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Wowsa. This is the type of e-mail that would get me to polish ye olde resume and start looking for other jobs. Nothing like the combination of impossible goal

by treis 9y ago

Wowsa. This is the type of e-mail that would get me to polish ye olde resume and start looking for other jobs. Nothing like the combination of impossible goals, additional overhead, and reduced capacity.

iamcreasy 9y ago
They are adding another shift. What 'reduced capacity' you are talking about?
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago
  Are they adding additional employees to handle that shift (additional employees at all levels - not just operators and technicians)? Or are existing employees expected to do more work?
  - 0vermorrow 9y ago
    It's straight up in the article... “Please refer anyone you know who you think meets the Tesla bar for talent, drive and trust” he wrote. “Between Fremont and Giga, Tesla will be adding about 400 people per week for several weeks.”
  - treis 9y ago
    Hiring people is a short term drain on existing employees. They're the ones doing all the interviewing and onboarding for these new people.
- praneshp 9y ago
  They're going to switch to 24/7 (because thats apparently required for the 6k/week goal) by end of June. Your parent probably thinks (like I do), that it's not enough time to hire enough people and onboard them for an entire extra shift in 8 weeks.
- treis 9y ago
  From the e-mail: There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. Unless this is an empty threat a bunch of contractors will be out the door on Monday. Which means less capacity to do the work. Hiring line employees for a 3rd shift is great, but where are all the supporting ops people like safety engineers and plant managers going to come from? Doing that means a bunch of white collar employees just got a whole lot more work to do.
  - mohaine 9y ago
    In this context a contractor is a company, not a contract employee. Sure that company has employees, but if they are not doing the job it is better to find a different company that will.
ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
This section on meetings is something that actually makes me want to apply at TESLA. >Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short. >Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved. >Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.
- SilasX 9y ago
  Your section with long monotype lines, which makes you have to scroll right to read it, makes we want to plead with HN commenters to stop doing it. Please, do quotes with >, it reads fine that way.
  - ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
    You are right. I have edited the comment to be easier to read.
    - SilasX 9y ago
      Thank you, and apologies if I was too bitter with my tone.
- praneshp 9y ago
  That's an incredibly stupid reason to want to apply somewhere. Marissa used to send out emails with a variation of that content once in three months, and business went on as usual 2 levels and more below her.
  - ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
    Hey man, that' pretty aggro. I agree it would be a silly reason to apply to someplace solely because they didn't have meetings. I also agree that just because the CEO says it doesn't mean the company can do it. But I still don't like the social convention that its people think its rude to leave a meeting when you have nothing left to contribute. I think any effort to change that could have a positive effect on workplace productivity and moral.
stagger87 9y ago
To some degree, if your first instinct is to quit, then the email has done it's job. Elon wants to scale up production which will require sweeping changes and he will want all of his employees 'on board'. If you are not interested in helping the company grow, then quitting is the best option at that point. I suspect for most employees it is just business as usual.

by treis 9y ago

iamcreasy 9y ago

They are adding another shift. What 'reduced capacity' you are talking about?

LeifCarrotson 9y ago
Are they adding additional employees to handle that shift (additional employees at all levels - not just operators and technicians)? Or are existing employees expected to do more work?
- 0vermorrow 9y ago
  It's straight up in the article... “Please refer anyone you know who you think meets the Tesla bar for talent, drive and trust” he wrote. “Between Fremont and Giga, Tesla will be adding about 400 people per week for several weeks.”
- treis 9y ago
  Hiring people is a short term drain on existing employees. They're the ones doing all the interviewing and onboarding for these new people.
praneshp 9y ago
They're going to switch to 24/7 (because thats apparently required for the 6k/week goal) by end of June. Your parent probably thinks (like I do), that it's not enough time to hire enough people and onboard them for an entire extra shift in 8 weeks.
treis 9y ago
From the e-mail: There is a very wide range of contractor performance, from excellent to worse than a drunken sloth. All contracting companies should consider the coming week to be a final opportunity to demonstrate excellence. Any that fail to meet the Tesla standard of excellence will have their contracts ended on Monday. Unless this is an empty threat a bunch of contractors will be out the door on Monday. Which means less capacity to do the work. Hiring line employees for a 3rd shift is great, but where are all the supporting ops people like safety engineers and plant managers going to come from? Doing that means a bunch of white collar employees just got a whole lot more work to do.
- mohaine 9y ago
  In this context a contractor is a company, not a contract employee. Sure that company has employees, but if they are not doing the job it is better to find a different company that will.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago

This section on meetings is something that actually makes me want to apply at TESLA. >Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short. >Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved. >Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.

SilasX 9y ago
Your section with long monotype lines, which makes you have to scroll right to read it, makes we want to plead with HN commenters to stop doing it. Please, do quotes with >, it reads fine that way.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  You are right. I have edited the comment to be easier to read.
  - SilasX 9y ago
    Thank you, and apologies if I was too bitter with my tone.
praneshp 9y ago
That's an incredibly stupid reason to want to apply somewhere. Marissa used to send out emails with a variation of that content once in three months, and business went on as usual 2 levels and more below her.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  Hey man, that' pretty aggro. I agree it would be a silly reason to apply to someplace solely because they didn't have meetings. I also agree that just because the CEO says it doesn't mean the company can do it. But I still don't like the social convention that its people think its rude to leave a meeting when you have nothing left to contribute. I think any effort to change that could have a positive effect on workplace productivity and moral.

stagger87 9y ago

To some degree, if your first instinct is to quit, then the email has done it's job. Elon wants to scale up production which will require sweeping changes and he will want all of his employees 'on board'. If you are not interested in helping the company grow, then quitting is the best option at that point. I suspect for most employees it is just business as usual.