Write 150 words on what you thought about this case.

In a May 2023 interview with CNBCs David Faber, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated:

I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, Let them eat cake, Musk said. Its not just a productivity thing, Musk said. I think its morally wrong (Goswami, 2023.)

Musk continued to discuss his arguments for why working from home is unsatisfactory for both employees and businesses, a belief that has caused great controversy following Musks interview. Many businesses changed to hybrid or work from home models during Covid 19 and therefore they were angered by Musks statement. Musk stood by his words and continued to stand by his beliefs that working from home is morally wrong (Goswami, 2023.)

Stance:

It has been impressive throughout the last Covid 19 Pandemic to see businesses large and small find the ability to reconfigure their workforces to allow for working from home for so many of their employees. These changes during the height of the pandemic shutdowns allowed businesses to continue producing, growing and or serving, while maintaining as much as their previous workforce as possible. However, now that the shutdowns have ended, and life is returning to normal; there are some disadvantages to working from home that could not be as easily seen during the pandemic.

Working from home is immoral and selfish:

Elon Musk most likely stated working from home is immoral and selfish based on his interpretation of the Equity Justice Theory (Goswami, 2023.) The Equity Justice Theory is a model of motivation that explains how people strive for fairness and justice in social exchanges or give-and-take relationships (Kinicki, 2021 Pg 173.) As the CEO and active leader of Tesla, he often considers the needs of all employees, not just the highest paid or obviously influential ones. As a result, Musk assumed that the factory workers and other workers who could not work from home would consider work from home position allowances for other employees an unfair and unjust opportunity.

When considering organized behavior strategies for a situation such as this, one must remember that employees who feel they are putting more into their job than they are getting out of their job often become bitter and less productive. TESLA motors is one of the worlds largest companies ranking fifty on the Fortune 500 list. A company of TESLAs size cannot afford to have their entire factory staff going on strike or quitting the company; as has been occurring at many other production businesses as of late. The best option in this situation is for a leader to utilize the strengths of Transformational Leadership, which encourages their followers to pursue organizational goals over self-interests (Kinicki, 2021 Pg 530.) This is exactly what Elon Musk did, he reminded his team and everyone else who listened to the interview that a business must consider the best interest of all employees with equity, and the company as a whole in mind.

Working from home causes decreased productivity:

Throughout the heart of the pandemic, there became a running joke that Zoom meetings could be done without wearing proper pants (or perhaps pants at all) because ones meeting colleagues could not see below the camera angle. While this trend was good for a few laughs, there were some very real consequences. The age-old phrase look good, feel good has some true merit in the workplace. Dr. Karen Pine stated in the article Is Casual Dress Killing Your Productivity at Work?

When we put on an item of clothing it is common for the wearer to adopt the characteristics associated with that garmentIt's the reason why we feel fitter in our sports clothes, or more professional in work wear, she adds (Tulshyan, 2013.)

Taking into consideration Pines findings, dressing at work like it is the weekend not a professional occasion, makes an employee behave like it is the weekend. This could cause employees to take their work less seriously and pay less attention to detail.

An additional loss of productivity while working from home is distractions. For instance, many parents work from home while their kids are still at home with them for part of the day. When this occurs, parents automatically must split their time between monitoring and caring for their children, and their work tasks. There is also often a loss of professionalism during phone calls because of background noise from children or pets. Lastly, it would be easy for employees who struggle with focus to start working on home tasks during paid work time. For example, one might go into their kitchen really quick to grab a bottle of water and see a sink full of dishes. Before returning to work, that individual might load their dishwasher for fifteen minutes without clocking out or taking an early lunch break. Whereas in most office settings, it is harder to work on a task such as dishes without supervision or other coworkers noticing.

Some employees may find that they are more productive at home because they can get work done without coworkers distracting them with conversations or additional tasks. However, most employees are subject to the difficulties mentioned above; when they dress down and encounter endless distractions at home, they become significantly less productive than they can be inside the office.

Working from home can cause mental health problems:

In addition to loss of productivity and the unfair opportunities presented for employees working from home, research is also showing it can cause mental health problems. Cat, a work from home employee, stated in the article titled Remote Work is Consistently Touted as The Best Way for Workers to Feel Mentally and Physically Well. But The Reality is More Complicated:

When working remotely, we miss out on the social cues of a busy office and much needed social-interactions.These seemingly small moments can collectively have a large impact on our wellbeing (Bishop, 2022.)

I personally experienced this as a House Manager during the COVID 19 pandemic. I went from being a social butterfly and confident individual to an anxiety driven, socially fearful person.

The problem with being alone all of the time, is that you lose youre the opportunity for positive and negative feedback from other people. This then often causes an individual to give and receive feedback solely from within themselves, which can become an infinite loop. Having the ability to practice introspection is a good thing, but not to the level of being a constant overthinker. Negative and positive feedback from others in a work environment can also help an employee to become better at his or her job. For example, if another coworker hears someone give a client incorrect information during a phone call, they can kindly mention it to the employee, so they do not continue to give out false information. On the other hand, if the employee has no feedback, they will continue to give the wrong information out to clients, which in the long run could cause the business serious repercussions.

Conclusion:

While there are some obvious benefits of working from home for some employees, the costs far outweigh the rewards. Working from home often causes mental health issues for employees that could cause them issues for the rest of their lives. A loss of productivity and effectiveness as an employee is also often the result of an overly distracted employee who is working from home. Lastly, allowing some employees to work from home when other employees must go into their workplace to complete their job is unfair and unjust. These three downsides of working from home are the reason that working from home should not be a primary employee workplace.