Outspoken entrepreneur Elon Musk sparked controversy earlier this month when he told Tesla employees they needed to come to the office for at least 40 hours per week or would be expected to leave the company.

“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,” various media reports quoted Musk as saying in an email sent to Tesla workers.

The Tesla chief’s strict in-office work policy may sound outmoded when many firms around the world have embraced remote work in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. That's even something of the case in Japan, where the practice of working from home has spread among domestic firms despite them being well known for their conservative work cultures.