Elon Musk Shares Some Details On Tesla Staffing Cuts
Photo: Angela Weiss (Getty Images)
Earlier this month, we reported on the email Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent saying the company needed to cut 10 percent of its workforce after he had a “super bad feeling” that the economy was heading for a recession. If you thought that was just another dumb whim from the world’s richest man, you’d be wrong.
While Musk was speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, an event organized by Bloomberg, the CEO gave a much more detailed plan at the possible future staff cuts at Tesla. According to Reuters, he said cuts would only apply to salaried workers, meaning a 3.5 percent reduction in total headcount. He called the change “not super material.” I cannot imagine the 3.5 percent of workers being let go would love that phrasing.
He also said the company expects to increase the number of workers paid by the hour rather than with fixed salaries.
When Musk sent the 10 percent email to executives in early June, he also said the company must “pause all hiring worldwide.” According to SEC filings, Tesla and its subsidiaries have around 100,000 employees.
Despite the supposed hiring freeze, there are still over 3,000 jobs listed on Tesla’s LinkedIn page. That being said, it doesn’t look like any new jobs have been added since Musk’s email.
As a fun little added bonus, Musk also said he was still sticking with digital currency despite the fact most crypto currencies have cratered in recent weeks. He even said he will personally support Dogecoin, which is down 62 percent on the year. Even Bitcoin, the standard bearer for crypto, has fallen over 54 percent this year. Maybe Musk knows something we don’t know. I mean, he doesn’t, but maybe.
