Do Fired Tesla Employees Love Or Hate Elon Musk?

Electric vehicle leader Tesla Inc TSLA surprised many with an announcement that it would reduce its workforce by 10%. CEO Elon Musk later clarified that the company would not freeze hiring, instead it was looking to cut salaried workers in some industries.

With so much negativity around Tesla’s job cuts and the company’s policy that remote workers need to return to the office, how do fired workers feel about Musk as a former boss?

What Happened: Workers who have been let go from Tesla are surprisingly positive about their former company and seem to have generally good things to say about their former CEO Elon Musk, according to a new report from Business Insider.

A worker from Tesla’s autopilot division in California who was among those laid off said it was an honor to work with talented people. The entire division and office was closed by the company.

“During the past year and a half, I worked for a company where I genuinely believed in what we were doing. I felt a great sense of pride to work on a project that marks the beginning of future transportation and a full sense of pride in knowing we were the first,” Monier Ziain said.

An autopilot engineer posted on LinkedIn about the experience.

“It was the hardest, most time consuming, and most stressful work I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything,” the worker said, noting the great achievement of working on Tesla’s navigation systems.

Longtime Tesla worker Adam Ryding, who joined in 2016, said he’s not mad about no longer working for the company.

“Some of us (the 10%) might be mad or frustrated, but I’m not. I’m thankful I was part of it, got to learn so many new things and I wish all of my former colleagues the best,” Ryding said.

Another Tesla worker calls the layoff from the electric vehicle company “a blessing in disguise.”

While searching LinkedIn for posts from former Tesla employees who were laid off, Insider found a post from a former XR developer who noted “a lot of systematic issues” within Tesla.

Related Link: Tesla Tracking Employees With In-Person Attendance Required: Here's The Details 

Why It’s Important: The positive posts by former Tesla employees come as some have criticized Musk for his intense work ethic.

In June, Musk also told remote workers that they needed to return to the office, telling workers that wanted to remain at home to “pretend to work somewhere else.”

Musk laid out a requirement for workers, or they would be recognized as having resigned from the company.

“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla. This is less than we ask of factory workers,” Musk said in an email.

Benzinga previously reported on increased searches for jobs at Twitter Inc TWTR after it was announced Musk was buying the social media platform. Between April 24 and April 30, interest in Twitter jobs rose 263% compared to March 2022.

“Say what you will about Elon, he does have a large fanbase of ppl excited to work for him. He’s much more likely to capitalize on that attraction as CEO than owner,” Glassdoor data scientist Daniel Zhao tweeted at the time.

There are likely two primary reasons that employees continue to seek out working for Musk and a company like Twitter, and will offer kind words after their departure.

First, Tesla has been known to be generous with stock options for employees as a way to reward and incentivize employees. While Tesla shares have struggled year-to-date in 2022, they remain up over 1,000% over the last five years.

Second, Tesla employees, as some mentioned above, also feel a sense of pride and accomplishment working for a company that is pushing forward to make the world a more sustainable place.

TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares are down 2.28% to $683.28 on Wednesday.

Photo: Created with an image from Ministério Das Comunicações on Flickr