The employees of Elon Musk’s “Tesla” were laid off

The pandemic reached Tesla - a technological giant, owned by billionaire Elon Musk. The corporation informed the employees of the beginning of forced layoffs, and earlier the company had to close a leading plant, located in California. Many “Tesla” plants around the world have also been shut down.

Someone, perhaps, rubs the hands, recalling the skepticism of the founder of the company about the threat of coronavirus that was voiced earlier. Elon Musk then said that the damage from the virus is less than the panic, caused by it. His forecast that the virus will affect no more than 0.1% of the world's population (about 7.8 million) still has a chance to come true. However, the number of cases of COVID-19 has already exceeded 1.5 million people and continues to grow.

The employees received the letters from the head of the personnel department of the North American division of the company, Valerie Kapers Workman, informing them of a temporary reduction in wages in the II quarter of this year.

The payments to senior management (at the level of vice presidents) will be reduced by one third, directors will receive 20% less, and the salaries of the ordinary employees are expected to be reduced by 10%. In addition, part of the staff, whose functions do not allow carry out their professional activities remotely, will be laid off. They are offered not to work temporarily, maintaining health insurance without receiving salaries.

“Tesla” has a serious financial cushion to be able to withstand the financial pressure of the pandemic for a long time. In early April, the company's shares rose immediately by 14%.

The reason for such a rise was the report on the supply of cars. The company reported that over the first quarter of this year, more than 102 thousand cars were produced, more than 88 thousand of which were already delivered. The current “sacrifice”, according to analysts, could lead to a drop in company sales by almost a third.

Supporting its business at the level of energy and transport, the company followed the recommendations of the US authorities. The suspension of production affected not only the company of Elon Musk, but also such companies as GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler. All of them are forced to seek innovative solutions in order not to enter into confrontation with the trade unions.

In late March, “Tesla” stopped the production of electric vehicles at the plant in California, as well as the production of solar panels, which were made in New York.

Considering the fact that around 56 thousand employees work at the company's factories around the world, and more than 10 thousand people work at the Fremont plant, we may assume that the staff reductions can be quite significant. The dismissal of employees is planned to start from Monday, and the forced downtime will last at least until May 4.