Elon Musk has emailed all Tesla staff to notify them the company will be cutting its headcount by 10%. In the email, a copy of which was obtained by Drive Tesla, Musk says the reason for the headcount reduction is due to the company becoming “overstaffed in many areas.”
Musk also says in the email the 10% reduction would only apply to salaried workers, and “does not apply to anyone actually building cars, battery packs or installing solar.”
With the reduction in salaried workers, Musk wants to actually increase the number of hourly workers. “Hourly headcount will increase,” Musk said.
Earlier today Reuters reported that Musk had notified his executives that he planned to cut 10% of the workforce and at the same time institute a hiring freeze. Musk cited a “super bad feeling” about the economy, after having recently said on Twitter that the country is heading towards a recession.
News of a reduction in the workforce comes just a few days after Musk told all employees that remote work is no longer allowed and everyone must be physically in the office 40 hours per week.
Musk said those that don’t agree with the new guidelines can quit, indicating he may have instituted the plan with the hopes that at least some of the workers will quit voluntarily.
A full copy of the email is below.
