this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Ex-Tesla employee reveals shocking details on worker conditions: 'You get fired on the spot.'::Tesla CEO Elon Musk's ‘ultra hardcore’ work culture is revealed to have led to long hours, unsafe conditions, and harassment for employees.

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[–] fred@lemdro.id 196 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure I'd consider it "shocking" more like "on par"

[–] Sharpiemarker@feddit.de 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right?! It's like the guy literally modeled himself after Trump from The Apprentice.

[–] const_void@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 year ago

He's so dumb he probably thinks Trump is a good businessman.

[–] Disgusted_Tadpole@lemmy.ml 165 points 1 year ago (33 children)

As a western European, to me the problem isn’t that they’re fired on the spot, but that a company can actually do that. You guys should’ve fought for your rights.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Welcome to 'at-will employment' America, where you can fire anyone for any reason as long as they can't prove it was because you are one of the protected classes under the Civil Rights Act (does not include LGBT+ people). They can literally fire you because they don't like your ears.

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[–] PRUSSIA_x86@lemmy.world 49 points 1 year ago (3 children)

80 years of living in the church of capitalism will do that to you.

[–] SeatBeeSate@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Not to mention protesting likely means becoming homeless. It means losing insurance, it means losing you car insurance and likely paying a hefty premium when you can get it again. It means losing access to food, Healthcare. It means risking being barred from future employment.

So let's vote? Well turns out your district is shaped like a contorted snake, and unless you convince 60% of people who will vote for any loony who hates the same people they do, to help their neighbor for once, well you're SOL.

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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Too many of us thought of ourselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

I did when I was a teenager, it seems most of our parents never grew out of being teenagers.

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[–] Furbag@lemmy.world 158 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I've never spoken with a Tesla employee, current or former, who hasn't corroborated this information about working conditions. Doesn't matter if you are a line worker in the factory or an engineer in the design offices, you are expected to put work above all else, keep your nose down and your mouth shut.

I'll never buy a Tesla because of the shit that I've heard about how they treat their employees there, let alone that dipshit Musk spouting off about full self driving and never following through.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 43 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yep, he got Tesla where it was quickly by squeezing everything he could out of the talent that was hired by the original founders. They got a relatively decent car out of it initially (compared to the competition, which was basically just the Nissan Leaf), but now they're probably struggling to retain/find talent to continue running the company and designing new cars.

[–] iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He also hired people to fudge the fucking numbers. At one point he had more venture capital in pure slush money than the entire US automobile market had in their banks.

There was never any reason for that other than defrauding investors.

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Elongated Muskrat is the weirdest hype beast I’ve ever seen.

He stumbles his way through sentences, has zero confidence when speaking, and ummm and uhhhs like a college freshman doing his first presentation that he prepared the morning of.

And yet, he’s generated billions of dollars in funding based purely off of hype for things that he, by track record, only has about a 10% chance of delivering.

It’s bizarre.

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[–] cogman@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ditto. I've seen lots of rumors that the software stack is an utter mess as a result. Musk's Uber librarian attitude means he only ever gets junior devs.

The pay has been below market for a while now. He's tried selling "on the mission" which is totally spoiled now.

I expect other manufacturers are going to catch up quick.

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spouting off about full self driving and never following through.

That was Musk too laying on the whip demanding progress and a breakthrough with the team running head first into fundamental technical limitations. It was made worse with him putting on even more restrictions with vision only.

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[–] net00@lemm.ee 154 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I don't understand why anyone idolizes this bastard. There are too many bootlickers out there, which is why nothing ever changes and assholes like him can continue to exploit people.

Tesla is also known for its shit build quality. So why not buy an EV from practically anyone else?

[–] ProvableGecko@lemmy.world 44 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Especially now that actual car companies are coming up with their electric models.

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[–] irotsoma@lemmy.world 138 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Firing for relatively small mistakes just means people will cover up mistakes in the future leading to them causing serious accidents. People who make mistakes learn from them and not only rarely make that mistake again, but help others learn from that mistake.

I'll happily admit when something is my fault. And I'll document and implement changes that help prevent it from happening not just to the teams I lead but as much of the company as I can influence.

[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you told Musk, that he is causing net loss for the company this way, he would answer " so then the workers need to work harder". He can't be at fault.

[–] CitizenKong@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

"Just stop making mistakes. Also work overtime under stress."

[–] Urbanfox@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

Companies pay when people make mistakes.

Why the fuck would you fire someone when you just paid for a lesson that prevents further mistakes?

Meanwhile the thing other employees learn from the firing approach is to get better at covering up their mistakes.

[–] turbonewbe@lemm.ee 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And guess what happen when you ask workers to work 10 hours a day every day? Mistakes.

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[–] Rubanski@lemm.ee 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same thing when children get punished too harshly or unfairly. They just learn how to lie and hide things

[–] emptyother@programming.dev 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Non-fun fact: If you punish kids unfairly enough, they'll stop giving a shit about lying because they get punished whether they lie or tell the truth anyway. Fucked up personal experience.

But they do still hide stuff. And lose all respect for punishment.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 57 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like Tesla factory workers should form a union.

[–] goferking0@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 1 year ago

Wonder how much harder is it to form one in Texas compared to California

[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tesla preys on young and naive employees looking to get their foot in the door.

For instance back on Reddit in many of the engineering subs, there were countless new threads started by fresh engineering graduates who were hell bent on getting a job at Tesla. Many of us would warn them to stay as far away as possible from them (as well as SpaceX) but they wouldn't listen no matter what we told them.

Most of these people weren't dumb. Naive, sure, but not dumb. Some of them had a plan where they would bust their asses working at Tesla for a year or two and then that would be a great addition to their resume. Would it work for them? Not sure, but I do know that HR departments do think highly of seeing Tesla or SpaceX on one's resume, so maybe that plan wasn't quite so bad. I sure as fuck have no interest in working there, but then again, I like having some time-off.

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[–] Decimit@lemm.ee 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

Honestly, has musk ever done anything useful other than just being the money he was born into?

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[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Nothing shocking if you kept up with the Xitter debacle.

Elmo has been firing anyone with even the slightest hint of critique.

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[–] Mettigel@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago (16 children)
[–] Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 54 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is. Most states are so fucked up they have barely any employment protection laws

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 15 points 1 year ago

And some are even trying further reduce the little remaining legislation that deters child labor exploitation.

But they don't bat an eye using the same children as a scapegoat to push through intrusive laws, under the illusion of protecting the children 😭

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[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Is this actually shocking or does this make perfect sense to anyone who has paid even a shred of attention to Musk's manbaby tantrums?

[–] dub@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

but but but elon sleeps on the floor!!!!!1!! hes so hardworking when hes tweeting literally all day and night!

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[–] spider@lemmy.nz 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

long hours, unsafe conditions, and harassment for employees

He's racing Jeff Bezos to the bottom.

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[–] devbo@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

should we start patitioning that elon musk not be involved with any companies. everything ive heard about him makes me think he has no respect for us peasants.

[–] valveman@lemmy.eco.br 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

He's a billionaire, probably thinks he pays us peasants too much for what we deliver, and would absolutely replace us for slaves if he could

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[–] mashbooq@infosec.pub 23 points 1 year ago

It's not that shocking; I read a positive profile on Musk almost 10 years ago where he nevertheless fired an employee on the spot for not immediately knowing the answer to some random question Musk had for him.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 18 points 1 year ago (10 children)

How is this legal? Does the US have zero employee protection regulation?

If this happened in NZ, the business owner would be put through the ringer and it would be front page news (it's been front page plenty here) for unfair dismissal.

[–] GandarfDeGrape@midwest.social 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The laws are there, sure. But if you become a corporate "whistle blower" you're not likely to get a job again. And the company will just drown the accusations in fines and litigation and nothing changes because we're poor and solo, because we're not unionized because if we try we get fired (again, illegally).

Sigh.

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[–] Toneswirly@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Textbook narcissist play. Expect everyone around you stand at attention to make your dreams happen. Maybe if you offered tangible rewards like bonuses and pay increases instead of vague promises of "exceptional reward" then people would work harder for you. Also, studies prove time and again that working excessive hours leads to diminishing returns. Also, throwing a fucking baby tantrum when a burned-out employee makes a mistake is a great way to lose talent.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am in the odd area of "I'm poor, my family is rich"

My grandma asked me if she should buy Tesla stock. Glad I told her Hell No.

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