Elon Musk tells Tesla workers to return to the office or leave the company, according to leaked memo

Elon Musk has told Tesla employees to return to the office or leave the firm, according to a leaked memo.

“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,” the chief executive said in the message to staff, which was circulating on social media.

While the authenticity of the memo has not been verified and the electric car company has yet to issue an official response to queries about it, Musk did reply to one Twitter user who asked him for “any additional comment to people who think coming into work is an antiquated concept?”

“They should pretend to work somewhere else,” the billionaire tycoon replied.

Musk would “review and approve” any cases where workers could not meet the minimum, according to the memo.

Tesla joins a number of companies demanding a return to the office for staff.

While some major employers have embraced voluntary work-from-home policies permanently, others including Alphabet’s Google are opting to push in-person interactions among colleagues.

Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal tweeted in March that the social media firm’s offices would be reopening but employees could still work from home if they wanted to.

“Wherever you feel most productive and creative is where you will work and that includes working from home full-time forever,” he said.

It comes after Musk launched a bid in April to take Twitter private in a $44bn (£35bn) deal.