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Well, it didn’t take long for the letter writers to get their wish. They now get to find an employer more suited to their worldview. Good luck with that, and hope it was worth it.


Honestly, you have to be pretty naive to think this was going to go down any other way.
So, no free speech at SpaceX... Except Elon can say what he wants.
 
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So, no free speech at SpaceX... Except Elon can say what he wants.
Didn’t we already have this debate? Free speech always has limits. You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater, etc. Companies are not democracies. They have a mission, and bringing up DEI issues is usually a distraction to that mission. Also, the thing that activists don’t get is that not everyone in the company agrees with them, so such company wide letters are not appreciated by many.

Anyways, Shotwell’s reply:

You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for
your signature on an open letter yesterday and your participation in a related survey. Based
on diverse employee feedback, this has upset many. That is, the letter, solicitations and
general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry
because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views.
Employees also complained that it interfered with their ability to focus on and do their work.
We have 3 launches within 37 hours for critical satellites this weekend, we have to support
the astronauts we delivered to the ISS and get cargo Dragon back to the filght-ready, and
after receiving environmental approval early this week, we are on the cusp of the first orbital
launch attempt of Starship. We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for
this kind of overreaching activism- our current leadership team is more dedicated to
ensuring we have a great and ever-improving work environment than any I have seen in my
35-years career.

We solicit and expect our employees to report all concerns to their leadership, senior
management, HR, or Legal. But blanketing thousands of people across the company with
repeated unsolicited emails and asking them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys
during the work day is unacceptable, goes against our documented handbook policy, and
does not show the strong judgement needed to work in this very challenging space
transportation sector. We performed an investigation and have terminated a number of
employees involved.

I am sorry for this distraction. Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time
at work to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.
 
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Didn’t we already have this debate? Free speech always has limits. You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater, etc. Companies are not democracies. They have a mission, and bringing up DEI issues is usually a distraction to that mission. Also, the thing that activists don’t get is that not everyone in the company agrees with them, so such company wide letters are not appreciated by many.

Anyways, Shotwell’s reply:

You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for
your signature on an open letter yesterday and your participation in a related survey. Based
on diverse employee feedback, this has upset many. That is, the letter, solicitations and
general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry
because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views.
Employees also complained that it interfered with their ability to focus on and do their work.
We have 3 launches within 37 hours for critical satellites this weekend, we have to support
the astronauts we delivered to the ISS and get cargo Dragon back to the filght-ready, and
after receiving environmental approval early this week, we are on the cusp of the first orbital
launch attempt of Starship. We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for
this kind of overreaching activism- our current leadership team is more dedicated to
ensuring we have a great and ever-improving work environment than any I have seen in my
35-years career.

We solicit and expect our employees to report all concerns to their leadership, senior
management, HR, or Legal. But blanketing thousands of people across the company with
repeated unsolicited emails and asking them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys
during the work day is unacceptable, goes against our documented handbook policy, and
does not show the strong judgement needed to work in this very challenging space
transportation sector. We performed an investigation and have terminated a number of
employees involved.

I am sorry for this distraction. Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time
at work to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.
I thought Elon believed in absolute free speech? For him only, I guess..
 
I thought Elon believed in absolute free speech? For him only, I guess..
Again, we already had this debate. He clarified that he meant free speech within the confines of the law. Within a company, it would be free speech within the confines of the employee handbook.

Also, within a company you have even more constraints. If you‘re ranting about X, even after others tell you they’ve heard you and want to move on, and it gets too distracting to actually getting work done, then the company has every right to fire you. Do you really not understand how a company functions? Or are you simply trying to score a cheap, stupid gotcha against Elon?
 
One thing the letter writers got right..Musk is an embarrassment > "the billionaire’s public behavior and tweeting “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment”
including this>Mr. Musk propositioned her for a sexual massage during a flight to London in 2016. The flight attendant said he also exposed himself to her and offered her a horse.
 
Again, we already had this debate. He clarified that he meant free speech within the confines of the law. Within a company, it would be free speech within the confines of the employee handbook.

Also, within a company you have even more constraints. If you‘re ranting about X, even after others tell you they’ve heard you and want to move on, and it gets too distracting to actually getting work done, then the company has every right to fire you. Do you really not understand how a company functions? Or are you simply trying to score a cheap, stupid gotcha against Elon?
I do recall that he did further qualify his statement to mean "absolute free speech within the limits of the law". However, I believe he was referring to actual national and state laws, not an employee handbook.
So now, Elon gets to make the law for everyone else to follow? Can't wait to see Elon's Twitter employee handbook.

I do understand how companies run. Successful companies have healthy discussions. Companies where employees are afraid to express their opinions don't do so well.
 
I do recall that he did further qualify his statement to mean "absolute free speech within the limits of the law". However, I believe he was referring to actual national and state laws, not an employee handbook.
So now, Elon gets to make the law for everyone else to follow? Can't wait to see Elon's Twitter employee handbook.

I do understand how companies run. Successful companies have healthy discussions. Companies where employees are afraid to express their opinions don't do so well.
You can find it online. It contains a standard anti disparagement clause like almost every other corporation in America. I suggest your read your own employee handbook before making the same mistake these fired employees did.
 
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I do recall that he did further qualify his statement to mean "absolute free speech within the limits of the law". However, I believe he was referring to actual national and state laws, not an employee handbook.
So now, Elon gets to make the law for everyone else to follow? Can't wait to see Elon's Twitter employee handbook.

I do understand how companies run. Successful companies have healthy discussions. Companies where employees are afraid to express their opinions don't do so well.
And if you’re predicting SpaceX isn’t going to do so well due to this action … yikes.
 
You can find it online. It contains a standard anti disparagement clause like almost every other corporation in America. I suggest your read your own employee handbook before making the same mistake these fired employees did.
I guess we can discuss whether this constitutes "disparagement"...

"SpaceX must swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon's personal brand," "hold all leadership equally accountable to making SpaceX a great place to work for everyone" and "define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior".

"He often doesn't realize how something he says could affect others," one SpaceX employee said of Musk. "The letter is a collective 'Hey! We're getting some heat for things that are unrelated to us.'"

Many SpaceX employees are frustrated by Musk's controversies, the SpaceX employee said, yet "remain as focused as ever and excited for the future."
 
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Well, it didn’t take long for the letter writers to get their wish. They now get to find an employer more suited to their worldview. Good luck with that, and hope it was worth it.


Honestly, you have to be pretty naive to think this was going to go down any other way.
They walked right into his trap. Elon said he wanted to layoff 10% of his workforce. I've recently lost mucho respect for Elon as a person while maintaining my admiration for him as an inventor.
 
Again, we already had this debate. He clarified that he meant free speech within the confines of the law. Within a company, it would be free speech within the confines of the employee handbook.

Also, within a company you have even more constraints. If you‘re ranting about X, even after others tell you they’ve heard you and want to move on, and it gets too distracting to actually getting work done, then the company has every right to fire you. Do you really not understand how a company functions? Or are you simply trying to score a cheap, stupid gotcha against Elon?

They're within their rights to fire them but when the CEO is on a crusade for free speech you've got to admit a move like this looks deeply hypocritical.
 
This seems ridiculous, I'm guessing Elon has never sold any Doge which would make it a poor pump and dump
 
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Again, we already had this debate. He clarified that he meant free speech within the confines of the law. Within a company, it would be free speech within the confines of the employee handbook.

Also, within a company you have even more constraints. If you‘re ranting about X, even after others tell you they’ve heard you and want to move on, and it gets too distracting to actually getting work done, then the company has every right to fire you. Do you really not understand how a company functions? Or are you simply trying to score a cheap, stupid gotcha against Elon?

Here is where I find his actions hypocritical. Any online forum except one owned by the government can restrict speech any way it wants. This forum restricts certain topics.

He is trying to buy Twitter and throwing open the doors to anything anybody wants to say, but he is firing his employees who criticized him. It is the legal right to restrict the free expression of employees in the work place, but he is on record as an "absolutist" about free speech.

The letter was distributed on SpaceX's internal network, so it was using company resources.

I have worked at some large companies and I have heard employees criticize upper management at work on many occasions. None of them got disciplined in any way, though technically they may have been violating company policy. Few people in the world knew who was top management at most of these companies, the only exception was when I did a short stint at Microsoft.

Claiming to be a free speech absolutist, then firing people who say negative things about you is hypocrisy, especially when you are trying to buy a social media company and are promising to throw the place open to anyone saying whatever they want. Will he fire Twitter employees who criticize him on Twitter?
 
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