Tesla employee reveals: ‘We are still sending the cars out’

Rusting new cars, questionable software – and recently a $70,000 Tesla even broke down in the rain. Where do these chilling flaws come from? The Swedish daily newspaper “Dagens Arbete” (English: daily work) brought it to light.

An hour for troubleshooting

Anyone who can’t handle the expected pace of work at Tesla won’t get a raise — and even risks being fired. This is evident from conversations between the newspaper and anonymous Tesla employees. This means that employees barely have enough time to fix even complex errors.

According to the report, employees have specific time slots in which they must perform their work. That is not unusual. However, with Tesla these time windows seem to be quite small. For example, replacing a reflector should not take longer than three minutes, and searching for a fault should not take longer than an hour.

In short: in many cases the time pressure is too tight. And it’s not just the employees who suffer from this. But also Tesla customers. This means that sometimes even complex errors cannot be corrected in time. “We are still sending the cars out,” says one of the employees.

This is confirmed by several technicians with whom “Dagens Arbete” spoke. No one wants to give their name for fear of reprisals from their employer. “The system rewards those who do bad work because on paper they have higher productivity,” says one of them.

An example is a more complicated problem solution. “It could be a vague mistake that comes and goes. Then you have to sit down and play with all the cables and so on. But that takes too long,” says an employee.

Car mechanics have a maximum of one hour to solve a problem. However, for diffuse faults the repair may take several hours. But if you take the time to actually fix the mistake, you risk your raise and bonus. And even worse.

“You’re in trouble”

Every six months Tesla evaluates whether its technicians have achieved the so-called productivity goals. This means: whether the work has been completed within the specified time and, if possible, even faster. The technicians then receive a rating between one and five.

The evaluation is now directly linked to wage development. If you get an A, you even run the risk of being fired. «A direct conversation then takes place with the human resources department. “You’re in trouble,” says one worker.

“If you get an A, you run the risk of being fired,” confirms another.

No one is safe

Managers also risk falling under the wheels if goals are not achieved. That is why cars are sometimes returned to customers without the defects having been resolved.

There is also no time to familiarize yourself with the rather complicated computer systems. This should be done in your spare time. Managers encourage employees to work overtime – without recording this. “Those who have been promoted have often worked a lot of unpaid overtime. Everyone feels the pressure to do well and work evenings and weekends without keeping track of time. There are a number of employees who have suffered a burnout as a result. But the company doesn’t seem to care that much,” says one technician.