New Delhi, Jun 1 (IANS): Elon Musk on Wednesday gave an ultimatum to Tesla employees to either return to office or get out, saying they "should pretend to work somewhere else" if they disagree with the company's policy.

He sent a series of emails that asked employees to come back to the office or be terminated.

"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. This is less than we ask of factory workers," Musk wrote, reports Electrek.

"Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo office. If you don't show up, we will assume you have resigned," he added, taking a hard stance on returning to office.

The Tesla CEO took a dig at the companies who still allow remote work.

"There are of course companies that don't require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It's been a while," he wrote in one of the emails.

Musk did not deny that he has sent these emails to employees. In a tweet, he said: "They should pretend to work somewhere else" if they disagree with the company's return-to-office policy.

"The more senior you are, the more visible your presence must be. That is why I lived in the factory so much - so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt," Musk said.

Moreover, he added, the "office" must be a main Tesla office, "not a remote branch office unrelated to the job duties, for example being responsible for Fremont factory human relations, but having your office be in another state".

"Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in," Musk added.