On the morning of June 7, Beijing time, it was reported that Elon Musk said that Tesla may carry out large-scale layoffs, and it is expected that 10% of its employees will lose their jobs** At the same time, some employees may have set their sights on the road of voluntary resignation.
This is the intention of Tesla CEO to express his intention in a letter to employees, which is rooted in his "super bad premonition" about the future economy of the United States.
Earlier last week, musk also issued an ultimatum to Tesla employees: Tesla will no longer accept telecommuting. All employees must return to the office immediately and work in the office for at least 40 hours a week. After receiving this email, some employees may have started to consider their own choices. As a leader in the field of electric vehicles, Tesla employs nearly 100000 employees.
In this email sent to employees last Tuesday evening, musk said that anyone who could not work in the office for at least 40 hours a week would be fired, and this move is in sharp contrast to the flexibility provided by other large technology companies competing for the same talent pool.
Based on the sharp decline of Tesla's share price this year (partly due to Musk's comments on twitter And his open alliance with the Republican Party, this order to return to the office, combined with the above two factors, is a toxic mixture for some employees.
Nicholasbloom, an economics professor at Stanford University, said: "Tesla is starting their own wave of local resignations." He predicts that 60% of employees will return to the office to work full-time, about 10% will resign, and about 30% will start looking for other job opportunities.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some technology companies saw the opportunity, so they all acted quickly.
Scott Farquhar, the co-founder of atlassian, Australia's third richest person and software manufacturer, talked on twitter about plans to expand and provide flexible work. He even directly added: "are any Tesla employees interested in our position?"
After the COVID-19, more and more workers in the science and technology industry have been accustomed to working from home or mixed office policies. They are not like returning to the office to work full-time.
A former Tesla engineer told the media that he recently worked in Google The parent company alphabet found a job because of the lack of balance between his work and life during his tenure at Tesla, including the pressure of being asked to enter the office during the pandemic. He said that at Google, he only needs to come to the office three days a week, and some of his team members are working remotely.
He also said that his friends also work at home. "Productivity has not decreased, and they have obviously become happier.".
Another former Tesla engineer disclosed that he worked in the office under pressure during the 2020 pandemic and was infected with novel coronavirus twice. Under the heavy pressure, he chose to leave Tesla and joined Apple。
Stock compensation
It seems that the threat of layoffs and rework orders come at a wrong time, because Tesla engineers are watching their stock returns decline. Tesla is facing the same problems as other companies, such as China's epidemic prevention and control measures.
But investors also worry that although musk argues that he spends relatively little time on the twitter acquisition, his pursuit of twitter worth $44billion will inevitably distract him.
Tesla's share price fell 9% on Friday after the media announced his layoff plan. Twitter also said that Musk's acquisition has passed the U.S. antitrust review. Since musk announced its intention to acquire in early April, the company's share price has fallen by about 30%, about NASDAQ Twice the decline of the index.
Michael Solomon, the founder of 10x ascend, a salary negotiation consulting service, said: "if this situation continues, they will definitely encounter the problem of not being able to retain employees. Two things have happened. Musk said some controversial words, which did not attract everyone. Their share price has also been greatly hit."
Tesla disclosed in the securities regulatory documents submitted this year that, compared with peers, stock options account for a larger proportion of Tesla's executive compensation. When the stock price stops rising, this part of the salary may be worthless.
According to the statements of former and current Tesla employees, as well as the data provided to the media by the recruitment websites blind and Glassdoor, Tesla employees also receive annual bonuses in the form of shares, and generally, the cash salary level of the company's employees is lower than that of their peers in other large technology companies.
Tatiana Becker runs a recruitment company called Niah, which serves start-ups. She recently conducted an e-mail marketing campaign to Tesla employees and received 14% of the responses, while the normal maximum response rate was 10%.
To be sure, with the help of Musk's rough personality, he successfully established the Tesla brand, expanded it without marketing, and made many employees have a sense of mission related to this person and his climate goals.
A former Tesla engineer said that long hours and unreasonable working conditions are normal for some people. He said: "this is our way of thinking."
While other technology companies are laying off staff, or slowing down or suspending recruitment in the case of weak demand, which may inhibit the willingness of some Tesla employees to change jobs.
But Musk's recent embrace of a new partisan political identity in the United States may upset some employees, especially liberal tech workers in Silicon Valley.
Jason stomel, founder of cadre, a technology talent agency, said: "he is a very divided person. For others, you either love this person or hate this person. Some people are his fans and they will work in his company regardless of status. Others will say, 'I don't agree with the way he runs the business.'"
The billionaire used his huge twitter fans to attack Democratic lawmakers in the United States, and used his bidding on the twitter platform to advocate freedom of speech in the country, including promising to restore the accounts of former US President donaldtrump. He also said he would vote for Republicans in the United States. Recruiter Solomon said: "some people will feel very disgusted with Musk's support for the U.S. Republican Party. In terms of their own employment, these people have many choices."
Many Tesla employees will wait for the stock to rebound. A former Tesla manager said that he described the stock reward as "golden handcuffs" that made employees afraid to leave. But he also said: "but if they think Tesla's share price will continue to decline, they are more likely to leave: because the previous considerable bonus income has shrunk."