Regardless of his intentions, Musk’s actions have cast a grim pallor across all of Tesla as workers fear that managers will follow his example. As of now, Tesla had not given any reassurances to staff about their jobs, so many expect more layoffs to soon follow. IF the actions of Musk are any indication, it seems as if no worker will be immune from the results of the layoffs.
Over the past several months, Tesla workers have expressed distrust towards whether their business model is truly effective, and after the fiascoes of last year, it is hard to believe that Tesla will calmly right ship.
In fact, nearly 77.2% of employees said that they were extremely concerned about job cuts. To put this in perspective, at most national technology companies, the numbers hovered around 30%. In further comparison, at Google, only 10.8% of workers feared any layoffs; an extremely low figure compared to that of Tesla.
All in all, their employees heightened anxiety towards layoffs is indicative of a company-wide culture that is toxic and will need to be significantly altered in order to fuel their success. Any company with workers who fear for their jobs is set up for failure, and 2019 could be a key turning point for Tesla as it attempts to radically reinvent the ways in which American’s drive. Tesla must reverse the rampant anxiety and calm the nerves of its workers in order to succeed, but as of print, there is no indication that they have tangibly taken steps to quell these fears.
