Tesla has been laying off thousands of employees over the last month, and a survey of where they are going has yielded interesting results. Where they are not going is just as interesting.
Last month, we reported on Elon Musk telling Tesla executives in an email that they need to cut 10% of the workforce and pause hiring due to having a “super-bad feeling” about the economy.
Later, the CEO decided to clarify the Tesla layoffs in an email to all employees. He claimed that the 10% reduction would be for “salaried headcount” due to Tesla becoming overstaffed following a long growth phase.
Tesla ramped up the layoffs at the end of June and continued over the last weeks, and we reported that – unlike what Musk previously said – hourly employees in service, sales, and delivery were affected. But, most of the layoffs were salaried employees, many with long-term experience at the automaker.
A look at the talent recently leaving Tesla has shown which companies are snapping them up (via Reddit):
The survey showed that Rivian, the electric pickup truck maker, has snapped up the most former Tesla employees. Tech companies are also interested in Tesla talent with Apple and Amazon both hiring a significant number of the 457 former Tesla employees.
Lucid Motors, a Tesla competitor, comes in fourth with 34 former Tesla employees hired. Lucid’s CEO, Peter Rawlinson, is himself a former Tesla employee. He was chief engineer of the Model S early in the vehicle program.
In the same vein, Redwood Materials and Aurora, both cofounded by former Tesla executives, are also among the companies hiring many former Tesla employees.
On the other side, it’s interesting that no legacy automaker tops the list. Ford, GM, Audi, or BMW are nowhere in there.
Electrek’s Take
One thing that I would like to note because I see a lot of Tesla fans commenting things like “good riddance” is that the employees being laid off are not necessarily the worst performers at the company.
In many cases it’s the opposite scenario.
Obviously, Tesla is not actively trying to let go of its superstars, but in those kinds of wide layoffs, senior employees with high salaries are often targeted for cost reasons. In my own search on LinkedIn, I’ve seen many employees with four, five, and six years of experience at Tesla being let go.
So, this is a real opportunity for companies to snap up some top talent. I think it could have a real impact. I wish everyone good luck.
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