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Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary doesn't mind if staff at his 54 companies work from homeand he certainly doesn't think it's "immoral".

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When asked if working from home is unethical the Canadian businessmanreportedly worth $400 millionresponded simply "no."

It comes following a rant from Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk, who questioned if it was "morally right" for some people to work from home where others, such as delivery drivers and factory workers, cannot.

"[It's] messed up," Musk said in an interview with CNBC. "It's a productivity issue but it's also a moral issue. People should get off their godd*** moral high horse with their work-from-home b****** because they're asking everyone else to not work from home while they do."

O'Leary is more open to the policya tactic which may make him more popular with staff, as a recent study from McKinsey & Company found that 87% of the American workforce would choose to work somewhat flexibly if the opportunity was offered to them.

McKinsey added: "Employers are wise to invest in technology, adapt policies, and train employees to create workplaces that integrate people working remotely and on-site."

"The world's changed," O'Leary told CNN. "The economy's changed, the ethics of work have changed. We went through an extraordinary period during the pandemicthe idea that you'd split up a headquarters and you'd let people leave a headquarters to work from home was not even contemplated. It was considered too risky.

"Now it's a proven, effective method or project management."

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O'Leary highlighted that the situation for Musk is different to many of the companies he owns: "In Elon's case, to be fair about what it is he's talking about, when you're in a highly engineered business like Tesla or SpaceX I get the idea that you want collaboration between engineers.

"They're sitting around trying to solve design problems or whatever."

However, O'Leary said that this fact has "nothing to do" with the other ten sectors of the economy which have already made the decision to experiment with more hybrid working models.

O'Leary highlighted that his 54 companies operate in almost every state and sector and said that 40% of those businesses are "never" coming back to the office.

He added: "Prior to the pandemic I was very fortunate in a portfolio basis to make 15% free cashflow pre-tax. Today that same portfolio, post-pandemic, with 40% of the staff working remotely all around the world, is going to do 17.5% free cash. That's a 20% increase in free cash flow.

"So you can't tell me this doesn't work, in fact, I want to do more of this because I'm reducing my costs of real estate."

Preparing to embark on the 15th season of Shark Tank, O'Leary said economic shifts have impacted the number of entrepreneurs approaching him for investment.

"We have a record number of applications and there's a single reason why. It's gone back to 2008 when we started. There is no venture capital money available right now. The entire banking system is shut down because of Silicon Valley Bank and the other failures and this period of rising rates," he explained.

"We are going to see incredible deal flow this yearmuch larger than ever beforebut the terms, I'm licking my chops."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from homeLooking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right nowBuying a house? Here's how much to saveThis is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home

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You cant tell me this doesnt work: Shark Tanks Kevin OLeary has ripped apart Elon Musks claim that working from home is immoral - Yahoo Finance

'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary (left) says unlike Elon Musk, he prefers his employees work from home. Musk has called work-from-home "morally wrong." Christopher Willard/ABC via Getty Images and Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

"Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary says he doesn't agree with Elon Musk when it comes to the debate on remote work he actually prefers the employees at his 54 companies work from home.

"You can't tell me this doesn't work," O'Leary said, during an interview with CNN on Thursday. "In fact, I want to do more of this because I'm reducing my costs of real estate."

O'Leary said that he's seen a 20% increase in pre-tax cashflow as a result of more people working from home since the pandemic. He said that across his 54 companies about 40% of them have decided they are "never" coming back to the office.

A study from last year found that companies can save up to $11,000 for every employee working two or three days at home each week. The research firm Global Workplace Analytics said the savings were the result of lower rent and staff turnover, as well as increased productivity.

Earlier this week, Musk spoke out against remote work and said that the "laptop classes are living in la-la land," during an interview with CNBC.

Musk said that he thinks it's unfair that remote workers are able to work from the comfort of their own homes, while the people that make their cars or food have no other option but to physically go into work everyday and called the work-from-home movement "morally wrong."

O'Leary told CNN he doesn't see the practice as morally wrong.

"The world's changed. The economy has changed. The ethics of work has changed," O'Leary said, adding that the idea of allowing people to work remotely was viewed as "too risky" before the pandemic, but has since becomes "a proven effective method of project management."

Though, the investor said he could understand why Musk would be against remote work at businesses like Tesla and SpaceX.

"I get the idea that you want collaboration between engineers," O'Leary said of Musk's companies. "They're sitting around trying to solve design problems or whatever, but it has nothing to do with the other ten sectors of the economy, which have already made a decision."

Musk has already taken strides to bring his workers into the office. Last year, he told Tesla workers toreturn to the office fulltime or quit. He has also called Twitter's staffback into the office.

While tech workers have spoken out against Musk's comments on remote work, other tech companies have alsotaken similar steps to bring workers back to in-person work.

Do you work in tech or have insight to share? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email at gkay@insider.com

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'Shark Tank' Kevin O'Leary says he prefers remote workers - Business Insider

Silicon Valley "laptop classes" need to get off their "moral high horse" with their "work-from-home bulls***," Tesla CEO Elon Musk told CNBC's David Faber in a Tuesday interview.

Musk was discussing return-to-office imperatives that have caused significant concern among tech workers in Silicon Valley and across the U.S., many of whom were promised generous remote work mandates by top executives.

"I think that the whole notion of work from home is a bit like the fake Marie Antoinette quote, 'Let them eat cake,"" Musk said. "It's not just a productivity thing," Musk said. "I think it's morally wrong."

Musk referred to tech workers as the "laptop classes living in la-la-land," telling Faber it was hypocritical to work from home while expecting service workers to continue to show up in person.

"People should get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bulls***," Musk continued.

As productivity apparently slackened and investor expectations grew, many executives at companies including Amazon and Salesforce have demanded workers begin to return to offices.

Watch the full interview here.

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Elon Musk: Working from home is 'morally wrong' when service workers still have to show up - CNBC

In an aerial view, a modified company sign is posted on the exterior of the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, April 10, 2023.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Elon Musk and X Corp. the Musk-backed parent company of social media platform Twitter face an investigation over building code violations at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Market Street, according to online public records with the county's Department of Building Inspection.

The probe, which was previously reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, follows a lawsuit filed May 16 in Delaware court by six former Twitter employees, who allege Musk's "transition team" knowingly and repeatedly ordered them to break local and federal laws, including by making unsafe modifications to the company's office space.

The lawsuit alleges under Musk's management, X Corp. directed employees to turn rooms in the San Francisco headquarters office into "hotel rooms," while lying to inspectors and their landlord they were just "temporary rest spaces" with some comfortable furniture added and no substantive or structural changes.

The lawsuit says one employee was told to place locks on the unauthorized "hotel room" doors that did not meet a California code which "requires locks that automatically disengage when the building's fire suppression systems are triggered."

The ex-Twitter employee said in the complaint Musk's transition team repeatedly told them "compliant locks were too expensive" and instructed them instead to "immediately install cheaper locks that were not compliant with life safety and egress codes."

The employee quit rather than break that law, their attorneys noted in the lawsuit.

The complaint also alleges Musk-led Twitter failed to pay the employees severance, back pay and benefits they were owed, and discriminated against some senior employees on the basis of age, gender and sexual orientation when it decided to terminate them.

Additionally, the lawsuit said Musk and members of his transition team, namely Boring Company executive Steve Davis, ordered employees involved in the management of real estate to slash costs by $500 million as quickly as they could. In the drive to cut costs, the Musk transition team told employees to simply refuse to pay landlords who were owed rent by the company.

When informed of the risks of termination fees for certain leases, Davis told Twitter senior employees, "Well, we just won't pay those. We just won't pay landlords," adding, "we just won't pay rent," the complaint says.

Meanwhile, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is actively courting Musk to move Twitter headquarters to his jurisdiction. On Friday, he wrote on Twitter, "let's get them to MIA asap."

CNBC reached out to Twitter for further information and the company responded with an automated response that included a poop emoji but no comment.

A representative for the Department of Building Inspection in San Francisco said in an emailed statement that the complaint was opened Friday morning and "no further action has been taken yet."

"We expect to reach out to building management soon," the spokesperson wrote. "We are not speculating on future potential enforcement action."

Read the lawsuit here.

Continued here:

Elon Musk and Twitter face San Francisco city probe over headquarters - CNBC

The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection (DBI) announced on Friday (May 19) it had opened an investigation into allegations by former Twitter employees that CEO Elon Musk broke the law by turning company office space into bedrooms, according to the Associated Press.

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The complaintfiled by six erstwhile Twitter workersaccuses Musk of transformingthe companys headquarters into a so-called Twitter Hotel without the proper permitting.

The allegations stem from the period directly after Musk acquired the social media giant and laid off more than half the company, while encouraging the remaining employees to be extremely hardcore and spend all of their time at the office.

This is not the first time local officials have scrutinized Musks decision to set up de facto bedrooms in a commercial building. Musk responded to earlier inquiries by accusing San Francisco of prioritizing the wrong issues.

So city of SF attacks companies providing beds for tired employees instead of making sure kids are safe from fentanyl, Musk tweeted, linking to a San Francisco Chronicle article about a 10-month-old accidentally overdosing at a public playground.

San Franciscos DBI was not immediately available to confirm the AP report, while the Twitter communications department responded to an email inquiry with a poop emoji.

Ive been at Twitter SF HQ all night. Will be working & sleeping here until org is fixed. Elon Musk, Twitter CEO, in a (since-deleted) tweet last November.

Software: A software supplier used by Twitter is suing the company for missing payments on a $4.4 million contract that runs until 2024.

Private Jets: A chartered flight service is suing Twitter for derelict payments on flights worth $197,725.

Consulting: A group of legal and management consulting firmsincluding Charles River Associates, Yes Consulting, and the Analysis Groupare suing Twitter for late payments worth over $4 million.

Rent: Two office spaces in San Francisco opened lawsuits against Twitter at the start of the year, accusing the company of failing to pay its rent.

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Elon Musk told Twitter employees to sleep in the office, and now San ... - Quartz