Tesla Continues To Fire Employees

Tesla’s current and former employees say that the company is trying to mask the massive layoffs they did by spreading news that the firings were performance related.

The first report regarding Tesla’s dismissal of an estimated 400 to 700 employees, which represents 1 to 2 percent of its entire workforce, came out Friday.

A former employee of Tesla cited information given by a manager in the company and said that by this point, the number of employees fired by the company has reached more than 700.

According to people familiar with the matter, the people let go by the company so far came from the motors business. Other company initiatives such as the Tesla Powerwall, an initiative that is currently helping restore electricity to the residents of Puerto Rico.

Some of those terminated received severance packages immediately while others are still waiting on their separation agreements. An article revealed that some terminated employees simply received an email or phone call “without warning” and was told to no longer report for work the next day. Also according to these employees, no specific performance issue was given when they were dismissed.

"Seems like performance has nothing to do with it," a Tesla former employee stated, under the condition that they stay anonymous. "Those terminated were generally the highest paid in their position," the person also suggested that the firing was a result of cost-cutting, which was supported by other employees, including three employees who were fired on the recent wave.

The company refused to give any statement and instead reiterated to their previous statement, that the recent firings were due to a performance evaluation conducted by the company.

Tesla and China

China has been known to phase out cars that still run with internal combustion engines and replacing them with cars that are powered by electrical motors.

The nation has begun an aggressive campaign to install fast charging equipment throughout their country, and Tesla’s own Supercharger network is not compatible with the Chinese standard.

The Chinese automobile marketplace, which is perhaps the largest in the world, has been Tesla’s target market and has the full intention of joining it. The problem with this is that the Supercharger network connector used by Tesla is incompatible with the Chinese fast charger network.

In order to solve this, Tesla made modifications on their Model S and Model X cars that are being sold in China, removing the normal charging port that Tesla installed into the left tail lights of the cars and replacing it with ports for a Supercharger or a standard Chinese GB/T DC fast charger.

Existing Tesla customers would not have to worry about costs since they will be given the necessary charging adapters for free.

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