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Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

reuters.com

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Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#71

To give a scale, Tesla has more than 30 000 employees [1]. That is just a little above 1%. [1] https://electrek.co/2017/06/01/tesla-elon-musk-employees-har...

It has nothing to do with "scale" but everything to do with Tesla trying to prevent people from organizing and fighting for their rights and interests, 19th century style.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#72

It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation [1] [2] This is not necessarily because working conditions make workers feel that they would prefer the tradeoffs of unionization, but simply because Tesla is much more competitive without its workforce unionized, and so labor groups that are entrenched in legacy car ma…

The idea that unions wanting workers to form unions is somehow underhanded says more about your viewpoint than the rather abstract disclaimer that "So while I strongly support organized labor in abstract, ..." The idea that unions can magically get a level-playing field in any country without support from the state also suggests you are a bit naive about how employers have reacted and still react to unions absent suc…

"The idea that unions can magically get a level-playing field in any country without support from the state also suggests you are a bit naive..."

Didn't essentially every private-sector labor union in U.S. history start without support from the state? (and, arguably, despite the opposition of the state?) Government intervention on union behalf generally doesn't happen until after a union installs a number of its candidates into that level of government.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#73
What’s the general impression of what it’s like to work for Tesla? I’ve always gotten the impression that they work their employees quite hard, and that they can afford to do so since there are a lot of talented people who are intrigued by their specific mission. That sounds similar to what I’ve heard about video game development. I’m sure it’s a crude oversimplification, and my only anecdata is one acquaintance who worked in accounting at Tesla and had worked straight through Christmas two years in a row.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#74

It’s interesing that the company can just decide not to report this as a mass layoff. While the performance reasons for letting someone go may be true, it seems like an easily exploitable loophole. Model 3 production rates were missed by a wide margin, so at least a few people should have known that management would react.

The word “layoff” appears nowhere in this report. The words used are “fired” “dismissals” and “firing”. This is a completely different activity than laying off.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strange that always happens at the bottom of the org chart instead of the top.

Really? I don't agree. Average CXO position lasts 3-5 years... https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2017/31713/the-average... Lots of fat trimmed all around. Kalanick, etc...

How did you conclude this is a result of trimming fat and not just moving on to a better opportunity?

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#77

It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation [1] [2] This is not necessarily because working conditions make workers feel that they would prefer the tradeoffs of unionization, but simply because Tesla is much more competitive without its workforce unionized, and so labor groups that are entrenched in legacy car ma…

> It's important to keep in mind that Tesla (like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Amazon) has been targeted by big labor for infiltration and union formation.

The hell is "big labor"? that's some ridiculous level of conspiracy here. Time to read Marx again(or for the first time for most of the people here). Employers and employees don't necessary have the exact same interests. If Employers can be free to pursue their own interests, so should the employees.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#78
post #58
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Housekeeping" is a funny euphemism for sending hundreds of people into unemployment.

If I line up a random group of 100 people at the average company, I can almost guarantee you that there is at least one who isn't doing his part. As someone who has worked with some of these people (and seen them laid off in rounds of performance-based cuts), I can tell you that some people deserve to be sent to unemployment. Yep, some good people will get hit too, but from my experience a good middle management laye…

In my industry, and having to make the decisions to fire people, our worst 1% not only didn’t pull their own weight, they were a negative contribution. Getting rid of them and not replacing them actually put us ahead.

In most cases the employee wasn’t a bad person, they just weren’t able to satisfactorily do their job and weren’t willing to accept reassignment to a job we felt they could do.

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#79
post #11

> 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. Highly odd for a company that's just starting production of its highest-volume product ever. Is there something about Tesla beyond the hype we should know? If I were an investor, this news would have me quite concerned. You would think they can't hire fast enough.

How so? (genuinely asking) Isn't Tesla focused on using automation to scale?

Re: Tesla fired hundreds of employees in past week

#80
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Trimming fat" is a funny euphemism for sending people into unemployment.

Not all people add value to an organization, and they might stop adding value too. Unfortunately, it's not possible to know this for sure prior to hiring, so the only realistic way to maintain the organization is with constant pruning.

I think this is a bit of a fallacy. You don't have to always be firing some percentage of your workforce. While hiring the best is not easy and you may need to let people go you also shouldn't just constantly be on the hunt for the next head to chop. I have seen the effects of stack ranking and it's not pretty.
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