Tesla Announces 10% Layoff of All Employees on Sunday
Some Employees' ID Cards Malfunction on Monday
Employees Sent Home After Learning of Layoffs Post Malfunction
Some Waited 2 Hours at Nevada Factory
American electric vehicle company Tesla announced the layoff of 10% of its entire workforce on a Sunday. The next day, Monday, some employees who came to work as usual found that their employee badges did not work at the company entrance. It was not a malfunction; the badges had become invalid because they were laid off.
On the 17th, U.S. Business Insider reported, citing five current and former employees, that "Tesla said it would lay off more than 10% of its workforce, but some workers did not realize they had been laid off until they arrived at the company." One source said, "At Tesla's factory in Sparks, Nevada, employees had to line up for about two hours on Monday morning to enter the factory due to badge checks."
One employee said, "The security team at the factory was scanning the badges of workers coming off the shuttle running between the factory and the nearby parking lot," adding, "Usually, guards check workers' badges on site but do not scan them directly." Laid-off workers were reportedly put on separate vans and sent home.
Tesla's layoffs are said to have impacted other facilities as well. Former Tesla employees reported, "At the (California) Fremont factory, employees were told by security personnel that if their badges did not work, it meant they had been laid off." Laid-off Tesla employees were notified via personal email on Sunday night (local time, the 15th), and their access to Tesla systems was revoked.
An employee who received the layoff notification email was told, "After thorough review, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce globally," and "As a result, unfortunately, your position has been eliminated due to this restructuring. You will receive information regarding your separation within 48 hours." As of the end of last year, Tesla's total number of employees was 140,473, about twice as many as three years ago. U.S. media expect the number of layoffs this time to be around 14,000, which is 10% of the total workforce.
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