--- title: "Tesla Morale Low As Workers Still Don’t Have Desks, Face Increased Attendance Surveillance" description: "Tesla is struggling to get its employees back to working in-office, and CEO Elon Musk has responded with a more hardline and less accomodating approach." date: "2022-09-18" modified: "2022-09-18" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-morale-desks-attendance" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "telsa" - "the digest" - "working conditions" --- # Tesla Morale Low As Workers Still Don’t Have Desks, Face Increased Attendance Surveillance ![Tesla is struggling to get its employees back to working in-office, and CEO Elon Musk has responded with a more hardline and less accomodating approach.]() *\Image: Tesla/Futurism\* ## Workplace Woes As companies across the country prematurely transition into a return to "normalcy," Tesla has been struggling to get its workers back in the physical workplace. On Wednesday, *CNBC* [reported]() that at one Tesla factory, around one-eighth of workers were absent on any given day, compared to one-tenth company-wide. To make matters worse, it reported**,** Tesla still doesn't have "room or resources to bring all its employees back to the office," seemingly confirming [earlier reports]() that Tesla literally didn’t have enough desks for those returning employees to work at. That's in spite of CEO Elon Musk, in July, making a big stink over workplace attendance, going after employees that wanted to work at home — even partially. "If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned," Musk wrote in an email. "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean \*minimum\*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla." ## Office Space Initially hoping for employees to return to three days per week in office, Tesla had to ease that number down to two days as it quickly became apparent that its offices didn’t have enough parking spots or even chairs to accommodate returning workers. An under-resourced workplace isn’t exactly shocking, especially during ongoing supply chain shortages. But it is pretty embarrassing for Musk to demand employees to work in office, only for his managers having to tell some employees to work at home anyway because the workplace is overcrowded, which is what *CNBC* found. ## Esprit De Corporate Musk may have a bigger problem than just a lack of desks: plummeting morale. According to internal messages grabbed by *CNBC*, Musk’s abrupt return-to-work policy has caused a drastic drop in employee contentment, and that's a big deal at a mission-driven company like Tesla. The trend is likely exacerbated by alleged dismissals without warning for those who could not immediately relocate, according to *CNBC*, not to mention [layoffs]() in June, employees [fired by phone]() while on vacation, and [rescinding]() already accepted job offers. Rather than alleviating the hardline attendance policy or, you know, providing workers desks and chairs, Tesla has instead doubled down and has begun to more closely surveilling employee attendance, *CNBC* says. Musk, apparently, now receives weekly reports on absenteeism. It seems less like a reasonable enforcement of discipline and more like Musk losing his grip — and the enthusiasm of his employees. **More on Tesla:** *[Elon Musk Furious That the Government Isn't Giving Him More Free Money]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()