Leaders and Managers: Flashy Tesla at Work?

[Jack Tripper]

What's the reaction to driving your Tesla to work? If you're the CEO or sole proprietor then it's not an issue. But if you're an employee and report to others, wouldn't driving a Tesla to work risk sending the wrong kind of message? If you're a leader at your organization how would you feel with your employee driving the most expensive car in the employee lot? What about if you're a client seeing your agent/vendor/partner roll up in a Tesla? Not sure if it makes any difference but my S is red with Arachnids and kind of looks like sex on wheels.

 

[IchDochNicht]

I don't manage any people, but have a Model S. I think that providing value to the company entitles you to do what you want with the money they pay you (and what you make from other income streams). Not that it is any of their business anyway.

Besides... the cost of ownership for a Tesla is pretty low. That could be an excuse, if anyone complains.

 

[mbhforum]

There are other threads about this as well. Many including myself have heard snarky and envious remarks. There’s also been a lot of curiosity as well. Being a manager and the new guy a couple of years ago and coming into a place where guys have been there 10-15 years, I tried to downplay it a little saying it was a CPO.

 

[Ofarlig]

Who cares what other people think? Get the car you want and don't worry about others. If they prioritise other things in life that's their choice.

 

[sidmini]

Your money who gives a crap about anyone else.

 

[demundus]

What's the reaction to driving your Tesla to work? If you're the CEO or sole proprietor then it's not an issue. But if you're an employee and report to others, wouldn't driving a Tesla to work risk sending the wrong kind of message? If you're a leader at your organization how would you feel with your employee driving the most expensive car in the employee lot? What about if you're a client seeing your agent/vendor/partner roll up in a Tesla? Not sure if it makes any difference but my S is red with Arachnids and kind of looks like sex on wheels.

My managing director had the same tesla i had... in a building ranging from minimum wage phone staff to 5MM stock option holders. I was 4 levels away from him and he was 1 away from the CEO.

All it meant was I got to talk to him about Teslas and give people fun rides to lunch.

 

[.jg.]

I sell my services as a consultant and am not an employee of the organisations that I work for. This means I don't receive any employee benefits, like sick pay, paid holidays and (in theory) I have considerably less job security - but the remuneration for my services is about twice the salary of an equivalent employee. This in itself often generates resentment but with my current client, the response to my Tesla has been overwhelmingly positive. Several colleagues have applauded "going electric" and/or are interested in the technology, my day to day driving experience, performance, etc.

 

[whitex]

What's the reaction to driving your Tesla to work? If you're the CEO or sole proprietor then it's not an issue. But if you're an employee and report to others, wouldn't driving a Tesla to work risk sending the wrong kind of message? If you're a leader at your organization how would you feel with your employee driving the most expensive car in the employee lot? What about if you're a client seeing your agent/vendor/partner roll up in a Tesla? Not sure if it makes any difference but my S is red with Arachnids and kind of looks like sex on wheels.

Either you're way over-analyzing it or work for some really pretentious and superficial boss. I have to tell you, in over 2 decades, I never knew or cared to find out what any of my bosses drove. If on the other hand you are going around talking everyone's ear off how you got a Tesla, or park in across multiple spots just to get noticed, then I could see people getting annoyed. Otherwise, sleep well and don't think about it, most people really don't care.

 

[bmah]

I work in a pretty tight knit group of geeks. No problems at all with my Tesla. I’ve given a few rides and answered a ton of questions. There are some other (non Tesla) EV owners in my group as well and we occasionally swap notes and stories.

Like @whitex said, if you don’t make a big deal about it, most reasonable people won’t either.

Enjoy!

Bruce.

 

[sauce]

@OP, this is something I gave serious thought to before buying mine as I worried if I went that high profile some a-hole up the food chain could have thought I or my colleagues now seemed to have reached an interesting standard of living and setting us up for the next round of "economies of scale". I even discussed this with my immediate superior. When my boss made the presentation to his director in order to authorize a change in my travel expense plan to replace gas expense, that director who we had identified as the tough hurdle immediately said, "Great idea! I'll go present this to CFO right away" leaving us pretty stunned.

Turns out that director drove in 6 months later with a Model S of his own.

That kind of validated my choice then and there.

 

[SSedan]

I am nobodies manager, and relatively new at my place of employments with just 5 years in but have gotten a few promotions from being blue collar on the floor to a low level engineer job writing the programming for the machine I used to run. A fun car is the one thing I "waste" money on, and up till 3 years ago I bought fairly cheap cars and modified them to be fun.
Last year I bought a 65K mile 2014 P85, I do tell co-workers I bought it used for probably under half price. Really though only one guy has repeatedly made comments and it is just his nature.

Lots of positive interest in the car, and skepticism as to practicality and I find HONESTY is the best way to win the skeptics over, admit the heat and AC soak up range, admit that in my case service is a hassle since there are no service centers in WI.

Those who know me though know I don't waste money on alcohol or cigarettes, or travel trailer, or 4-wheeler, or cabin up north, or motorcycle, or Packer's tickets and honestly I only paid for this what everyone else paid for their new crewcab truck but I didn't lose $10k the second I left the lot because I bought used.

Years ago I had a co-worker who drank and smoked a LOT give me grief for what I spent modifying a vehicle, I said I spend less on that than he does in the bars drinking and smoking. Never heard another word about it from him on the subject and I think we worked together another 6 years or so.

 

[Buster1]

A close friend of mine is the prez and CEO of a small insurance firm. He built the business from scratch and employs 30-40 people. He has a really nice car and a couple collector cars from the 60s and 70s.

Drives none of them to work.

It’s for the same reasons mentioned above and by the OP too... it can give the wrong impression to lower workers, and undermine trust in a small company.

 

[gsteele]

Another sign that working in Silicon Valley is like no other place on earth: There are now probably between 20 and 40 Teslas in the lot at work on a daily basis. Most are Model S, but there are a few Xs, and the number of 3s has really started growing now.

 

[PeterHG]

At least in my experience, not as "bad" as driving a BMW 5 series or other high-end ICE. With the BMW, I just had the occasional "stigma" of dropping a lot on my car. With the Tesla, the cool/save-the-world aspect mitigates the money issues. Some people still think of you as the rich guy, but now you're the rich guy with a conscience--and virtually everybody thinks--that's cool!

 

[Max*]

I hid my car at my last job pretty well, no one saw it. Here within a few weeks, it was seen. Lots of questions, some jabs, nothing too bad. For some reason people... care. All they hear is the Tesla is a 100k car. After a few "well mine ins't that expensive" and "I drive a lot, so the gas savings help" people started to mellow out.

The people I manage didn't care, I mostly got jabs from people at my level. People above me didn't care either.

Everyone spends their money in different ways. Some people have big houses, live in the city center, have nice cars, etc. (I guess some people can have it all too...).

 

[mburnet6]

Those who know me though know I don't waste money on alcohol or cigarettes, or travel trailer, or 4-wheeler, or cabin up north, or motorcycle, or Packer's tickets and honestly I only paid for this what everyone else paid for their new crewcab truck but I didn't lose $10k the second I left the lot because I bought used..

This is exactly my position... My wife and I don't have kids, we don't travel all over the country/world, and we have an affordable home so we were able to splurge on the S.

 

[Alf415]

Who cares what other people think? Get the car you want and don't worry about others. If they prioritise other things in life that's their choice.

This!

 

[Alf415]

To expand on this further I have completely embraced all the sneers and small penis jokes that have come my way. I've convinced two of my coworkers to buy Tesla's and we park right next to each other. Next were going to erect a sign- TDC parking only. TDC = Tesla Douche Club

 

[hmmm]

To expand on this further I have completely embraced all the sneers and small penis jokes that have come my way. I've convinced two of my coworkers to buy Tesla's and we park right next to each other. Next were going to erect a sign- TDC parking only. TDC = Tesla Douche Club

Yes, I don't think it's about the car, it's about the owner. I have seen a-holes in Chevy Novas just like I have seen Tesla jerks. Ignore what people say and be nice to others and all will go well.

Re. small penis jokes, I once saw a Mini (the first gen, very small) and the plate was "compns8"...

 

[SSedan]

This is exactly my position... My wife and I don't have kids, we don't travel all over the country/world, and we have an affordable home so we were able to splurge on the S.

We do have kids but started a bit late, we live in a house we can afford and have resisted the temptation to buy newer. Another thing that helps is starting to save in my 401k when I was first eligible 20 years ago, starting early means not playing catch up as I get into middleage which helps with disposable income.