Elon Musk criticized for hypocrisy over comments about remote work

Elon Musk has once again stirred controversy with his new comments on remote work. In an interview with CNBC , he called the practice “immoral” and said that remote workers are living in a dreamland. He feels it’s unfair that they get to work from a comfortable place, while people who make cars or prepare food have no choice but to go to work every day.

Elon Musk in an interview with CNBC. (Photo: CNBC)

Soon after, many tech workers took to the social network Blind to call Musk a “hypocrite” and mock him. One Meta employee wrote: “Immoral? Hoarding billions of dollars is immoral.”

Despite being an anonymous site, Blind requires users to provide proof of where they work to verify their claims. Blind members posted hundreds of comments and created nearly a dozen threads about Musk’s statements. A Rivian employee even started a poll on the issue, with 480 people agreeing that Musk was “wrong.”

“If that’s the case, flying private is unethical because other people have to fly commercial,” an Apple employee commented. According to a person who tracks Musk’s flights, Musk’s private jet was used more than 130 times last year, including several flights that lasted less than 30 minutes.

Other members of Blind have accused Musk of working remotely, as he holds executive positions at five companies, all headquartered in different states. In 2022, Musk frequently traveled between Texas and California, working on Tesla while sleeping and eating at Twitter.

Some have tried to discredit Musk’s argument, saying that he only said this because he wanted people to continue driving to work and buying new cars. One Google employee scoffed: “Gardeners have to work outside in the sun all day, why would we dare to work in air-conditioned houses. People should work outside in the sun and sweat, anything else is unethical.”

While many people have criticized Musk, a few seem to sympathize with the billionaire. An employee from the payments company WePay said : “The entitlement of our generation is disgusting. Gardeners, plumbers, convenience store clerks can’t work remotely, and you demand the ‘right’ to do so.”

This isn’t the first time Musk has railed against remote work. Last year, he told Tesla employees to return to the office full-time or quit. He also made Twitter employees do the same after buying the social network.

Other tech companies are taking steps to get employees back to the office, but are facing resistance. Some are choosing to quit rather than return.

(According to BI)

Twitter's new CEO is "inspired" by Elon Musk . Linda Yaccarino, Twitter's new CEO, expressed being inspired by Elon Musk's "vision of creating a brighter future."

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