Hundreds of Dismissals this week

[JonathanD]

My unfounded speculation:

Based upon some of the comments that the terminations were focused on Model S/X and Solar City, I'm thinking a couple things:

Solar City: there probably are some legit layoffs here as a result of the merger. I could see some other changes as they try to combine company cultures as well.

Model S/X: Despite their best anti-selling efforts on Model 3, I'm thinking the demand pull away from S & X has begun. When you can buy a car with most of the same benefits for half the price or less, it's only natural for that to happen, even with the Model 3 production backlog. I'm wondering if some of these are preemptive dismissals based upon the expected plateau or even moderation in pace of Model S/X sales.

 

[hacer]

Maybe Tesla is putting the hammer to workers that promise to calll customers back but never do. It is the most common complaint on these boards as near as I can tell.

 

[Tam]

Maybe Tesla is putting the hammer to workers that promise to calll customers back but never do. It is the most common complaint on these boards as near as I can tell.

My impression is the staff needs help with the work load so they needs more workers, not less.

 

[J1mbo]

Maybe they have adopted a "vitality curve". Worked well for G.E. back in the day, MS used to do sonething similar IIRC.

 

[Tam]

...Worked well for G.E. back in the day...

Tesla believes by terminating workers in waves each time they are due for an employee evaluation, these mass firings, in its words: "have generally boosted worker morale, as high-performing employees have been rewarded."

 

[TaoJones]

My impression is the staff needs help with the work load so they needs more workers, not less.

The beatings shall continue until morale improves!

 

[comanchepilot]

. . . seems like dead weight who are not helping the Model 3 rollout -

or perhaps just malcontents who want Tesla run like a business instead of a fan boy club


Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week | One America News Network

 

[Shock-On-T]

Do you think keeping underperforming employees is a good way to fix the production ramp? That’s rhetorical.

Sorry to answer a rhetorical question, but that would depend on who performs better in the short term: underperforming but experienced employees or (hopefully) high performing but inexperienced employees.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

The company said this week’s dismissals were the result of a company-wide annual review, and insisted they were not layoffs. Some workers received promotions and bonuses, and the company expects to hire for the “vast majority” of new vacancies, a spokesman said.

In addition to there being other threads on this, there's a VAST difference between getting fired for cause and being "laid off" as the OP claims. Tesla is NOT doing "layoffs" here, which would be real trouble. Letting go workers who are not doing a good job (ref: "after company-wide performance reviews" in the headline) is another thing entirely.

 

[Tam]

..not doing a good job...

Reuters says:

"Though Tesla cited performance as the reason for the firings, the source told Reuters he was fired in spite of never having been given a bad review."

 

[Electroman]

Every company fires employees for non performance at various stages during their growth. We never hear about them in press unless it is mass 'layoffs'.

This excessive scrutiny for Tesla is unnecessary

 

[jeffro01]

Hopefully it's a union purge... I know that's illegal but it's what you can prove that counts... Unions will destroy Tesla if given the opportunity.

Jeff

 

[Tam]

...This excessive scrutiny for Tesla is unnecessary...

Tesla's attracted attention due to its large number of firings in such a short period.

Any massive reduction of workers in a week can be disruptive.

I think other companies would fire underperformed workers gradually throughout the year.

Workers don't under-perform all so synchronized perfectly at the same time (as if they all wait until this very week to be bad), so to wait to fire them as a massive number in a week would no doubt attract news.

 

[geneclean55]

Tesla's attracted attention due to its large number of firings in such a short period.

Any massive reduction of workers in a week can be disruptive.

I think other companies would fire underperformed workers gradually throughout the year.

Workers don't under-perform all so synchronized perfectly at the same time (as if they all wait until this very week to be bad), so to wait to fire them as a massive number in a week would no doubt attract news.

California is under at will-employment law. Can fire with no notice.
For worker morale would it be better for under-performing staff to all go at once while higher-achievers receive bonuses versus the alternative of members of your section being let go slowly over a few weeks/months and the high-performers wondering who is next?

 

[Tam]

...Hopefully it's a union purge...

That's a possibility!

"Tesla has faced ongoing discontent from some factory workers, who have complained about work conditions and wages below the auto industry average." workers discontentment in the news.

If so, the housecleaning needs to be massive to make an example to the rest who might want to re-think about complaining without consequences!

 

[Tam]

California is under at will-employment law. Can fire with no notice...

No doubt.

The issue here is should the firing be done in such a way to attract attention or not?

Some companies know how to do it without disruption and attention.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Tesla's attracted attention due to its large number of firings in such a short period.

Any massive reduction of workers in a week can be disruptive.

I think other companies would fire underperformed workers gradually throughout the year.

Workers don't under-perform all so synchronized perfectly at the same time (as if they all wait until this very week to be bad), so to wait to fire them as a massive number in a week would no doubt attract news.

Didn't they say they just did a performance review? So it makes sense to why a whole bunch were fired if the firings are based on that performance review.

 

[McRat]

With slower than expected production on the M3 line, they needed a purge.
You should never pay people to sit on their hands, and terminations before the holidays are the best time financially.
We might see another purge in November.

 

[Tiger]

Or maybe they have upped the automation levels of S and X to resolve quality issues.

 

[Electroman]

if IBM laid off 1000 workers, it wont be news on page 10.