Elon Musk vs. Brian Chesky: Who Is Right in Hybrid Work?

When there's big news about hybrid work, you can rest assured that at least a handful of people send me the article. So yes, the leaked Elon Musk "Return to the Factory" emails hit my inbox, Whatsapp, and LinkedIn quickly yesterday.

In case you missed it; Musk issued a mandate for Tesla execs to return to the office "or else." As the email read: "[You] must be in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. This is less than we ask of factory workers."

A follow-up note provided even stronger language: "If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned." It also included a justification: to work alongside those making the product in the factory.

And yes, Elon Musk acknowledges that there are many companies where you can enjoy a flexible work schedule, but as he also notes "when is the last time they shipped a great new product? It's been a while." Which surely is a dig to Apple and the likes.

Brian Chesky: Airbnb is now "Remote-First" and "It's the end of the office as we know it."

Taking an opposite view, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky spoke about the future of work earlier this year and said that ‘The office as we know it is over." The 'belong anywhere' platform liberated employees and now allows them to live and work from anywhere in their country (without a change in pay!) They also can even work in more than 170 countries for up to 90 days in each location.

This was a highly popular move, as the numbers illustrate. Within two weeks of announcing the new policy, more than 1 million people visited the Airbnb careers and jobs page.?Chesky shared that he believe that employees will vote with their feet and that "flexibility will be the most important benefit after compensation."

Countering Elon Musk's point about 'visibility', Chesky said: "I’m not sure that people going to the office will see management more often. My executive team is in all different cities already. And I’m not going to be in the office, so they’re not going to be seeing me very often. The most visible way to see people is usually Zoom because it’s hard to walk around the office and see what people are doing at their desk."

Who is right?

Two high-performing, modern, and innovative companies. Two extremely different viewpoints. Who is right?

The main question to ask is really: what is my company trying to achieve and what is the best way to get this done? What is my product? And what is the company culture and ways of collaborating that I need in order to deliver this?

For a company like Tesla, where the product is a physical good, produced in factories by the best engineers in the world, and where constant innovation on this physical good is key, it may aid the company culture and focus to have people on site.

Musk surely will accept the resignations that will follow this new policy. In fact, like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong he will happily see those employees leave, as they don't fit his idea of the type of people he wants in his company.

For a company like Airbnb, and the majority of companies (McKinsey predicts that 90% of companies will move towards hybrid work), this will not be the case. Vying for the best talent, and with flexibility being a critical benefit, they will continue to offer people ways to balance time working from home with time working in the office.

The will enjoy the benefits that hybrid work provides, like reduced real estate and operating costs, an increased ability to attract and retain top talent (particularly working parents and older employees,) higher levels of job satisfaction, work engagement and commitment to the organisation, and significantly improved employee retention.

What is right for one, isn't right for the other.

At the end of the day, every company will have to reflect deeply on the work to be done, and the culture and community of employees that will make this happen. What do you see as the right model for yourself?