8:44 am, June 4, 2022
Tesla needs to cut 10 per cent of its workforce as Elon Musk has a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy and suspends hiring.
An email seen by Reuters and with the subject line ‘pause all hiring worldwide’ was sent from CEO Musk to company executives on Thursday, and triggered a nine per cent fall in shares in the American company.
The email came two days after Musk ordered workers to return to the office for a minimum of 40 hours a week or face leaving Tesla, saying ‘remote work is no longer acceptable’.
In another email seen by the news agency, Musk said Tesla will be cutting its salaried headcount by 10 per cent.
According to Musk, the American giant has become ‘overstaffed in many areas’, but ‘hourly headcount will increase’.
The email added: ‘Note, this does not apply to anyone building cars, battery packs or installing solar.’
Documents show the company employed nearly 100,000 people and its subsidiaries at the end of last year.
The emails come as Musk has warned of the risks of a US recession, while Tesla struggles with high demand for its cars and amid difficulties restarting production in its Shanghai factory after a succession of Covid-19 shutdowns.
Factory workers have effectively been living in quarantine, working six days a week and sleeping on the factory floor.
Production at the Shanghai facility has almost reached around 70 per cent of pre-Covid capacity.
