Chelsea - Bob

[Mitrovic]

BIttersweet Symphony evchels

Anyone with an insight what happened here?

 

[NigelM]

May be connected to the great bricking saga. To be honest though, in all my years in the corporate world I never came across a case of someone being let go for no reason whatsoever. Tesla isn't able to talk about letting someone go and if the person concerned wants to say he doesn't know why he was let go, then too much speculation by us doesn't serve anyone.

 

[domenick]

BIttersweet Symphony evchels

Anyone with an insight what happened here?

Having been fired myself with only a curt, "I'm sorry, but it's not working out" sort of explanation (not from Tesla), this sucks in that it would seem to show a complete lack of respect for a person and their contributions.

Without knowing who made the decision, or why, there isn't a lot that can be said about it other than that really sucks and I hope it's not indicative of how Tesla regards its employees.

 

[DrComputer]

As an employer in California, I know that it is always best to let someone go without a "reason". Since California is a "right to work" state an employer can fire an employee at anytime without reason just as an employee can leave at anytime without reason. Any labor lawyer would agree with Tesla's method.

Now we can all speculate as to why Bob was let go, but I'm sure we will never know the real reason. I have had many conversations with Bob over the years when I have brought my car in for service and at many Tesla events. He is a wealth of knowledge and was always willing to talk about all of the ins and outs of the car and of Tesla Motors... which might have been seen as a negative to corporate.

I will miss seeing him when I bring my car in for its third annual service. Hope he continues to work with EV's as it would be a shame for all of that experience to go to waste.

 

[TEG]

OMG. I figured by now he had weathered all the storms and was more or less a permanent fixture.
All I can think is that he was pegged as a Roadster service expert, and with Roadster sales over perhaps they figure they need new techs for Model S?
I dunno. Sad.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

It's a tough and a not-so-rewarding place to work at, no doubt.

Tesla Motors Reviews | Glassdoor

All the same, burning your bridges with a longtime employee is bad and sad even by Silicon Valley standards.

 

[bonnie]

I think a vast majority of people who take the time to post at Glassdoor are the ones who aren't happy ... I've yet to see a company where all the employees said 'great place to work!'. Take it with a grain of salt.

 

[NigelM]

I think a vast majority of people who take the time to post at Glassdoor are the ones who aren't happy ...

Just for fun I looked up the ratings for 2 companies I really enjoyed working for and they rated 2.6 and 2.7...kinda shocked me for a second then I saw Bonnie's comment which makes sense.

 

[Sousaphil]

Glassdoor is basically digital blackmail. They build a site where employees can come and post their opinions. As Bonnie mentioned, people don't post to those things when they love their jobs, only when they're fired or have some other bone to pick.

Meanwhile, Glassdoor tries to sell "enhanced profiles" to those companies to make sure they maintain a good, positive presence.

 

[vfx]

Bummer. Bob always made bringing our car in a most fruitful experience. Hard to think of Tesla without Bob or even Chelsea for that matter.
I'm sure he will land on his feet since there are so many more electric car makers these days. He probably has a good chunk of stock he got real cheap so that has to be good.

 

[ckessel]

Glassdoor is basically digital blackmail. They build a site where employees can come and post their opinions. As Bonnie mentioned, people don't post to those things when they love their jobs, only when they're fired or have some other bone to pick.

You can, however, get an idea of what problems a place has. It may be a good place, but all places have problems. Pretty much every negative review said the same thing so you can expect those are likely issues (long hours for example). Given Elon's personal workaholic nature, I wouldn't expect Tesla to be a place that puts much value in work/life balance.

 

[bonnie]

In any case, I doubt that long hours or anything else found on Glassdoor is behind what has happened to Bob.

 

[ElSupreme]

As an employer in California, I know that it is always best to let someone go without a "reason". Since California is a "right to work" state an employer can fire an employee at anytime without reason just as an employee can leave at anytime without reason. Any labor lawyer would agree with Tesla's method.

Now we can all speculate as to why Bob was let go, but I'm sure we will never know the real reason. I have had many conversations with Bob over the years when I have brought my car in for service and at many Tesla events. He is a wealth of knowledge and was always willing to talk about all of the ins and outs of the car and of Tesla Motors... which might have been seen as a negative to corporate.

I will miss seeing him when I bring my car in for its third annual service. Hope he continues to work with EV's as it would be a shame for all of that experience to go to waste.

Yeah I got the 'no reason' firing from my first job out of college. I burned through all the work that they had in about 14 months, and they let me go 3 months later. They were expanding their factory, and well the engineering was all done about 6 months ahead of time after I got there.

 

[NigelM]

Just a counter point to Glassdoor.com:

Top Workplaces - Tesla

These companies have been recognized as Top Workplaces based solely on surveys about the workplace completed by their employees.

 

[AnOutsider]

Had to let someone go this morning, and as much as I wanted to sit and discuss, was advised that it wasn't in the company's best interests.

 

[bonnie]

The author of the original bricking story, Michael Degusta, is now claiming that Bob Sexton was his primary source of information: Twitter

Sad on so many levels.

 

[AnOutsider]

The author of the original bricking story, Michael Degusta, is now claiming that Bob Sexton was his primary source of information: Twitter

Sad on so many levels.

If that's the case.... I don't know Bob, and although most seemed to like him, I can't blame Tesla for taking this position/action.

 

[Grendal]

If that's the case.... I don't know Bob, and although most seemed to like him, I can't blame Tesla for taking this position/action.

That would be a very good reason to let someone go.

I can even see that the information could have given for very innocent reasons. Bob was in the customer service field and might have been trying to "help" in a bad situation. He couldn't know that the customer would use the helpful information to strongarm his company. But that is just guesswork on my part. I use it to illustrate how a good person can still commit an offense that deserves termination.

 

[AndrewBissell]

I would be careful giving too much credence to a tweet

 

[dsm363]

Especially from Michael Degusta. Did he even mention that his other key source and the first Roadster in the article is his friend and business partner?