This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 204

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Open Kitchen: Elon Musk & HR: An Existential Risk?

I think Elon Musk might destroy HR.

This may not be intentional but it is not entirely inadvertent either.

His management style, views on labor, organisation, corporate culture and social values are at odds with the core tenets of HR; now coupled with direct influence on government policy as well as indirect cultural influence via X, Elon Musk poses as significant - maybe existential - challenge to the traditional role of Human Resources.

Six arguments as how Musk is shaking the foundations of HR. Tough reading today folks - this is the topic of today's Open Kitchen.

1. Disrupting HR’s Role in Employee Advocacy

Musk’s belief in extreme work culture, as demonstrated in his management of Tesla, SpaceX and X, undermines HR’s traditional role as an advocate for employee well-being. His statements - such as promoting 80-100 hour work weeks - are backed up by actions, such as presumptively firing staff who don't immediately agree to immediate RTO mandates. Even him personally camping out on site / in office when newly arriving to a business seems a performance of extreme commitment to the hard work culture as well a visceral contradiction of HR’s focus on work-life balance and mental health.

For employees who don't feel up for it, then see you later - regardless of stature, experience, function or value. Where is HR in this story? Redundant, on the kerbside, invoked only after the important deeds are done and there is admin detail that needs to be closed off.

2. Overt Rejection of HR Compliance and Regulation

Musk has openly defied labor laws and regulatory bodies, dismissing their authority in favour of efficiency and speed. Preferring to offer (admittedly generous) severance to those who voluntarily leave and then battling to the end to those who continue to contest, is an example of Musk's contempt for compliance - it's just another manifestation of bureaucracy which slows down action and must be actively attacked never mind ignored, much less observed.

This approach erodes the credibility of HR, whose strongest suit has been to invoke the spectre of non-compliance with labour laws in order to change behaviour, especially from hiring / line managers. When the CEO himself repeatedly blasts through such concerns, shrugging off any sanction, then it is easy to imagine that the managers in the company's he leads him adopt the same behaviour and attitude - one that is wholly dismissive of HR.

3. Reduction HR Dependency by Team Size Reduction

...that's if there are managers in such company's. The Muskian organisation is characterised by small teams of highly dedicated, highly skilled, self directed operators, often without a hands off functional head. There may be a function lead but he (usually is a he - anyone got any data on this? I'm guessing Musk companies have a significant male-to-female ratio) is still a do-er - first amongst equals so to say. Smaller teams means simplified organisation structure, which also means less management of that structure. That means less HR. Organisational bloat is the anthropological equivalent of 'technical debt' - the build up the processes which once upon a time served a purpose, but which since codification has been unthinkingly and unnecessarily adhered to. Deleting such processes is one of Musk's main ideas to spur productivity.

X's employee base went down 63% since purchased by Musk - yet the site still undeniably operates, undeniably has become more culturally significant and undeniably has become more innovative with much higher rate of product and feature release than at any comparable period under previous management. How many HR people today work at X? I'm guessing not many and at a low ratio compared any other comparably sized organisation.

4. Eliminating L&D in Preference to Hiring Self Directed Learners

Musk is an exceptional recruiter. He has shown intense interest in acquiring industry leading talent, even to the extent of directly sourcing, engaging and closing those candidates. The story of his interviewing the PhD professor who had trained some of his best engineers at SpaceX, only for the interview to turn out to be talent sourcing technique for any other students who should be with the company is one legendary example. Most recruiters would love for the CEO to do this!

However, there does not seem to be any interest at all in talent development. This is a key responsibility of HR - indeed, many HR functions have a sub division dedicated to improving the skills of the existing employees - L&D. Instead Musk prioritises self directed learners - perhaps channelling his own experience in the early days as a a self taught coder - and no doubt perceives any support from HR as symptomatic of mollycoddling weak performers who shouldn't be with the business in any case. There is no question that Musk promotes a high turnover culture - you're on the team or you're off the team - there is no middle ground.

Again, this is antithetical to the conventional HR posture of applying additional resources for under performing employees, either to find them more suitable opportunities within the business or develop their skills to be able to perform to higher standard. Minus this impulse from management, what need for L&D?

5. Sidelining HR as a Decision-Making Body by Going Direct

Musk prefers direct engagement. This appears to be a universal characteristic, whether the interlocutors are employees, partners, competitors, allies or adversaries. You can imagine that he would promote such direct engagement within the company's he leads, reducing the reliance on HR managed structures of communication. This flat hierarchy / zero hierarchy model (aside from himself as God-King naturally...), where leaders interact directly with employees, reduces HR’s influence in shaping workplace policies. Musk’s direct involvement with individual employees (firing them, promoting them etc) creates an environment where HR’s role in organisational mediation, performance appraisal, conflict resolution and so on becomes redundant.

Musk’s leadership style is essentially that of a tribal chieftain, one without a priestly caste (HR / Legal) to moderate behaviour. There no highly structured protocols for behaviour - just personalities jostling around trying to 'get things done'. Abstract concepts like the Servant-Leadership model promoted by HR? Nothing could be further from the Muskian way.

6. Overt Hostility to HR's Banner Project: Diversity and Inclusion

It is stating the obvious to say that Musk is overtly hostile to 'woke' culture. He is overtly hostile to DEI. I think - by extension - he is also hostile to the very idea of the HR. His influence in Trump 2.0 administration of removing DEI commitments, representation targets, as well as potentially using the labour laws he has otherwise decried to intimidate those who do not comply with new government directives.

DEI is the product of HR. HR have been the key evangelisers of the DEI in business and beyond. It is the reddest of red lines for any HR practitioner to go backward on DEI, though we have seen in recent days many company's roll back on such commitments, with some such, explicitly mentioning the external political environment as the primary cause in change of policy. Musk is already affecting change, and it would be foolish to think that he would stop until there is permanent cultural change.

It's heavy stuff. And I say none of this with any satisfaction, nor with any view of what to do. I only think that HR continues to underestimate the threat and seemingly lacks any coherent approach to handle it. Hence, decent change Musk is going to win.

What do you think? Am I being an alarmist? Is Musk actually right?

Come at me, in comments.

Now out of the kitchen, onto the lounge ??

What's Going On?

Big List of Recruiting & HR Events to Attend in 2025

I keep being asked - where was the events list you had on all the recruiting & HR events in 2025? My friends, the Big List for 2025 is shared every week on this newsletter! Please do me a favour and bookmark this spreadsheet and share it with the people you know in the recruitment, TA and HR fields. We all need to get into more in-person events - essential we strengthen our human bonds as AI eats away at the work we do. I think the human premium is going to key for us - so make sure you get yourself to one of these events!

Brainfood Live on Air - Ep292 - Talent Trends Report 2025: Recruiter Productivity, Friday 21st Feb, 2pm GMT

Excited to be doing this show - the reports that our friends Ashby have been conducting have been outstanding - comprehensive, in-depth, yielding unique insight and consistent in a time series which enables trends analysis. We have Willem Wijnans talking us through it, before the panel of practitioners such as Andrea Marston, Talent Acquisition Director (Nutanix), Alexa McWilliam, Global Head of Talent Acquisition (numa) & Andy Mountney, Global Head of Talent Acquisition (Chainlink). Register here

Brainfood on Tour - How to Hire in Singapore, Weds Feb 26th, 930am SST

I am in Sing and therefore must take the opportunity to speak to local brainfooders on what the market is shaping up to be in 2025. How are we hiring in Singapore? Lets learn from the recruiters who are working agency side, in-house, in exec search, from local companies and from MNC. It's the capital of APAC hiring for most - so lets see what's up. Register here

JobAdder State of Recruitment - UK Trends, Weds Feb 26th 11am GMT

One for the UK staffing agencies - we're leaning on JobAdder proprietary data to really understand what is going on with UK hiring demand. This is one of the most important reports of the year - this alongside data from REC and the investor reports from the publicly listed staffing agencies are the sources to trust when it comes to the external conditions. I'm on it, but don't let that put you off - register here

Introducing AI Agent from PeopleGPT, Weds 26th Feb, 11pm SST / 7am PT / 3pm GMT

There is a rush from product vendors - large and small - the produce the first legit AI Agent for recruiting. No surprise to see PeopleGPT to amongst those. Couldn't stop CEO David Paffenholz from doing a live demo, likely before beta testing! This is the builder spirit we need. See what the company who brought you the world's first GPT people search product, has got in store for us as the AI world moves towards agents. Register here

NJA* People & Talent Summit, Thursday 13th March, 2025, Fishburners, Wynyard Station (Sydney)

I'm back in Sydney folks. Thanks to Pam Stevenson, Emer McCann and Anthony Enright for inviting me to come back Down Under. Brand new talk on 'From Talent Acquisition to Talent Everything' - time for the next evolution of the Talent function. Chimpanzees, culture and Ronald Coase will be in this talk. Grab a ticket here

Talent Palooza, March 26th & 27th, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Helliers Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne, Australia

I'm delighted to be back at TalentPalooza - always one of the most fun events on the calendar. Moderating two panels on the Future of Talent and Future of Employee Generated Content. Two day event at Abbotsford Convent! Get yourself there - tickets here

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter,?comment below?with the link and event details. Don't forget to at mention me so that I see it

End Notes

I'm in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Having spent time checking out all the Wats, I am now going to spend the next two days deep focus, doing the things I need to be doing with Brainfood biz ops.

Will be in Singapore next week - let me know if you're around 23rd - 26th...

Hung

Hung Lee is the curator of Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.