Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk want their employees back in office because it will be better for their career

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, two prominent leaders in the tech industry, are strongly advocating for a return to the traditional office setting for their employees, citing the potential benefits it could bring to their careers. In contrast to the remote work trend that gained momentum in recent years, the Meta and Tesla CEOs believe that in-person collaboration and workplace interactions hold significant advantages, not only for the growth of their companies but also for the professional development of their workforce.

The pandemic brought about a significant shift in the corporate world, and remote working became a necessity. However, even as things started returning to normal, companies like Meta continued to support remote work for their employees. In fact, in a 2021 internal memo, Zuckerberg allowed all full-time workers to apply for remote work. At that time, Zuckerberg stated, “We’ve learned over the past year that good work can be done from anywhere, and I’m even more optimistic about the possibility of remote work at scale.”

However, as the company transitioned from layoffs to economic slowdown, Zuckerberg is now reversing the work-from-home policy and mandating that employees return to the office for work. Last week, Meta implemented a new mandate for all employees requiring them to be in the office for at least three days a week. This decision had been signalled earlier in March, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared in a blog post that internal performance data showed that engineers who worked and interacted in the office were more productive.

“Our early analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely,” Zuckerberg said in his email. “This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week. This requires further study, but our hypothesis is that it is still easier to build trust in people and that those relationships help us work more effectively.”

On the other hand Elon Musk has consistently criticised remote work. In an interview with CNBC, he strongly condemned it as “morally wrong” and called it “bullshit.” Musk, who enforced a ban on remote work at Twitter following the company’s acquisition, has never shied away from expressing his disdain for work-from-home policies. However, in this particular interview, Musk strongly asserted that remote work is not helpful for employees.

“I’m a big believer that people need to be more productive when they’re in person.,” he told CNBC.

“Get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshitâ€æ because they’re asking everyone else to not work from home while they do,” he added.

Elon Musk further solidified his stance by arguing that since people who deliver food and build houses cannot work from home, neither should office workers. He called the decision “messed up” and a “moral issue”.

Notably, In June 2022, Tesla CEO Elon Musk implemented a stringent return-to-office policy for all employees, warning that those who refused to comply would be fired. Musk mandated that all employees spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office each week, and he described anything less as “phoning it in.”

This policy was a sharp reversal from Tesla’s previous stance on remote work, which was more lenient. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many Tesla employees were allowed to work remotely on a regular basis. However, Musk has since become a vocal critic of remote work, arguing that it is not conducive to productivity or innovation.