the privilege of working from home or other sites.
Bit of grumbling here too.
People who cannot do their jobs from home offices tend to be shop-floor types who also tend to be at the lower end of the pay scale and probably have less flexible leave rights etc.
People who can do their jobs from the spare bedroom tend to be higher-paid and have very flexible working conditions.
Is it fair for people on higher salaries to be able to avoid paying for commuting, parking, season tickets etc? Should they perhaps also be expected to take a pay cut which accounts for this discrepancy, even if it tries to compensate for the (very small) additional cost of heating and power they use when at home during the day? What about tax breaks available for home offices?
If the CEO's salary were only 500x the shop-floor salary, it could be justified (it would not be an easy justification, but it could be done). The problem is that the CEOs are getting paid 1-4000x the median salary of their workers. Not 4000% - 4000x. That is where the red banner brigade are getting their motivation.
"Is it fair for people on higher salaries to be able to avoid paying for commuting, parking, season tickets etc? "
Is it fair that people with the money can place a sum in a designated bank account and not have to pay for car insurance? It is fair that people with more money can afford better accountants to help them optimize their tax positions and investment strategies? It's a trap to get hung up on the concept of "fair". It doesn't exist in the real world and in the vast majority of situations.
Is it fair that people with the money can place a sum in a designated bank account and not have to pay for car insurance
Erm... not sure where that rule applies?
The point bring made, I think, is that until early 2020 people had settled down to a particular pattern of pay - job "a" was paid less than job "b" but - possibly only through habituation - people were used to that and felt it was "fair".
What has now happened, with increased working from home, is that job "b" has had perhaps as much as a 10% rise in disposable income, simply by removing the need for commuting costs. Job "a" has had no such increase.
Bringing CEO's into it is skirting the issue. Most people accept that most CEO pay is hardly "fair" but there is a difference between the mass of workers (that is, people both in job "a" and job "b") complaining about a single CEO and perhaps a couple of slightly more junior VP's than turning the workforce against itself.
There is nothing about capitalism that mandates that things must be "unfair" and it is not appropriate to equate calls for some kind of fairness with communism. Sounds like typical US insecurity and "I'm alright jack" attitude.
?
"Erm... not sure where that rule applies?"
Some states in the US will allow you to place a minimum amount of money in a bank account that you can designate to meet fiscal liability requirements instead of needing to have an insurance policy. Depending on your insurance requirements and costs, it could be cheaper. You'd earn interest on the money as well. Lenders may not accept that as a substitute for more comprehensive coverage.
Have you worked in a factory floor?
I have, during my younger days, during school holidays. For about 6 months.
Almost every couple of weeks there will be some reason or other for me to go to the office (which was basically in the factory itself), to interact with HR or some other staff.
All I had to do was just walk in, look for the appropriate person, speak to them / sign whatever, and am back on the factory floor in 5 minutes.
If I was expected to make a an appointment, and then try to use an assigned terminal at the appointed time to communicate with the appropriate office staff, it may end up wasting more time. Especially if there are internet or computing problems at either end. Oh, assume there will be problems with signing stuff as well. And as I recall last time, factory floor staff do not generally get official email IDs, etc assigned. So if you want to do digital signatures with your official ID, expect more infrastructure setup to support basically everyone.
Of course things may have changed in the pass few decades. But I do remember my first "real job".
" And as I recall last time, factory floor staff do not generally get official email IDs, etc assigned."
They do now or have to provide an email address for official company communications. Many companies also want you to maintain a mobile phone so they can text you whenever they like and require that you respond within a certain time frame. A few countries are passing employment laws to combat that sort of abuse, but not all.
Way back in the old days, if something needed to be signed, your supervisor would call you in or bring it to you for that signature and send it back up the line.
Speaking as someone who HAS to go into work everyday.... bloody good on the future Lord high Emperor of Earth.
How much time I've lost over the years because "the manager responsible does'nt turn up until 8.30am" (that ones from the civil service where the managers/clerical staff worked different hours to us guys trying to make stuff) to the always a firm favourite "hes/shes in a meeting and cant be disturbed" "Thats ok.... we'll sit around while a million dollar assembly line sits idle until they're available to make a decision" (That ones always followed by complaints from the manglement about how much money we're not making)
while I could sit at home doing the programming/planning involved in my job, that would not be a good idea as I still have problems on the shopfloor to solve(and in the shared office although that ones mostly involved in solving the problem of "how do I annoy the production engeer today?")
In short a lot of jobs could be done from home.... but managing a multi-billion dollar factory aint one of them
"In short a lot of jobs could be done from home.... but managing a multi-billion dollar factory aint one of them"
Are you advancing the theory that because not everybody has a job that can be done remotely, none should be allowed? A supervisor of staff that need to be at a facility needs to be there as well. A member of a planning group that is designing a plant layout for a new model doesn't need to be onsite to do much of their work. People doing resource/material planning could be anywhere.
At home:
- I have Internet speeds five times faster than the office.
- Wifi speeds are ten+ times faster.
- I have a Threadripper workstation, 3090 video card with two 32" Predator monitors for lots of window real estate.
- The only annoying a-hole near me is the cat.
- I can listen to my tunes (when not on unnecessary video conferences).
- The kitchen is six paces away with full Cappuchino / Espresso making facilities.
- The fridge has everything I need to snack on or for lunch.
- The bathroom is clean and fit for purpose.
- I get a LOT more done there than in the office.
Good luck to Elon making grandiose pronouncements in an economy where "The Big Quit" is trending.
"At home:
- I have Internet speeds five times faster than the office.
- Wifi speeds are ten+ times faster.
- I have a Threadripper workstation, 3090 video card with two 32" Predator monitors for lots of window real estate.
- The only annoying a-hole near me is the cat.
"
I've been in the same position as well where my workspace/tooling at home was far better than what was available at work. In the beginning I would bring things in but stopped doing that when the company refused to reimburse me for repairs, maintenance or consumable parts.
On one occasion at a former job had a project where we needed to run some long air lines and I brought some from home so we didn't have to wait to get some in. One of the other employees was about to cut them in half so they'd be more convenient to have around the shop. I had to tell him they were mine, which is why they were marked with my name, and I immediately put them in my car to take home.
requiring management to work to almost the same conditions as factory workers
EXACTLY! Middle and upper management jobs require you to actually MANAGE, not sit there at home in your underwear doing 'remote meeting' stuff.
Not the same as IT which can be done remotely or on site, depending on how you set it up and whether or not physical hardware is involved.
But building cars and rockets needs people who make physical things to perform their tasks on assembly lines and test with expensive equipment and so forth, and managers need to BE THERE to streamline and solve problems.
No, I'm afraid you are wrong. All of that would be nice, but:
1. He won't say that.
2. He will still have a bunch of money if Tesla collapses because he owns other things and because he would sell out before the final bang.
3. Tesla won't collapse into nonexistence, though it could take a massive valuation dive.
4. He would never say that. "Never admit you have been wrong" and "never admit that the people you order around are important" are central to CEO attitudes.
We can hope, though.
"2. He will still have a bunch of money if Tesla collapses because he owns other things and because he would sell out before the final bang."
Ahhh, no. If Tesla were to collapse, the stock would go to zero and all of the stock that Elon has leveraged would immediately be called along with the loans. Elon would have nothing. If the collapse wasn't overnight, those lenders would be requiring additional security, maybe stock in SpaceX, TBC, Neralink, etc as a replacement for the no longer valuable enough Tesla stock. As far as Elon has stated, the only home he currently owns is a small bungalow in Boca Chica. For a father of 7 (less the one that is changing their name and gender identity to distance themselves from him), not having a decent place to live might be an issue. Especially if he can't pay child support.
and that's "less" than is expected of factory workers? What are the working hours of factory workers at Tesla? Most of the civilised world has reduced the working week to less than 40 hours. It sounds like working for Musk is a last ditch effort in job hunting or a love of Musk! I wonder how he'll cope with his EU factories having laws on the number of hours in a working week?
...cope with his EU factories having laws on the number of hours in a working week?
They do not cope...
True story, more than 15 years ago: working for IBM in a country having a 37 hour work week (and as such stated in my contract). The time registration tool could not be used to fill in only 37 hours and you had to account for 40 hours of work each week. You got errors and complaints if only 37 hours were accounted for. Obviously, that was utter and complete bullshit accounting, but management ignored the discrepancy and the obvious problem(s). Therefore, employees did not really take time registration very seriously anymore and just put in some numbers. Nobody seemed to care.
Therefore, employees did not really take time registration very seriously anymore and just put in some numbers. Nobody seemed to care.
I thought this was always the case everywhere. People fudge time recording to make it fit what management wants and it bears zero resemblance to actual activity. I’m considering using the software api to write an automatic time recorder using random values to add up to something about right.
Previous workplace: "Accurate time reporting is vital for us to understand what you're working on and how busy you are." Same previous workplace: "Timesheets must be submitted 3 days before the end of the month and include the rest of the month."
We wound up having to guess what work we'd be doing for the next 3-4 days to record in the timesheet system. This was while doing sysadmin support work, so we were largely at the whim of whatever happened as to what we'd be working on, particularly if the last 3-4 days included a weekend on call... I printed off this Dilbert strip and hung it in my cubicle as a response: https://dilbert.com/strip/1996-04-26
It is indeed strange that management seem to need paperwork to learn what their staff are working on. If they don't know, what are they managing? In my view, it presents an instant cost-saving potential.
The only time these things need accounting for is when labour/expertise is being sub-contracted to a customer and who needs the appropriate supporting documentation.
Enjoy Bank Holiday Thursday --->
"The only time these things need accounting for is when labour/expertise is being sub-contracted to a customer and who needs the appropriate supporting documentation."
You then get into the lovely pit of hell that is government contracting. Every minute of everybody's time has to be accounted for and costs tracked down to the last half a pencil. We can't have the taxpayers being cheated! At least not at such a low level.
Most places I've worked over the last decade have had time clocks. You check in, you check out for lunch, check back in, check out when you go home. Smokers also have to check out and check back in, when they go for a cigarette.
Travel to customers/suppliers was also done over the clock system - there was a smartphone app for that.
If you built up overtime, you had to take the time off in the following month to ensure it was as close to zero as possible. Management didn't get time clocked, because it was expected that they would work longer hours than the hoi polloi. That was done on a trust basis, but most managers had hundreds of hours on their OT "accounts".
"Management didn't get time clocked, because it was expected that they would work longer hours than the hoi polloi."
If you are paid by the hour, government requirements dictate that the company keeps meticulous records. The really insulting thing is when you are salaried and they still make you keep a time card. You can see when they do that that your value is not what you contribute to the company in terms of IP, but how much time out of your life you use to do the job. Efficiency is not something that gets ticks in the win column.
In the EU, it is a requirement for all staff to be clocked now - my current employer had gotten rid of all clocks in 2019, only for the new directive to be introduced and hurriedly install new ones again, so that the staff can book in and out again.
The problems is, our employer worked on trust, that people came in on time and allowing people to take off their overtime (managers knew if a person had come early or worked late and simply sent a form to personnel to inform them that the employee had a valid overtime claim and would be leaving early), but a lot of employers were using the lack of clocking in and out as a way of covering the fact that their employees were working longer hours.
At a previous employer, the CEO expected managers to arrive on time and not leave the office before he did, the problem was, he'd usually stroll in around 10 or 11 in the morning and work until 7 or 8 in the evening.
"Smokers also have to check out and check back in, when they go for a cigarette."
That would have been great - most of the places I've worked simply let nicotine addicts trot outside every half an hour for a gasper and pay them the same as everyone else. I was harangued by a manager for joining them after a while, I was told I couldn't just leave my desk. When I pointed out that 40% of the office did just that whenever they felt like it, there was some mumbling and nothing more was said.
" Therefore, employees did not really take time registration very seriously anymore and just put in some numbers. Nobody seemed to care."
Topper, from Dilbert's office, here. True story, in Paris, mid-90s.
I was, as a first job, enslaved, sorry, working for a major IT company, who was routinely selling me at 2+ times my wages (no, it didn't last for long).
The contract was, back then, stating 39 hours. We had to fill up time sheets. We started by entering 8 hours, each week day, regardless of real duration, only to be told back: "no, it can't be the same duration each day, otherwise it doesn't look real".
A young me then developed a small perl script, which would come up with an 8 hours approx distribution (+- some random noise) which would magically sum up to a strict 40 total.
Job's done. Accountants never realized.
Anon, and fuck you, $company
"Selling me at 2x my wages".
Why is that unreasonable? In a large engineering company the overheads (rent, rates, utilities, management, training, holiday, NI, sick pay, etc.) come to between 100% and 150% of the direct workers cost. Add on profit - say 20% - then selling you at 2x your wages would indicate a company with either low overheads or profit or both.
My last big co.'s overheads were 110% and we bid 20% fee, so if they had jobbed me out it would have been at (Salary + 1.1*Salary)*1.2 = 2.52*Salary.
"I believe a 5-7x multiplier is applied at law firms and consultancies."
In the US it's much more. An office clerk can be billed at $250/hour with "research staff" (people that look things up online) closer to $350/hour. When judges have to figure out what reasonable attorney fees are as part of an award, this is what they believe. A "partner" in a firm might be allowed a rate of $1,500 hour depending on the type of law practiced. You'd think with so many blood sucking lawyers out there, there would be some supply/demand pricing taking affect.
He moved Tesla to Texas in part because of Alameda County's audacity in demanding he protect his workers from COVID (and they even backed down and let the factory keep working when they shouldn't have). He wants a light-touch regulatory environment (except for abortion of course, which is heavily regulated in Texas).
But a woman's right to choose, environmental and labor protections and even a functioning energy grid appear to be meaningless issues for His Greatness the Genius Man-Child.
Yeah, this is not how you scale your startup into the most valuable car company on earth. This his how you sow your competitors with all of your key talent, lose critical institutional knowledge, and destroy shareholder value. This is how you pull a Sony, squander a 5 year engineering lead, and end up making a memorable burning platforms speech because you are resistant to clue.
Fleeing the state may let him slip some of California's labor laws, but making people check into the office on permanent overtime isn't going to make them productive. They will burn out, space out, and check out. If they can skive off at home they will do so at the office. Toxic work environments and mandatory overtime increase payroll and decrease productivity. You can do it for short sprints, but you still have to pay the piper. It takes longer to recover from burnout then you gain in productivity.
At the heart of this I suspect Elon Musk lacks the depth of human understanding and introspection to see this simple truth. He may have no sense of work life balance, and he may have build these companies up from nothing. His employees aren't him. They have their own lives, their own dreams, things they are working for. He is asking them, not to make sacrifices to realize THEIR dreams like he did, but for HIS dreams. They aren't working for their dreams, they are working for a paycheck.
Still, for the time being there will still be a hallway full of people lined up to put in applications. So like most out of control bosses, he may not notice that it's not a tie or a beard around his neck, it's a noose. Late stage terminal hubris set in there a while ago. It just takes a while for the body to realize the head is on fire and vice versa.
Netflix is probably in the same boat ATM. One of these man-children will probably write a book about it a decade from now and pretend they invented the idea.
"Yeah, this is not how you scale your startup into the most valuable car company on earth."
Value can be a very subjective measure. Highest market capitalization, yes, but value? Just multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares is too simplistic. If people start trying to sell shares to realize gains in the trading price, the "value" of each share drops. It's a very complex process to determine a realistic value of a company. How much is MySpace worth? Before FB, it was a lot more but they lost their crown and their assets were mostly wrapped up in the number of visitors per day and the ad revenue that number can bring. If somebody came along and crowded FB out of the market, how much would FB be "worth". Are their tangible assets worth much? They already sell PII so would they be able to make one final sale on that for a stack of bank notes?
"What are the working hours of factory workers at Tesla?"
Many years ago I applied for an engineering job at SpaceX's Texas test site. The posting stated that a standard week was 50 hours and there was mandatory overtime. I wouldn't have taken a position there, but I was hoping that there would be an on-site interview and I'd get to check the place out. They didn't get back to me for a couple of months and it was a terse letter saying the job had been filled. A couple of people from where I worked did take jobs at the Hawthorne plant (briefly) and said 50 hours was only the start. If you weren't putting in close to 60, you would get the stink eye from supervisors and it was known that those "un-enthusiastic" employees were the first ones against the wall when the regular firings took place. Keep in mind these are salaried posts that are exempt from overtime. They pay roughly the wages that you'd get at another aerospace company only you have to put in way more time. If you enjoy being single and only seeing your kids on alternate weekends, give a Musk company a try.
"I really don't know why people put up with it."
Because they are independent, free and carry the torch of the those western pioneers that made Texas great. They don't take kindly to folks from the gummint coming around and giving them better working hours and conditions.
It was the late 80s and into the 90s that I remember people in the UK doing the long hours culture thing.
It mainly involved wasting time having pointless meetings, standing round chatting all day. Then sometime after 6PM there would be a who would blink first contest, because nobody wanted to be seen to be the first out.
Thankfully this is gone now, at some point people realised that you could get more out of people if you took care of them, I think we learned from the EU.
"It was the late 80s and into the 90s that I remember people in the UK doing the long hours culture thing."
A friend of mine (now retired from working at $big international company$) used to be part of this - he worked very long hours and was rewarded with what looked like a decent bonus every year, until he worked out what his hourly rate actually was. He managed to stop chasing that particular crock of crap and worked normal hours.
"I really don't know why people put up with it."
There seems to be more people that aren't putting up with it. I see lots more stories about people not accepting that their "request" for a day off or a holiday is denied. The stories often published are when people have planned their or their children's wedding and their employer retracts their time off or never officially approves it. More people are giving notice rather than just throwing up their hands and figuring out how to get their deposits back and re-book the honeymoon.
If I were working for somebody else again, my attitude on days off would be one of putting them on notice rather than requesting permission. I'd be open to making a change if there were a good reason and the event I want the day off for isn't fixed. As a boss, I gave all of my staff a day off so I could take the day off myself to go see "Roving Mars" in IMax. My general manager was out marrying off his daughter so I didn't have anybody I trusted to oversee the plant that day. Nobody was crushed to not have to come in that Friday.
When I was young, America was the place that everyone wanted to go to, and, with the possible exception of Sweden (it was the '70s), it was the sexiest place to be.
Now it seems to become more like Hell with each passing day, as if the US populace is figuratively being boiled alive — slowly.
Added to that, it seems as if a civil war is imminent and with the amount of weaponry present in that land, there will be more massacres to join the frequent ones that already happen.
"Now it seems to become more like Hell with each passing day, as if the US populace is figuratively being boiled alive — slowly."
Every passing day in the UK seems like there is a half dozen new H&S regs going into place along with requirements that you know and use everybody's preferred pronouns or get banged up in the slammer.
No place is perfect. If you go to work for a large company, you have to expect that there will be a certain measure of indifference towards individual employees. They are one-size-fits-all rules places. The best defense is to not put yourself in the position of needing the job so much that you can't spend at least a month finding a new job on short notice. It's nice to have a reserve of FU money and more important than yet another streaming service with a monthly fee.
In a profession treating chargeable time as sacrosanct I gave up time sheets years ago. Did the right thing : installed a time recording package (running under DOS - yes, DOS); pick up the phone - keyboard click to start the timer; put down the phone - click to stop it. I was genuinely shocked to find most phone calls are barely 2 minutes. Especially when time is routinely recorded in 5 minute segments.
So half the chargeable time was illusion.
And I could not figure out at all how I was getting by on 1.5 hours work a day.
Recordable Chargeable time is an illusion dreamt up by lawyers and consultants. A huge amount of creative work happens in the mind outside of the actual task execution. Your phone call might have taken 2 minutes from the time you lifted the receiver to the time you hung up, but you were 'working on it' longer than that (preparation and/or follow-up). During a day of 1.5 hours recorded time you are obviously doing a lot more work, just that it can't be recorded within certain rigid parameters.
As many people already noted, the result is that people will fudge the numbers so management are happy.
Musk seems to forget that Tesla isn't the only game in town anymore (and SpaceX won't be for much longer). Every automotive company is expanding their electric division and that will only grow as countries ban the sale of new petroleum vehicles.
'My way or the highway' only works if the highway isn't more appealing.
Tesla have always been a joke. poorly designed, poorly built and more interested in adding gimmicks than in making a good car. it took other car manufacturers many decades before they could consistently make high quality cars. Making your car electric is actually the easy part, making it with high quality is the hard part.
"My next car will be electric, for sure, but I wouldn't buy a Tesla if my life depended on it."
It's easier to choose something else. The Y and 3 are substantially similar and the S and X are too expensive for most. If the Roadster 2.0 ever enters production, it's going to be pricey. The Cybertruck is just too weird and delayed again. Other than those two, the only other announced vehicle is the Semi. I'm waiting for somebody to come out with a compact estate that can do some light towing. I don't need gadgets. I don't want Google or Amazon connectivity and I don't need 1000km of range on one charge. A max of 500km would be way more than enough for my needs. When you get older, you find yourself needing to stop more often for "comfort breaks" than you did when you were in your twenties.
that can do some light towing
That's an interesting requirement. As far as I'm aware - and I'll admit I haven't looked for a while - the Tesla is the only pure EV which even has a towing rating. Last time I looked, every single other one said "no towing". Then there's the range to consider. By all accounts, just bunging some bikes on the roof of an EV can reduce range by 25% or more, and hooking a small caravan up can have a 50% impact. I can't find it now, but I'm sure I read someone doing a review of one of the Teslas as a towing car saying that the torque was very welcome, but having only 100 miles range in a car which normally did 300 put a bit of a downer on weekends away.
M.
I had the same thoughts as you, until I looked at this website. There's a few BEV vehicles that can tow:
New Electric Tow Cars List – Updated April 2022
Volkswagen ID.4/Skoda Enyaq
Hyundai IONIQ5/KIA EV6
Assorted BMWs, Audi's, Mercedes
Renault Megane E-tech
It's great that the list is expanding - and certainly something I'll consider when eventually I have to go electric - but I note that none of the cars mentioned at that link (thanks for that, by the way, not a site I'd previously come across) has "real world" range figures - particularly for towing, where they are all estimated at 50% of their predicted non-towing range, which means some of them have towing ranges below 100 miles - and presumably even less if you are at motorway speeds. That is quite some tedious holiday.
Oh, and the cost!
By the way, I do like the "EV Database" method of comparing charge rates, as "miles per hour"!
M.
(just past the edit window)
Hey, I've just had a fantastic idea.
Why not put a battery and (potentially) a motor in the trailer or caravan? Solves the range problem, the caravan is likely to be more stable with a lower centre of gravity, and with a motor as well it also solves the towing capacity problem.
It's almost purely then a software (and politics - manufacturers would have to co-operate on standards) problem to turn an electric car into the road-going equivalent of a Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU). Drivers younger than I (in the UK) already have to take an additional driving test before they can tow, so this can be adapted to include any additional considerations when you have extra drive at the back.
As a bonus the caravan could drive itself on site (I gather some people already fit small motors for this purpose), you could use the caravan battery for hotel power when parked up without a hookup, you could recharge (very slowly) via the electric hookup when there is one - and if you leave the caravan charging at the campsite during the day when you are out and about in the car you could - again with the correct systems - use the caravan's battery to recharge the car overnight. You could even use the caravan's battery as a house battery* when the caravan is otherwise parked up at home.
I think I've just solved the towing problem :-)
M.
*be careful if you type "domestic battery" into a search engine, as I just did...
"That's an interesting requirement. As far as I'm aware - and I'll admit I haven't looked for a while - the Tesla is the only pure EV which even has a towing rating."
Maybe they aren't "rated" for it, but you can buy a towing hitch and electrical harness easily enough.
I just need to tow a small trailer from time to time to pick up bulky items that won't fit in the car. I'm not planning on dragging a big heavy caravan hundreds of miles. I could rent a truck for a few hours, but the cost is astronomical. Renting twice would pay for the hitch and the trailer.
The only credible stories I've heard where somebody was ticketed with regards to towing is with a big heavy load and a very under-rated pickup truck. In theory, perhaps you could get a ticket if the car wasn't rated for towing, but in practice it might take a really bored cop that is desperate to make their quota that week.
But.....
The Musk faithful think that he walks on water, is the new messiah and can do no wrong.
I nearly bought a Model 3 but I looked over one that was charging next to my Leaf. The build quality was frankly abysmal.
Then I reminded myself that most cars designed for the US market are built down in both price and quality. If you have ever rented a basic car in the US, you will know what I mean. As for being 'luxury?" Are you having a larf?
I have worked for a number of US companies and the environment at Tesla seems almost toxic.
The build quality was frankly abysmal.
I drove a European-made Ford Focus for several years. On one occasion in the US I had a rental of a US-made Focus. The difference was chalk & cheese, the US one was full of cheap & nasty hard plastic, it was under-powered and generally unpleasant to drive. It was easy to understand why cars are cheaper over there, you get what you pay for.
> poorly designed
And dangerous.
Saw something recently about their gull wing doors.
The doors (obviously) rely on the electrical system being operational, which isn't a given after an accident.
Obviously, there's a need for a manual override so that you can still get out in an emergency.
It turns out, Tesla hasn't seen fit to normalise this across their range, relying on passengers having read the manual to know where to find it:
- Some models: hidden behind a grill in the bottom of the door
- Other models: trim in front of the window controls pulls up
- Model Y: No manual release in back doors, climb into front and use manual release there
As an owner, you might then feel you want to practice periodically so that you can be sure you're going to be able to do it while in distress. Except that's recommended against because apparently usage of the manual override can damage the doors.
So, you've got a car where in an accident you're expected, whilst potentially panicked, to be able to identify where the manual release is expected to be and to be able to operate something you've never operated before. If you're transporting kids in the back, you also need to have made sure they know they need to climb into the front to escape (because you might be unconscious or dead and unable to tell them when it's needed).
People can argue themselves blue in either direction about whether the name "autopilot" sets unreasonable expecations or not, but there's no avoiding the fact that Tesla haven't even managed to get the basics of safety right.
A quick look around t'interwebs seems to agree, there are no safety rules covering this that I can find. I also searched on child safety locks. They don't get automatically over-ridden in the event of a crash and there doesn't seem to be any rules relating to that event. Currently, it seems that protecting the passenger cabin at all costs is the rule of thumb. Door locks are designed to not burst open in an accident but no account is taken of the doors not being able to open after a crash. Maybe it's seen as a rare enough occurrence that the risk of a door coming open during a crash is the higher risk. I guess we'll see if the risk of a fire is higher or lower with electric cars over time and whether this may change.
The fire risk is lower, we already know that.
Gas cars burn after crashes pretty regularly, and occasionally burn spontaneously. I know two people whose cars have burned.
On the other hand, EVERY EV fire makes the news.
It's a perception thing right now. Idiots believe EVs are firetraps, meanwhile their ICE car actually is more risky.
"Gas cars burn after crashes pretty regularly,"
Really? where? I have never seen a car burst into flames after a crash (I'm no expert but I've driven past hundreds of crashes which happened at speeds from 10 mph to 100). Mercedes did a test on this I believe (I can't find the link at the moment) and found virtually no cars burst into flames or exploded following a massive crash.
Car electrical faults can cause fires, yes, and the risk of carrying a large tank of combustible liquid adds to the potential danger, but this is very rare.
To be fair, before Tesla no major manufacturer really took electric cars seriously, and even for a while after that, they just grabbed one of their normal chassis and bolted on electric bits rather than designing electric from the ground up.
Tesla's quality issues stemmed largely from the fact that they were more of a proof-of-concept / hobbyist builder that found themselves thrust into the exacting standards of a mature and cutthroat market, having to push units out the door without having the time to build up expertise in quality. Their forte is the batteries and electrical / electronic gubbins, not bodywork and finishing, and both of those elements show up.
For all the outer refinement of an electric Merc or Jaguar, "under the hood" they're still a few steps behind Tesla. But if (when! :) ) I have a hundred grand to throw around, I'd rather get a Merc or Jag with all the finishing and slightly less performance than a Tesla rather than a Tesla with better performance but with 50% of the build quality of it's competitors.
And frankly, based on some reviews I've seen, I'd probably end up getting a Kia or Hyundai !!!
"As opposed to Tesla who just grabbed someone else's normal chassis and bolted on electric bits."
The first Roadster, yes, they bolted onto a Lotus Elise Chassis. All other models were designed with electric in mind from the ground up. First model S was 10 years ago and that's at least 5 years before any other major manufacturer.
If you choose your platform correctly, I don't see why re-using an existing platform is a major problem. Nissan adapted the long wheelbase version of the Renault Clio / Dacia Sandero platform for the Leaf, naming it the "EV" platform according to Wikipedia, and this was back in 2009. Siting the battery is an interesting problem, but Nissan seems to have found room under the cabin without impacting on legroom too much. I assume the additional weight and different weight distribution means the suspension needs a bit of thought, but apart from that, as a front wheel drive car has the entire "drivechain" packaged under the bonnet, in much the same way as you can fit several sizes of internal combustion engine into a particular model of car it can't be rocket surgery to "drop in" an electric motor and drive.
As a benefit you don't have to spend time re-developing all the in-cabin stuff, and you are probably a long way down the road to safety certification.
The only reason Tesla hasn't developed their EVs from an existing ICE platform is that they had no ICE platform from which to develop!
Of course, if you're going to use in-wheel motors (there must be a reason why none of the mass-market cars (as far as I'm aware) use in-wheel motors) or chassis-mounted motors near each wheel then there may be other considerations which might mean starting from scratch brings more benefits.
M.
" if you're going to use in-wheel motors (there must be a reason why none of the mass-market cars (as far as I'm aware) use in-wheel motors)"
Yes, there is a reason not to use in-wheel motors, which is the minimisation of unsprung weight.
Nothing bad per se of reusing an existing platform, it just doesn't give the same optimisations. For example using the battery compartment as a structural chassis component allows battery weight to sit lower, giving better weight distribution and more cabin room
"If you choose your platform correctly, I don't see why re-using an existing platform is a major problem."
Parts reuse is a huge advantage for the legacy makers. The Chevy Bolt is loaded with parts GM has on other vehicles. It got the Bolt to market months before the Tesla Model 3.
"The first Roadster, yes, they bolted onto a Lotus Elise Chassis."
For a startup looking to build their first sports car, that was a good idea. They didn't need to hire in all of the talent to build out the chassis, suspension, brakes, steering, etc. They spent their time on drivetrain which is what they were about. It saved a boat load of capital on tooling and factories as well.
For all the outer refinement of an electric Merc or Jaguar, "under the hood" they're still a few steps behind Tesla.
I would put Mercedes EQ cars ahead of Tesla, in fact they are eating Tesla’s lunch, especially the EQS which is ground up an EV. Jaguar haven’t followed up the I-Pace introduced 4 years ago, probably lack development funds.
Ford don't rule the auto world either these days - but Henry Ford changed the industry and the world forever.
Elon arguably has changed the auto industry again together with the space industry. That's about technology where his strengths lie. Social media is about people with who he lacks empathy in spades - hence if he does get Twitter then he probably will do no more than destroy it than change the world.
People with Elon's focussed attributes are invaluable in certain positions. A threat in others. We all know an IT coder who is intrinsic to a succesful corporate system but you wouldn't allow near a customer, nay, anybody outside his cubicle. As long as Elon doesn't run for President than history may see him on balance as a positive contributor to technological progress. If he does run then we are all totally f**ked.
Sorry, my view may be overly influenced by that image of two Falcon rockets in that Thunderbird inspired synchronise landing. I can forgive a lot for that. I need too.
Once Trump gets back in in 2024 and throws the US Constitution into the Shredder, there won't be anything to stop Lord Muck from becoming POTUS.
Mind you, we might have to fight the other evil billionaire, Baldy Bezos for the job of POTUS in 2028 (or when Trump dies on the job)
I think on balance history is going to find out that Musk had very little to do with the technological impact of those companies beyond wanting to spend his money on fancy toys. He didn't starts Tesla, he was the largest contributor in a funding round. He's only known as a founder through a lawsuit.
SpaceX has certainly had a seismic impact, but again he just had a lot of money. He's hardly the only little rich boy wanting to play with spaceships.
...if he does get Twitter then he probably will do no more than destroy it than change the world.
Destroying Twitter might well change the world. For the better, obviously.
How the hell did we reach the point where politicians attempt to offer sympathy to victims of violent crime via Twitter?
"Musk seems to forget that Tesla isn't the only game in town anymore (and SpaceX won't be for much longer)."
The launch business is absolutely flooded with new startups. Electron is gaining speed and Relativity is going into full scale testing of their 3D printed rocket. (I think Tim is nuts, but a good kid besides). While SpaceX has been busy with launches, but many of them are in-house to get Starlink in place rather than earning revenue for the company.
If they did the employees would have no idea how tell their employer where they were working, how to input their hours, allocate their hours, book holiday, find out how much holiday they had left in the leave year and every other fucking thing that is wrong with workday.
Signed:
An employee whose company has recently transitioned to workday.
Rant over.
If any workday software engineers are reading, can you have a word with your management please, the product fucking sucks donkey bollocks.
Sorry, the rant extended on a bit.
My company uses it for performance review stuff, time off, noting on call, overtime etc.
Certainly not the best system out there but it’s usable. But as noted finding out holiday days left is indeed an exercise in frustration.
We use a separate system for tracking time allocated to particular projects.
Is it? The only way I've seen that companies avoid using that is to claim unlimited vacation, which I don't trust. My theory is that this will turn out to be vacation limited by something other than a stated quota, and thus with even less clarity on what you're allowed to do and even more methods for a manager to tell you that you can't have it or that by having it, they'll penalize you in some other way.
How else can vacation be given without giving managers the power to cancel it out?
Our firm has Workday, for job positions, yearly reviews, etc. it works fine. Oh but they have a completely different program (ATOSS) for all of the Pay and holiday stuff. And that works well! You see instantly how many holidays you have, can input mobile working with a few clicks, sick leave, time in lieu, etc all super easy to understand.
I guess someone in our HR actually gave ATOSS... :P
"Our firm has Workday, for job positions, yearly reviews, etc. it works fine."
Presumably by "fine" you mean not externally distinguishable from the usual mix of random opinion, policy to promote nobody and personal likes and dislikes that is the usual system without it.
I define "fine" in this context as it doesnt get in the way of my day to day working and doesnt take up excessive time on the rare occasions I need to use it for something.
For a HR software that I only occasionally need to use i think that definitions is also "fine". ;)
Workday is the most utterly shit software imaginable
Our management has such a rich imagination, they went one better. They also chose Cherwell as corporate ticketing system.
I have no idea what motivated whoever developed it to come up with a user interface like that, but it must have involved a shocking amount of drugs and a not insubstantial amount of satanism. There is no way that bad a UX was an accident, it even makes Microsoft office look good.
Tell the world your cars are built by overworked and tired people, and your potential customers are going to imagine faulty wiring, untightened screws, and myriad other faults that are going to need fixing. Not to mention subtle sabotage when they get really pissed off at the boss.
Mind you, as he's told you that you should pretend to work somewhere else, just change your zoom background to a tropical island and carry on working from home, and if you get fired for that you can claim to have been diligently following his instructions.
Good point.
This may explain why they have to hide all the bad videos of an "autopilot" that isn't (unless, of course, it is the explicit aim of this software to help sales along by crashing cars, you never know).
The best car they made was the Model S, but like Mercedes, they're been trading on the reputation that made to deliver worse and worse after that. Unlike Mercedes, they're still on the downwards path here because it's become a cult and they can so get away with it for a bit longer - although they're now finally being investigated.
your potential customers are going to imagine faulty wiring, untightened screws, and myriad other faults that are going to need fixing
AFAIK there's no need for imagination here, it's fact - there's even a report of a brand new Tesla spontaneously becoming a convertible as the roof blew off as soon as the new customer hit the motorway..
If Musk really said that then he either hires really badly or he hasn't a clue.
I have worked remotely for years and have always additionally worked what used to be my commute time at the start and end of the working day.
While I do step away from my keyboard to receive parcels, get a drink and occasionally do a 5 minute non-work chore, the number of producrive hours my employer gets is way higher than contracted, and certainly higher than were I forced into an office, each and every day.
From what I see, I am not alone in this.
If Musk really said that then he either hires really badly or he hasn't a clue.
As far as I can see, the people they have must be really committed to keep working there so I won't blame them - I'd go with having absolutely no f*cking clue.
There's plenty of evidence that the man has no functional social skills, and no "being a genius" is no excuse (and that assumes I'd agree with that statement, which I do not).
"While I do step away from my keyboard to receive parcels, get a drink and occasionally do a 5 minute non-work chore, the number of producrive hours my employer gets is way higher than contracted"
You are also home so when the utility person that is supposed to show up between 8am and 5pm doesn't, you don't have to take another day off when they promise once again to show up. If you train your kids to not bother you, you are home to supervise them to some extent and keep an eye on their activities, get them doing their homework/chores and eat healthily. I see it as a good thing for kids to see their parents working.
The Victorian values that made Britain great? Loosely summarised as:
Travel the world with big ships and lots of guns. Fight and kill natives armed with wooden spears, subjugate whoever is left, steal their land and natural resources.
Yep, our Victorian values were bloody amazing!
Much of the Empire was gained by finding the local chiefs/leaders/kings etc and doing a deal promising them much wealth and benefits in exchange for controlling local resources and trade. The fighting was mainly against other European nations competing for the same lands or when the Imperialists didn’t deliver on what they promised the locals.
Above 40 hours then overtime must be paid, that is the law in US?
But american workers are known to be lazy, whereas the chinese ones with 120 hours rocks!
At least according to mr. Musk https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/12/elon-musk-praises-chinese-workers-for-extreme-work-culture
Think I've linked to that before... then sorry, but the more I read about that man, the less I want to.
"Above 40 hours then overtime must be paid, that is the law in US?"
A salaried employee is often considered exempt from overtime payment laws. On the other hand, if a salaried employee stops by the office in the morning and then goes to their dentist appointment and doesn't return that day, it's still considered a full day of work. That's not to say that many companies won't cheat and work the math only in one direction which is why you don't want to punch a time clock if you are on salary. You also want to keep a journal that outlines briefly what you worked on each day, when you arrived and when you left. I never noted lunch hours unless it was to state that I didn't take a lunch that day. I had to submit my journal to a state employment investigator to get my unused PTO paid when I left a company. The company's only documentation were emails I sent to notify of a day I planned to take off although many of those didn't happen due to product testing requirements. The mass of my paperwork and it's completeness beat their paltry submission by miles so I won. Getting into the habit of updating a work journal at the end of each day is worth the five minutes it takes.
He will attract the moths
He knows it
You know it
He is just another Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates etc
You only have the option to not work for him and or not buy his products.
He has pushed things forward massively.
The world requires these people otherwise we fall into bureaucrats Hands then nothing happens ever.
"No one can become filthy rich and have compassion for human beings. "
Gates is actively giving his money away. Whatever his past faults may have been, he is actually acting like a human being. Unlike Musk who acts like a spoiled toddler. Which may be why he likes Trump so much, of course.
"No one can become filthy rich and have compassion for human beings. "
I can think of just one, Paul Allen, co-founder of M$. When he retired from the company, he spent loads of money on projects like SpaceShip1, Allen telescope array and Stratolaunch that were big pie in the sky hobbies. Maybe they'd lead to money, maybe not, he didn't care.
Most people that earn great wealth have anti-social habits they've developed to get there and they never lose that mindset when they have arrived. I can think of scores of examples of those.
Musk has pushed the world forward massively. He made electric cars cool, as well as advancing the technologies involved, and has contributed to both the space race and renewable energy.
He is getting to a dangerous point though. He is starting to believe his own hype.
Hyperloop is potentially dangerous, as if any of the tunnels or pipelines the trains travel along is breached (and if they run above ground, they will be), the entire system is likely to implode at the speed of sound.
The Las vegas loop (and his planned network of tunnels under major cities) don't really solve the problem of traffic (how can they, they involve more vehicles), and have the same problem Metro builders have under major cities. Namely that there is already a lot of infrastructure under the ground in major cities like London, which limits the number of tunnels that can be built. Apparently, their brand new tunneling method is not actually as cheap as Elon makes out, and is considerably slower than existing methods,
Also, the tunnels in the LV loop are barely wider than the cars. It's likely to be almost impossible to escape if something happens to one of the cars and it catches fire or explodes. Existing train systems do not have that problem because there doors don't open outward. The tunnels are also generally wide enough for people to pass alongside the train. Even if they weren't, the trains generally have exits at the front and back.
Starlink looks like it could be good, but I'd need to see evidence that it's not just going to be used to enable the social media companies to track the few people they don't.
As for the robot, I'd like to see evidence that what they've demonstrated isn't a dancer in a suit. At least Boston Dynamics have shown actual robots doing stuff.
The truck, from what I've seen, the range as it is is too limited for lot of use.
This post has been deleted by its author
According to Musk, employees only have about three years of good ideas and then they're an impediment to change. Lots of turnover? That's a feature, not a bug. So if people quit instead of going back to the office I suspect he really won't care. Just accelerates the search for new grist for the mill. Can't imagine working for a company that thinks so little of its employees.
"According to Musk, employees only have about three years of good ideas and then they're an impediment to change."
Elon doesn't seem to understand the concept of institutional knowledge. A good idea is something that hasn't already been shown to not work. As engineers gain experience, they learn about all of the things that have been tried where they work that were dead ends, so yes, they don't have as many "good" ideas. What they do have is an inventory of things that don't work and an understanding of why they don't work so they don't head down that path again. They are also quicker to recognize bad ideas and wind up being the buzz kill of a department when fresh outs submit all of their "good" ideas. The thing about dead end ideas is many of them don't get documented. (s) They didn't work out so why would they be documented? (/s) Losing longer term employees means losing a listing of those boondoggles that might have cost the company a stack of R&D budget.
Basically my company now gets minimum of me working my commute time which they never got before, that was wasted. Most days I do 2 extra hours or more just becaue I am so relaxed I don't mind working longer. I take a 90 mins lunch break, proper cooked food, not a rushed, overpriced shitty sandwich gulped down in 10 mins and back to my desk.
I have office kit at home and I "dial in" out of hours all the the time just to check on things and tweak the odd thing to make sure my systems run smoothly 'cos I have more company kit on had. It's the Thursday of the Jubillee and I just put 15 mins in at work doing a few checks, fixing 2 broken jobs, raised a CR and now I'm back on holiday again! My company benefits trusts me, my management trusts me and I know my company values it's worker's mental wellbeing.
I've not had a sick day in 18 months! I've not taken a day off a holiday in 6 months 'cos I don't feel like I need holiday. Heck we've had so many compnay emails from HR terrified of being sued the last 6 months basically ordering staff to take holidays! it's a legal anti-fraud requiremnt to take time off but no one I know can be bothered with holidays as we have so much better work like balance.
I've taken a week off just for a break, you know what I'll be doing? Learning by using the company provided Pluralsight/LinkedIn-Learning portal to catch up on some tech I want play with! I've got a day to do some gardening but the rest of the time I'll basically be at my desk working on learning for when I go back work is no longer a horrnedous chore, it's just now what I do 7am to 5pm every day, outside those exact hours is my time with my family.
If companies want remove WFH and hybrid, let them and then we'll see productivity drop like crazy, sick days shoot up and people just walking out on jobs. We already can't fill the jobs available as people refused to go back and now this stupid child of a CEO, who acts like a spoilt 17 year old student, has ordered his staff back to his Dark Satanic Mill. Yeah, let's see how that works out shall be Elon!
It simply depends on your job.
It gets kinda hard to do plumbing, lay bricks or do factory work from home, but even office work sometimes needs a bit of communal element to work - my personal experience with video is that it works 100x better if you have met the person on the other end at least once physically. Maybe that's just me, but that's my experience.
In addition, some of the work I do is really confidential and the company can spend a lot more money on security in one building to accomodate many than it can on homes which are invaded by friends, families, kids and the occasional burglar which are by their very nature a tad uncontrollable.
Yes, working from home can be better if you're not interrupted much there, but it's not a black and white proposition.
Having come from an environment where the Timeclock was king and TOIL frowned upon I was determined not to allow such a culture to take root where I am now. I know first hand just how toxic a time-punching, clock-watching environment can be & just how creative people can get at undermining it!
We have never had a timeclock, no time recording and a flexible working policy that's focused on trusting the staff to get their work done, quickly and efficiently without us needing to breathe down their necks and monitor everything they do. It works. We have excellent staff retention, high staff satisfaction, good case-resolution rates and a very low customer complaint rate.
With that said, I do understand the desire to see staff back working from the office. It is considerably more difficult to manage remote teams as effectively. There are far fewer opportunities for ideas to form organically (at least two of our more successful products have originated from chance conversations in the office kitchen) and less chance for junior staff to learn by osmosis.Teams, zoom, conference calls; they all have their place but none can fully replace the office environment & direct personal interaction.
It's not impossible to do WFH long-term but it's a significant challenge, one we are still trying to find the best answer to. I doubt that answer will be a Musk-style edict to get back to the office full time but I can't see it being fully remote either - an acceptable middle ground will eventually emerge.
"It is considerably more difficult to manage remote teams as effectively."
I see that as a problem in management not adapting to the new situation.
When you get your first EV, you should not consider it a drop-in replacement for your outgoing ICE. You need to adapt your thinking about how you plan longer trips and how you want to "always be charging" or at least be looking to take advantage of charging opportunities. In the same way, thinking that old ways of managing a team are going to fully apply to a group that is working remotely is going to cause issues. With modern communications, it's entirely possible to have virtual teams aside from work on physical products. Team building is also going to be slightly different, but there are tools to help keep members connected.
When I was working in aerospace, we were required to get a colleague to review our work at certain milestones and present to the whole team when something was ready to be built out. It made for lots of cross learning and having to explain something to somebody that isn't intimately involved in a short period of time is a good exercise. We were all in the same large space, but walled off in other ways. The process shifted to a virtual space doesn't seem to me like it would be hard to adapt. If management can't come up with a way to do that, perhaps it's time for better managers. Not everybody is going to be a good manager.
> "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean minimum) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla... This is less than we ask of factory workers."
Interesting, so you are forcing your factory workers (and now your non-factory workers) to work over 40 hours per week.
> "office" as he defines it means main office, not some remote branch unrelated to one's duties.
So meetings at a customer or another plant than your main place of work are not counted as part of your 40 hours per week.
Thank-you for telling me I never want to apply for a position as a slave at Tesla or any other Musk company.
If you had anyone looking after workers' rights in the US I'd suggest they need to investigate Tesla but presumably that would be communist.
Elon Musk has turned into an attention seeking bore. I'm getting thoroughly sick of him. How could anyone work for this big headed, bad tempered man-baby? Narcissism, hubris and arrogance are a bad combination anyway, and he is overflowing with all three. But he's also surrounded by a coterie of yes men falling over themselves to kiss his arse and polish his ego. And on top of all that are millions of sycophantic fan bois, hanging on his every word, spending their life chatting shit about Chads and Stacys on incel forums. The only break they get is for the 5 minutes following a Musk tweet - it's all go as they rush to be the first to repost in on 4chan.
It's no wonder he believes his own bullshit, surrounded by all that. What he needs is someone brave and honest enough to tell him he's acting like a juvenile, entitled little prick.
I'm in two minds about this. While I do support people working from home if they wish and are able to do so, I can also see the downsides.
1) It's difficult to monitor how much time your staff are spending working if they are doing stuff from home. If they are in a workplace, you can at least see them. OK, that doesn't mean they are actually working rather than just sitting there. Where I work (and this is the reason I am positing anonymously), our team are working hard, but since lockdown 1, it's become increasingly difficult to ensure other teams are doing what you need when you need it, and even to contact them in some cases when they are working from home.
2) If you are both physically in the same place, and you need to speak to a colleague, it's sometimes easier to go see them, or mention what you wanted to say in passing, rather than organise a Teams or Zoom Call/Meeting..
3) I've had situations where I've had 9am meetings on teams with people who, despite their best efforts to arrange the camera to hide it, are clearly still in bed during the meeting. That's nice for them, but not professional.
4) I find, for me, the psychological benefit of actually going to work helps me separate my work and home life. I found before we were asked to return to work part time, I was starting to have trouble sorting out my days in my head, with one day blurring into the next. Also, the enforced time alone during commuting helps, as it gives me a couple of hours each day when people can only contact me *if* I want them to, and I am free to think about what I want, although I don't *have* to think about anything. Of course, I am still working from home part time, so I still can't entirely distance myself from work when I am at home.
"1) It's difficult to monitor how much time your staff are spending working if they are doing stuff from home. "
Let's say they are spending very little time working. Big deal. The measurement that makes any sense is what they output. If another team that is doing work that feeds in isn't delivering, management needs to figure out why.
If talking with somebody you work with requires setting up a Zoom (ick) or Teams meeting, you have more problems than physical separation. Why can't you phone them or send an email? If you do, it would be a great idea to let them know what it's about rather than just "call me back" so they can have any information they might need readily available. It also tells them if they can contact you from someplace other than their workspace. When to get back to you is also a good idea if you know that you won't be available at certain times. It's a pet peeve of mine when people just leave a message to call them back with no stated reason for the call. If it's my mom or a close friend, that's fine, but not others.
Let's say all of the criticisms of Musk expressed herein are accurate. And further that all the pros and cons of remote working have been correctly summarized. It's still possible Musk knows that his executives have been goofing off and taking advantage. Musk may be annoying and he may not be as smart as he thinks he is, but he actually is somewhat competent as a CEO of tech companies. So if he applies this correction and many of them quit, maybe that's what he wants? Some of them get back to work, good. The others go bye-bye, also good. Later there will be a chance to relax the policy.
You're assuming that slackers didn't exist before WFH.
I see something completely different in the economy. Wealthy business owners are treating employees like crap, employees treat customers like crap, and the wealthy business owner keeps raising prices and blaming poor service on a "labor shortage."
They're are some good articles on the travelpocalypse going on right now. Airports and airlines are raising prices and cancelling flights in the name of staffing shortages. Check their open position listings and they have the worst pay for the most grueling work.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2025
