Elon Musk's tirade about remote work being 'morally wrong' has tech workers up in arms, with some calling him a hypocrite

Elon Musk’s recent comments on remote work sparked lots of discussion among tech workers on the workplace forum Blind.
Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Image

Hundreds of tech workers on Blind debated Elon Musk’s stance against remote work.
Some tech workers called Musk a hypocrite and poked fun at his comments about the “laptop classes.”
The billionaire said on Tuesday that remote work is “morally wrong.”

Some tech workers aren’t happy about Elon Musk’s recent tirade on remote work and the so-called “laptop classes.”

The billionaire spurred discussion across the anonymous networking site Blind after he called remote work “morally wrong” and said that the “laptop classes are living in la-la land,” during an interview with CNBC on Tuesday. Musk said that he thinks it’s unfair that remote workers are able to work from the comfort of their own homes, while the people that make their cars or food have no other option but to physically go into work everyday.

Following his comments, many tech workers took to Blind to call Musk a hypocrite and poke fun at his billionaire status.

“‘Morally wrong?'” a Meta worker wrote in a thread on the issue that generated over 70 comments. “It’s morally wrong to hoard billions of dollars too.”

Users on the site, which requires them to verify their employment via their company email addresses, posted hundreds of comments and created almost a dozen threads on the topic. One Rivian worker launched a poll on the issue that appeared to mock Musk and in which the majority of over 480 users voted that Musk was “wrong.” 

Insider did not independently verify the employment of users cited in this story.

“In that case, flying private is morally wrong since everyone else has to fly commercial,” an Apple worker wrote in a comment on another post on the work-from-home debate.

Musk’s private jet was used over 130 times last year, including several flights that were under 30 minutes long, according to the college student who tracks the jet using public data.

Other tech workers on Blind accused Musk of being a remote worker himself, pointing out that he holds leadership positions across five companies — some of which are headquartered in completely different states. Over the past year, Musk has been known to fly between SpaceX’s launch site in Texas and Twitter’s headquarters in California. Last year, he said on Twitter that he has “Tesla covered too” while he was “working and sleeping” at Twitter’s headquarters. 

Meanwhile, some tech workers tried to break down Musk’s logic and a Meta worker called Musk’s rhetoric a “business play” to make sure people keep driving their cars to work and buying new ones.

“Landscapers have to work outside in the sun all day, how dare we work inside with A/C,” a Google employee wrote. “Everyone should have to work outside in the sun and sweat it out all day, anything else is morally wrong.” 

While many tech workers railed against Musk’s statement, a few appeared to agree with the billionaire.

“The entitlement of my generation is sickening,” a worker from the online payment services company WePay wrote in a post that generated over 85 comments. “Your gardener, plumber, grocery store worker all cannot work from home yet you demand it as a ‘right’ is sickening. Get off your high horses and put some jeans on for god’s sake.”

It isn’t the first time that Musk has taken a stance against remote work. Last year, he told Tesla workers to return to the office fulltime or quit. He has also called Twitter’s staff back into the office.

Other tech companies have also taken similar steps to bring workers back, but employees are fighting back, with some workers choosing to quit instead of come back to the office.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

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