Tesla CEO Elon Musk ranted against remote work during Tesla’s third-quarter financial-results call and criticized the work-from-home crowd as being “detached from reality.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. Nathan Howard and Justin Sullivan via Getty Images
Musk said on Wednesday that the people who ask, “Why doesn’t everyone work from home?” gave off “real Marie Antoinette vibes.”
“How detached from reality does the work-from-home crowd have to be? While they take advantage of those who cannot work from home. Why did I sleep in the factory so many times? Because it mattered,” Musk said while drawing a comparison between remote workers and factory workers, restaurant workers, and delivery workers.
Musk’s comments marked an abrupt pivot from a prior discussion about the affordability of Tesla’s cars. After sharing his thoughts on remote work, he resumed the pricing discussion by saying, “So, I just can’t emphasize again how important cost is.”
Musk has made similar comments about remote work in the past. In May, Musk told CNBC he thought remote work was “morally wrong” and likened remote workers to Marie Antoinette’s infamous “let them eat cake” remark.
The Tesla CEO’s push for in-office work could stem from his own workaholic tendencies — such as sleeping in the office — featured in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk.
These tendencies were also evident after he acquired Twitter last year — he announced in November that staff were expected to have 40-hour work weeks in the office. The company even transformed some offices into bedrooms, and a former Twitter executive went viral for sleeping on the floor to meet deadlines imposed by Musk.
Musk is the richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, which estimates his net worth to be $226 billion. During Tesla’s earnings call on Wednesday, the company reported third-quarter revenues of $23.35 billion, missing Wall Street expectations of $24.06 billion.
Representatives for Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.
