In a brutal year for tech layoffs, Tesla may have set the record for worst reason to lay people off.
At least, that’s the implication in a new report from Reuters detailing what led to 500 employees from Tesla’s Supercharger team being cut earlier in May. According to Reuters, Musk met privately with charging executive Rebecca Tinucci in what was expected by Tinucci to be a meeting about the future expansion of the charging network.
However, Musk was reportedly unsatisfied when Tinucci’s presentation and asked for further layoffs. Tinucci disagreed and Musk’s response was to then fire Tinucci and the 500 other members of the Supercharger team who lost their jobs. It should be noted that, according to Bloomberg, at least some of those employees are now on their way back to Tesla.
If this interaction between Musk and Tinucci happened precisely as reported by Reuters, it would only add to a years-in-the-making tapestry of reports about the volatile work environment at Tesla. Whether it’s an unusually high rate of workplace injuries or repeated accusations of racism on the factory floor, Tesla has generated plenty of headlines over the years that paint it as a pretty bleak place to work.
The same has been true for SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter) more recently. Hm, I wonder if there’s some kind of common denominator between those companies?
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