Amazon Recruits Tesla Workers Upset by Return-to-Office Demand

Amazon Recruits Tesla Workers Upset by Return-to-Office Demand

  • Recruiters at major companies offer to hire Tesla employees who want to keep working remotely.
  • On Tuesday, Elon Musk told Tesla employees they must return to the office or resign, reports say.
  • Remote working opportunities have become a key benefit amid the great resignation.

Tesla workers might not have to return to the office after all — if they’re willing to jump ship.

On Thursday, tech recruiters put out calls to Elon Musk’s employees who might be looking to dodge his return-to-work edict.

On Thursday, Zafar Choudhury, who identifies himself as a technical recruiting leader at Amazon Web Services on LinkedIn, issued a call for disgruntled Tesla engineers to join the tech giant.

“If the Emperor of Mars doesn’t want you, I’ll be happy to bring you over to #AWS,” Choudhury wrote on LinkedIn, referencing Musk’s fixation with colonizing Mars.

Choudhury didn’t respond to a request for comment from Insider. Spokespeople for Tesla and Amazon also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The recruiter took aim at reports that Musk sent emails to executive staff on Tuesday, calling for the workers to stop “phoning it in” and come into the office at least 40 hours a week.

“If you don’t like to be micromanaged by the Elon Musk’s of the world, come to #AWSIdentity!” Choudhury wrote. “We’ll find you a happy home here that respects you, your time and your profession. We will find you a team that treats you with dignity.”

Last year, Amazon announced that it would let corporate employees work from home indefinitely. It has been one of several tech companies to make the shift from an office-centric work environment to a more distributed workforce.

Choudhury was one of several recruiters on LinkedIn who pushed for Tesla employees to join Amazon, as well as smaller tech companies, such as Insight and Bestow. A Microsoft recruiter also joined in on the hiring frenzy, The Next Web reported.

In a post that has since been deleted, Tiana Watts-Porter, who identifies herself as a technical recruiter for Microsoft, told Tesla employees they would be given more freedom at Microsoft. Watts-Porter did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.

The tech company has embraced a hybrid work environment. Last month, Microsoft announced that workers would be allowed to work remotely over 50% of the time so long as it was approved by their managers.

“You can do things your way, and be yourself here at Microsoft!” Watts-Porter wrote, The Next Web reported. 

In his companywide email, Musk took a dig at companies such as Amazon that have allowed employees to work from home, Electrek reported.

“There are of course companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product?” Musk said in a companywide email, the report said. “It’s been a while.”

The billionaire appeared to justify his decision to bring workers back to the office on Twitter, saying his ultimatum was part of an effort to promote equality between factory workers — who have been required to come to work in person throughout the pandemic — and executives.

Musk’s stance on remote work could inhibit Tesla’s and SpaceX’s recruiting efforts. Remote working opportunities have become a key benefit amid the Great Resignation.

In March, a survey of 3,019 employees conducted by Blind, an anonymous employee community app, found that 64% of workers at employers such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google would rather work from home than receive a $30,000 raise.

“Companies simply cannot force people back to the office, especially when there are other remote jobs available elsewhere,” Kyum Kim, Blind’s cofounder, previously told Insider’s Caroline Hronich and Ebony Flake.

Work at Tesla or have a Tesla-related story to share? You can reach this reporter by contacting gkay@insider.com from a nonwork email.

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