Cars and Drivers

Tesla Had Some Inadequate Employees, So It Fired Them

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: October 14, 2017 8:05 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 7:11 am

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) has been cited as one of the best places to work in the United States, particularly for employees interested in high tech. However, it is also a place where hundreds of people have been fired for not measuring up to Tesla’s standards, whatever they may be.

Tesla said the dismissals were not layoffs, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The company told the paper: “As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee departures. Tesla is continuing to grow and hire new employees around the world.”

If Tesla management is being earnest, it is just like any other company, with the exception of being famous and on the cutting edge of its industry.

Perhaps other car companies go through a similar process and dismiss hundreds of workers for being substandard just as Tesla does. These layoffs do not get covered by the media, either because they are a tiny fraction of the huge employee bases of the world’s largest manufacturers, or because what goes on at boring companies does not matter.

Tesla has suffered from a great deal of bad news recently. Some of its Model X vehicles were recalled. Production of its Model 3 has been too slow. Shareholders seem to be happy, however. Tesla’s stock is up 63% this year to $355. The company has a market cap of $59 billion, even though it produces a small fraction of the number of cars the much larger industry leaders produce.

But, even if the employees dismissed are also shareholders, that 63% is not much comfort.