Technology companies make return to office mandatory for employees

With a slump in Covid cases across the world, things are limping towards normalcy. From schools, colleges, offices and even international travel, things are finally opening up in various parts of the world.

Big tech companies, including Google, Apple, Facebook and even Tesla have asked employees to return to their offices.

While Apple and Google have resorted to a hybrid work for now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has given an ultimatum to Tesla employees to return to work or quit.

Amazon has taken full advantage of Musk’s baseless threat and approached several Tesla employees for jobs. Musk asks Tesla employees to return to their office with immediate effect.

Elon Musk’s message to Tesla employees

In a warning letter of sorts, Musk ordered his employees to be in the workplace for at least 40 hours or quit. “Anyone who wants to do remote work must be at the office for a minimum (and I emphasize *minimum*) of 40 hours per week, or they will be fired from Tesla.” This is significantly less than what we expect of factory workers. If there are any extraordinary contributors for whom this is not practicable, I will assess and approve exceptions on a case-by-case basis.” The following is an excerpt from Musk’s leaked email, which was obtained by Electrek.

“For example, being responsible for Fremont manufacturing human relations, but having your office be in another state,” Musk noted. Musk’s comments had a negative impact on Tesla employees.

Amazon and Microsoft, on the other hand, regarded it as an ideal opportunity to steal Tesla personnel. Zafar Choudhury, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) recruiter, wrote on LinkedIn (since deleted) urging Tesla employees to work for AWS. “If the Emperor of Mars doesn’t want you, I’ll be pleased to bring you over to #AWS,” the message said.

Google has asked its staff to return to work

As the number of Covid cases decreased, Google sent out an email to its employees informing them that starting April 4, they would be switching to a hybrid work paradigm. Most Google employees are obliged to work at least three days a week from the office. While certain individuals are exempt from the in-person work model, remote work is no longer an option for most people. Some Google employees were dissatisfied with the company’s policy of returning to work in the office. More than 200 contract workers signed a petition to continue working from home because they can no longer afford rising fuel prices, growing inflation, and the worry of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. Contract employees apparently raised concerns about policy differences between them and Google employees.

Apple allows some employees to work from home

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, requested that workers work from home at least three days a week. The notion was met with skepticism by the majority of Apple employees. Some employees even left the firm.

Last month, Apple’s head of machine learning and artificial intelligence, Ian Goodfellow, resigned due to a lack of a flexible work environment and rules. Goodfellow has joined the Deepmind subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. He started as a “Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group” at Apple in March 2019. Streaming video

Last month, Apple’s head of machine learning and artificial intelligence, Ian Goodfellow, resigned due to a lack of a flexible work environment and rules. Goodfellow has joined the Deepmind subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. He started as a “Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group” at Apple in