On April 16th, according to multiple current and former employees, although Tesla had notified its employees of layoffs exceeding 10% of positions last Sunday evening, it was shocking for some employees to discover they had been fired only upon arriving at the factory.
The layoffs this time affected a wide range of positions, including engineers and production assistants. At the Tesla factory in Sparks, Nevada, an employee stated that due to badge checks, everyone had to queue up to enter the factory on Monday morning, with waiting times stretching up to two hours.
Two current Tesla employees revealed that the security team rigorously checked the badges of employees commuting between the factory and nearby parking lots. While badge checks were routine, this time they were scanned directly. On Monday morning, some terminated employees were identified during checks and were arranged to take different shuttles to leave.
Furthermore, three former Tesla employees stated that at the Fremont factory, security informed employees that if their badges didn't work properly, it meant they were no longer company employees.
Four employees stated that terminated employees received dismissal notices via personal email on Sunday evening, and their access to Tesla systems was immediately revoked. Timestamps on media-reported memos showed that Elon Musk sent out an email announcing the layoffs to all employees before midnight on Sunday.
In another notice, Tesla informed employees, "We have conducted a comprehensive review of the company and have had to make the difficult decision of a global reduction in force. We regret to inform you that your position has been eliminated due to this restructuring." This email was directly sent to terminated employees, informing them that the layoffs were effective immediately, and they would receive detailed termination information within the next 48 hours.
It is worth noting that on the day of the layoffs announcement, at least two executives chose to leave - Drew Baglino, Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Electrical Engineering, and Rohan Patel, Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development, announced their departure on the social platform X.
Before the layoffs, Tesla's global workforce exceeded 140,000, with over 3,000 employees at the Nevada factory alone.
The experiences of Tesla employees are not unique. Last year, some former Google employees also stated that they only realized they had been fired when they couldn't enter the office with their badges.
