Three employee battles at Tesla

As a leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer with a CEO like Elon Musk who is not only vocal on Twitter, but the richest man in the world, Tesla attracts a lot of attention.

While recent years have seen the company successfully come to market and champion risky innovation – the last week saw a host of complaints and issues raised by employees.

Some of these challenges came to a head in June after months of warning. To help you catch up quickly, here are the three main battles that Tesla is facing with its employees.

1. Office attendance tracking

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been vocal since the start of the pandemic about his belief in-office work. Although Musk had to make concessions since his initial optimism that COVID-19 would not impact the US significantly, he has held on to the value of in-office work.

In an email retrieved by Reuters on 6 June, Musk told Tesla employees: “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week.”

He added: “If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned. The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence.”

Concluding on his own experience, Musk stated: “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.”

In what appears to be the next stage of this policy, Tesla has begun tracking the frequency of employee attendance in the office via their keycard and has already started sending email reminders to come in.

One employee posted an automated message they received on the anonymous community app Blind: “You are receiving this email because there is no record of you using your badge to enter a Tesla facility on at least 16 days over the 30-day period ending on 28 June.

“As a reminder, all employees are expected to be back in the office, full-time.”

The email added that an explanation should be sent to an employee’s manager and have HR copied in.

Naturally, in a working world where flexibility has been embraced, a stern move to the office has received criticism with employees feeling their privacy has been infringed.

One person wrote on Blind: “I can’t quite put it into words why it bothers me, it feels like it’s an overstep. It’s controlling. It’s disrespectful.”

Whether Tesla and Musk will soften its office policy remains to be seen, but it may lose staff if it continues on its current trajectory. Then again, this may be the company’s intention given Musk’s attitude towards attrition.

2. Hiring freezes and lay-offs

In early June, Musk tweeted that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and announced a hiring freeze. It turns out that this concern about the economy was warranted as businesses like Meta and Coinbase froze hiring or let go of staff.

The impact of this hiring strategy pivot is now being seen. Tesla laid off an estimated 200 workers from its autopilot division last week. Job offers are also being retracted as the company looks set to reduce its office teams by 10%.

Tesla investors hope that this move will help the company’s profits after China’s continued COVID-19 shutdown impacted the company’s production of vehicles.

However, the messaging is murky as the company is still hiring some candidates. For those concerned about their roles, they want clear communication not fear instigated by 280 characters on social media.

3. More claims of racism

Tesla is no stranger to claims of racism and has been successfully sued because of its actions. Owen Diaz, a former Tesla elevator operator, has rejected a $15 million payout from Tesla for racist abuse in the last week.

The $15 million was radically lower than the $137 million originally agreed in April. Explaining why Diaz rejected the offer, his lawyers wrote that it did not “provide just compensation for the torrent of racist slurs that were directed at him.”

In another twist, a mass action lawsuit, filed in Alameda Superior Court in California, has accused the company of a “pre-Civil Rights’ atmosphere” of racial discrimination.

Business Standard reported that attorney Mike Arias commented on the case: “It’s hard to imagine a workplace culture that these hard-working people had to endure day after day, having to live through racist comments and abusive behavior.

“Hearing story after story of employees being subjected to this level of disgusting and threatening behavior and language is still almost unbelievable.”

Evidently, Tesla will want to make changes and stop further allegations damaging its reputation.

It’s been a busy week for Tesla, and time will tell whether the company can go back to business as usual any time soon.

UNLEASH has reached out to Tesla for comment but has yet to receive a response.

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