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Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

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Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#131

Post by ams6110 »

MPSimmons wrote: post #114
gowld wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layoff > "Mass layoff" is defined by the United States Department of Labor as 50 or more workers laid off from the same company around the same time.

Is there a difference in this case between "laid off" and "fired"?

"Fired" generally means terminated for cause, though not exclusively so. "Laid off" implies a general workforce reduction, and maybe some severance payment, job placement help, etc.

Either way you're out of a job, so in that sense there's not much difference.

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#132

Post by matt_wulfeck »

vonmoltke wrote: post #121
matt_wulfeck wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m surprised. At the rate PV has been falling these subsidies are probably negligible (federal rebate withstanding). I purchased PV because the cost with a 20-year loan comes out to be 13c kWh, meanwhile PG&E charges 29c kWh. And the loan interest is tax-deductible.

That rate is much higher than I paid in Texas or pay in New Jersey. In fact, I can buy wind power from Green Mountain for less than your solar install cost.

Totally agree, it makes sense in many parts of the country because of a combination of incumbent electricity costs as well as high number of sunny days.

Just a few miles away in Santa Clara it would make no sense at all, since they have their own utility where power costs just 10c kWh.

There is something nice knowing your electricity costs are relatively fixed for 20 years though, since the price tends to follow the rate of inflation and the loan is fixed.

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#133

Post by jdavis703 »

eighthnate wrote: post #123
11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #36

1,200 of 33,000 employees amounts to 3.6% of the work force. This level of action, 1 in 25 employees, gives managers an opportunity to release employees that looked good in the interview but did not meet expectations. Whether Tesla conducted this in a proper manner is open to debate and perhaps details will emerge if/when any former employees pursue Tesla in court. But any company needs to address the inevitable hiri…

> 1,200 of 33,000 employees amounts to 3.6% of the work force. This level of action, 1 in 25 employees, gives managers an opportunity to release employees that looked good in the interview but did not meet expectations. That level of "firing" is rather suspect for an "new" company that is supposed to be growing. > But any company needs to address the inevitable hiring mistakes and I don't see evidence that Tesla is d…

It's so easy to hire bad apples. I've been through three rounds of layoffs at two separate companies: each time most of the people who were let go were poor performers, they either were bad salespeople or bad coders. The other ones were just lazy, working only 9-5, and taking frequent time off for silly reasons like "my rabbit is sick." As long as you're cutting less than 10% of staff you're cutting fat, not muscle (though you might hit a small amount of muscle by accident).

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#134

Post by aplusbi »

Spooky23 wrote: post #79
frgtpsswrdlame wrote: post #2

Sources said that HR department representatives told staff in one office they were being let go due to problematic "conduct with peers." When questioned, an ex-employee said, HR declined to specify any details about the alleged poor conduct, which had never been previously discussed. Is this pre-empting a union push?

For cause terminated employees don’t get unemployment. My guess is that since Musk companies don’t feel constrained by rules, they figure they’ll save money in UI taxes by forcing workers to adjudicate their UI benefits. They get the benefit of cooking their balance sheet as an additional benefit.

>For cause terminated employees don’t get unemployment.

For the most part this isn't true - only intentional misconduct is grounds for not receiving unemployment.

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#135

Post by Posibyte »

jdavis703 wrote: post #133
eighthnate wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1,200 of 33,000 employees amounts to 3.6% of the work force. This level of action, 1 in 25 employees, gives managers an opportunity to release employees that looked good in the interview but did not meet expectations. That level of "firing" is rather suspect for an "new" company that is supposed to be growing. > But any company needs to address the inevitable hiring mistakes and I don't see evidence that Tesla is d…

It's so easy to hire bad apples. I've been through three rounds of layoffs at two separate companies: each time most of the people who were let go were poor performers, they either were bad salespeople or bad coders. The other ones were just lazy, working only 9-5, and taking frequent time off for silly reasons like "my rabbit is sick." As long as you're cutting less than 10% of staff you're cutting fat, not muscle (…

> The other ones were just lazy, working only 9-5

I completely understand the latter issue about taking off randomly for wild reasons, but why is working agreed-upon hours a bad thing?

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#136

Post by rgbrenner »

Ryudas wrote: post #127
rgbrenner wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Odd that he didn't have an objection to it when Tesla was benefiting from it.. but once Tesla 3 sales crossed that 200k threshold, and set the end date on the subsidy for Tesla... then Musk comes out and says 'We MUST end this subsidy for everyone immediately'. Real principled stance there.

Let me just state that Elon musk has , in fact mentioned going zero on subsidies before the 200k , namely, qhen bob lutz was critizizing the subsidies and loans tesla got, he offered a competition where everybod would go to zero subsidies.

You mean the comments Lutz made in Oct 2016?

There were 325k model 3 preorders in April 2016.

Tesla has been in business since 2003. Show me a comment from 10 years ago of musk complaining about subsidies.

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#137

Post by dragonwriter »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #94
dragonwriter wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, in the case of Musk's enterprises, where there is this larger goal that is finally seeming to become possible, I am torn. I feel that anyone that works at these places should know and be a zealot for the Cause... While critics often mock the “cult” of Musk, his defenders usually deny the characterization. You rarely see such an explicit acknowledgment and endorsement of it. The honesty is refreshing, I gue…

'Cult of Musk' suggests it is about Musk, and not about the cause (of going to Mars). I think we can all agree that some types of work are dangerous and poorly paid, but people choose to do it because they believe in a cause. For example, relief work in war-zones. I just tend to think of Space-X as a geeky way of doing that.

> 'Cult of Musk' suggests it is about Musk, and not about the cause (of going to Mars).

Cults are usually devoted to a cause external to the cult leader, in the service of which the leader is seen as a uniquely visionary or inspired leader.

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#138

Post by StudentStuff »

Posibyte wrote: post #135
jdavis703 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so easy to hire bad apples. I've been through three rounds of layoffs at two separate companies: each time most of the people who were let go were poor performers, they either were bad salespeople or bad coders. The other ones were just lazy, working only 9-5, and taking frequent time off for silly reasons like "my rabbit is sick." As long as you're cutting less than 10% of staff you're cutting fat, not muscle (…

> The other ones were just lazy, working only 9-5 I completely understand the latter issue about taking off randomly for wild reasons, but why is working agreed-upon hours a bad thing?

Because the code-slaves should work harder and give at least 80hrs a week!

No, but seriously, if a job is asking more than 9 to 5, they're asking you to put out sub-standard work while stealing your time needlessly.

So many people here forget 12 hours pay for an 8 hour day was a rallying cry for organized labor at one point, and that all these terrible labor practices that seem common at smaller tech firms (and Tesla) are very bad and create bugs, sickly workers and hurt everyone involved. Not that management is smart enough to realize that!

Re: Tesla's mass firings spread to SolarCity

#139

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

GuB-42 wrote: post #99
montyboy_us wrote: post #21

SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity: ponzi schemes that have a little tech behind them and pull on our heartstrings.

Hyperloop could conceivably be a scam, but SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity are much too real to be ponzi schemes. A Ponzi scheme is essentially a investment that promises you a too good to be true return (ex:10% per month). It is actually paid by late investors, unless you "reinvest" it. It is typically backed by promises : shares of a company that doesn't produce anything yet, land that will supposedly become extremely…

Hyperloop is a Glomaresque front for digging tunnels of unknown purpose. The fact that the second site is in Maryland should raise eyebrows.
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