After Tesla CEO Elon Musk instructed remote workers to return to work or otherwise lose their jobs, the company was reportedly ill-prepared to welcome its employees back. According to a report by The informationemployees arrived at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility only to find a lack of parking, no desk to sit at, and crappy WiFi (where’s Starlink when you need it?).
Musk clearly hasn’t thought about this.
Tesla’s workforce has doubled since 2019, The information notes, which now sit at 99,210 people. Earlier this month, Musk cited redundant hiring and a “bad feeling” about the economy as reasons for a layoff and companywide layoffs that reportedly include both salaried and hourly employees.
Paid employees make up about a third of the company’s employees, although it’s unclear how many of them work in Tesla’s offices or factories. During the pandemic, most of the workers reporting on Tesla’s Fremont campus, which consists of office buildings and a factory, stayed at home — at least until Musk called everyone back to work.
Current Tesla employees told The information that those driving to work at the Fremont factory struggled to find a parking space. Some have reportedly opted to park their cars at the nearby BART station instead and then be taken to work by Tesla.
Inside the office, The information reports that some workers didn’t even have a seat. The company has reportedly decided to repurpose certain areas of the office during the pandemic and also failed to consider a larger team. According to The information, the desk situation was so bad that managers told some employees to work from home after all. Even as employees could sit down, the wifi signal was too weak to work.
Musk’s plan to get workers back to work was partially foiled – by himself. But Musk is a busy man. He also runs SpaceX and it seems to be going well (if that means potentially illegally firing employees who criticize your behavior). Musk is also either buying Twitter or at least bickering with the company about how many of its users are bots. He’s also expressed his feelings about remote work on Twitter, which he only allows for those who do “excellent” work. Twitter employees, brace yourself.
