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> The message, sent on Thursday and titled “pause all hiring worldwide”, came two days after the billionaire told staff to return to the workplace or leave So

> The message, sent on Thursday and titled “pause all hiring worldwide”, came two days after the billionaire told staff to return to the workplace or leave So people who claimed less than 24h ago it was at lest partially a way of creating cheap layoffs, were proven right pretty swiftly.

hooande 4y ago
It's hard to imagine that severance from a 10% layoff is a significant cost for a company of Tesla's size and revenue. It's not small by any means, but not necessarily worth a complicated scheme in relative terms
- formerkrogemp 4y ago
  I think it's just a game for executives at this point to think of what dumb policy will people put up with to keep their jobs or to quit and reduce severance.
lapcat 4y ago
Remember when Marissa Mayer eliminated WFH at Yahoo? Seemed to work out well for them.
- mjr00 4y ago
  Do you really think Yahoo would have avoided its fate if it had continued allowing WFH? I don't think it was a good decision, but Yahoo had/has way more issues with its business than whether or not it allows employees to WFH.
  - TheBigSalad 4y ago
    No, but it's one of those decisions that most normal people could easily recognize as a bad decision. It clearly didn't have any positive impact on the company and most likely had a negative impact. Just a CEO doing pure nonsense, causing a huge impact to the company based on ego over data. As opposed to making actual positive decisions. There was no reason for yahoo to fail other than a huge series of poor leadership decisions.
- farmerstan 4y ago
  It was proven through data that most people at yahoo that were “working from home” weren’t working. It was indisputable.
  - sackbut 4y ago
    I keep hearing references to this study that precipitated the famous “no more WFH Fridays” decision but I can’t actually seem to find it. Do you have a link?
- GuB-42 4y ago
  Yahoo is an internet company. Tesla makes cars. Even for IT workers, I guess that sometimes you need to test on the actual hardware, and the factory is where most things happen. I am not saying that working from home is impossible, or that banning it is a good thing, but you can't really compare Yahoo and Tesla.
  - ryanbrunner 4y ago
    Do Tesla office workers work at the same place as factory workers? I guess it's possible but it feels pretty unlikely. If someone in software dev is in an office at a different address from the factory I don't see how Tesla having a factory is relevant.
  - usr1106 4y ago
    Those producing cars in the factory have never worked from home. The discussion is only about R&D, legal, finance whatever. And most of those don't differ significantly between Yahoo or Tesla.
    - marvin 4y ago
      It's an incredibly unpopular view on HN, but I don't think we can categorically conclude yet that WFH is always equally good as working in-person for all white-collar jobs that have good prerequisites for WFH. For me personally, the train has left the station and I would not expect to ever consider a non-WFH job again in my career. But that's a completely different question than asking whether companies that require physical attendance can in some cases out-compete those that don't. I think we have a tendency to project our wishes onto this debate, and not make an honest attempt at figuring out the truth.
      - ericd 4y ago
        Thanks for the intellectual honesty, it seems to be a rare thing in the WFH discussion.
      - _ph_ 4y ago
        Actually, I would be surprised if anyone thinks, that WFH always beats working in an office. But that doesn't mean, that there are not a ton of jobs where it does, or just part time, even if the job requires a lot of on-site presence. But a company shouldn't have to mandate in-office work permanentely and for all. It should be obvious from the job profile and the working conditions, when it is advantageous to be in the office rather than at home.
- duxup 4y ago
  I feel like someone can eliminate WFH AND have it not be intended as a "soft layoff". Whatever Yahoo's issues were they were going on for a LONG time. Even when they HAD WFH...
- watwut 4y ago
  Wasn't it kind of the same thing in all the likelyhood? Their troubles became apparent shortly after, they were likely trying to get rid of employees people without making layoffs apparent.
selfportrait 4y ago
This is par for the course. Every time there is big news expected, Elon’s antics are elevated and a coordinated distraction by way of a tweet is posted. See the “political attacks on me” tweet as an example, which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. The man has bought Twitter for the purposes of distracting and manipulating the public.
- dubswithus 4y ago
  > which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. Business insider gave him a heads up because they asked him for comment before publishing the story.
  - jvanderbot 4y ago
    the coincidence part was sarcasm, everyone suspected he knew after the article came out
- BurningFrog 4y ago
  Or were the sexual assault allegations part of the political attacks on him? How would you tell?
  - jtorsella 4y ago
    You would tell by checking whether he had been asked for comment on the story before making the claims that there would be political attacks on him, which would reveal that he tweeted a few hours after he learned of the story.
    - LMYahooTFY 4y ago
      How does this rule out that it's a political attack?
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]

hooande 4y ago

It's hard to imagine that severance from a 10% layoff is a significant cost for a company of Tesla's size and revenue. It's not small by any means, but not necessarily worth a complicated scheme in relative terms

formerkrogemp 4y ago
I think it's just a game for executives at this point to think of what dumb policy will people put up with to keep their jobs or to quit and reduce severance.

lapcat 4y ago

Remember when Marissa Mayer eliminated WFH at Yahoo? Seemed to work out well for them.

mjr00 4y ago
Do you really think Yahoo would have avoided its fate if it had continued allowing WFH? I don't think it was a good decision, but Yahoo had/has way more issues with its business than whether or not it allows employees to WFH.
- TheBigSalad 4y ago
  No, but it's one of those decisions that most normal people could easily recognize as a bad decision. It clearly didn't have any positive impact on the company and most likely had a negative impact. Just a CEO doing pure nonsense, causing a huge impact to the company based on ego over data. As opposed to making actual positive decisions. There was no reason for yahoo to fail other than a huge series of poor leadership decisions.
farmerstan 4y ago
It was proven through data that most people at yahoo that were “working from home” weren’t working. It was indisputable.
- sackbut 4y ago
  I keep hearing references to this study that precipitated the famous “no more WFH Fridays” decision but I can’t actually seem to find it. Do you have a link?
GuB-42 4y ago
Yahoo is an internet company. Tesla makes cars. Even for IT workers, I guess that sometimes you need to test on the actual hardware, and the factory is where most things happen. I am not saying that working from home is impossible, or that banning it is a good thing, but you can't really compare Yahoo and Tesla.
- ryanbrunner 4y ago
  Do Tesla office workers work at the same place as factory workers? I guess it's possible but it feels pretty unlikely. If someone in software dev is in an office at a different address from the factory I don't see how Tesla having a factory is relevant.
- usr1106 4y ago
  Those producing cars in the factory have never worked from home. The discussion is only about R&D, legal, finance whatever. And most of those don't differ significantly between Yahoo or Tesla.
  - marvin 4y ago
    It's an incredibly unpopular view on HN, but I don't think we can categorically conclude yet that WFH is always equally good as working in-person for all white-collar jobs that have good prerequisites for WFH. For me personally, the train has left the station and I would not expect to ever consider a non-WFH job again in my career. But that's a completely different question than asking whether companies that require physical attendance can in some cases out-compete those that don't. I think we have a tendency to project our wishes onto this debate, and not make an honest attempt at figuring out the truth.
    - ericd 4y ago
      Thanks for the intellectual honesty, it seems to be a rare thing in the WFH discussion.
    - _ph_ 4y ago
      Actually, I would be surprised if anyone thinks, that WFH always beats working in an office. But that doesn't mean, that there are not a ton of jobs where it does, or just part time, even if the job requires a lot of on-site presence. But a company shouldn't have to mandate in-office work permanentely and for all. It should be obvious from the job profile and the working conditions, when it is advantageous to be in the office rather than at home.
duxup 4y ago
I feel like someone can eliminate WFH AND have it not be intended as a "soft layoff". Whatever Yahoo's issues were they were going on for a LONG time. Even when they HAD WFH...
watwut 4y ago
Wasn't it kind of the same thing in all the likelyhood? Their troubles became apparent shortly after, they were likely trying to get rid of employees people without making layoffs apparent.

selfportrait 4y ago

This is par for the course. Every time there is big news expected, Elon’s antics are elevated and a coordinated distraction by way of a tweet is posted. See the “political attacks on me” tweet as an example, which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. The man has bought Twitter for the purposes of distracting and manipulating the public.

dubswithus 4y ago
> which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. Business insider gave him a heads up because they asked him for comment before publishing the story.
- jvanderbot 4y ago
  the coincidence part was sarcasm, everyone suspected he knew after the article came out
BurningFrog 4y ago
Or were the sexual assault allegations part of the political attacks on him? How would you tell?
- jtorsella 4y ago
  You would tell by checking whether he had been asked for comment on the story before making the claims that there would be political attacks on him, which would reveal that he tweeted a few hours after he learned of the story.
  - LMYahooTFY 4y ago
    How does this rule out that it's a political attack?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]