Leaked recording proves Tesla (TSLA) has employee morale problem

A leaked recording of a new Tesla training program reveals that the company is concerned about a growing employee morale issue. The instructor asked Tesla employees attending the training if they’d ever felt “I can’t work under these conditions “or had felt set back by constant change at the company.” “I know I have,” the instructor told the employees.

Last year, we noted that, following a mass wave of layoffs that was poorly handled on many levels, Tesla has been facing significant employee morale issues.

A year later, it looks like these are ongoing and Tesla is trying to address them.

Last week, Tesla had a week-long production shutdown at Gigafactory Texas and employees were offered to come in for some training during that time.

One of the training sessions was related to “company culture,” and Business Insider obtained a recording, releasing some quotes from it.

The recording made it clear that Tesla is having some turnover issues due to morale. The instructor said:

“A lot of people leave this company, and they have kind of a negative taste in their mouth. They think: ‘Man, it was terrible. It was bad. I got burnt out. I feel like I didn’t get anything done, nobody listened to me.’”

The company culture training reportedly used to be for Tesla management, but the instructor said that the company decided to expand it to all employees.

They added:

“Leadership has kind of another level of responsibility for trying to guide and direct that culture. But at the end of the day, it’s us as the people on the ground that are the reflection of the culture.”

The instructor highlighted the need for employees to focus on Tesla’s “higher purpose.”

Tesla greatly benefited from being a mission-driven company with the aim. of accelerating the transition to electric transport and sustainable energy.

It helped with hiring and in pushing Tesla’s well-known aggressive work rate.

However, Tesla’s mission shifted in the last few years as CEO Elon Musk had Tesla focus on autonomous driving, and many people feel that the original mission has taken a step back with the CEO backing Donald Trump and the Republican party, who have historically campaigned against electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Electrek’s Take

Company culture begins at the top and flows down. Musk has historically asked a lot out of Tesla employees, but he has barely been working at Tesla for the past year.

That’s not outstanding leadership.

Furthermore, he alienated most of Tesla’s customer base, and while he still has loyalists at Tesla, I think that his massive drop in favorability is also reflected among Tesla employees.

I think talent retention should be one of the biggest concerns at Tesla right now.

I track employee comings and goings closely and I see a continued exodus of talent right now that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Employee morale is part of it.