• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers

2

Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'

1

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers

2

Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?

3

The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
SuccessTesla

Elon Musk still hasn’t finished his 10% layoffs at Tesla and employees are ‘walking on eggshells every day’: ‘It’s hard to see the long game’

By
Kara Carlson
Kara Carlson
,
Dana Hull
Dana Hull
, and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kara Carlson
Kara Carlson
,
Dana Hull
Dana Hull
, and
Bloomberg
Bloomberg
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 20, 2024, 8:08 AM ET
The waves of dismissals, which already have hit thousands across departments including sales, human resources and virtually the entire Supercharger division, are expected to gut significant parts of Tesla.
The waves of dismissals, which already have hit thousands across departments including sales, human resources and virtually the entire Supercharger division, are expected to gut significant parts of Tesla.Pascal Bachelet—BSIP/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Tesla Inc. workers are living in fear of the “Dear Employee” layoff email.

Recommended Video

Over a month into Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s plans to slash at least 10% of the company’s workforce, he’s still not done. This means anxious employees wake up each day to check their messages, wondering if they still have a job. The rolling job cuts are likely to extend through at least June, according to people familiar with the matter, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the layoffs.

“It’s difficult to imagine the feeling of walking on eggshells every day at work, uncertain whether or not you’ll be able to pay your bills or feed your family,” Michael Minick, a former Tesla sales representative who was laid off in April, wrote on LinkedIn. “It would be a relief to know that they can breathe and focus on their work, without the gray cloud of uncertainty looming over.”

Tesla’s workforce already has endured dramatic transformation the last few years — the onetime Silicon Valley upstart with a maniacal vision on clean energy is now concentrated in Texas and fixated on other undertakings, including artificial intelligence and robots.

Some still with the company say Musk has sapped morale by prioritizing a robotaxi over a $25,000 electric vehicle. They also say a mission that had inspired legions of Musk acolytes has been muddied.

Musk has yet to give staff an “all clear” indication that the job cuts are over, leading co-workers to darkly joke with one another about anxiety and insomnia. One current employee described the atmosphere as akin to Squid Game, the hit television series in which characters facing financial hardship fight for their lives playing deadly children’s contests.

The waves of dismissals, which already have hit thousands across departments including sales, human resources and virtually the entire Supercharger division, are expected to gut significant parts of Tesla, which started the year with more than 140,000 employees. Musk has pushed for a 20% reduction in headcount, Bloomberg reported last month.

In the Supercharger division, some employees found out that Max de Zegher, the director of charging for North America, had been laid off after his Microsoft Teams icon suddenly went gray, indicating that he was no longer with the company.

Many on the team spent the next several days saying their goodbyes, cracking jokes and making references to the Titanic, according to Joel Musial, who was laid off from his job as a Tesla construction manager. “We were just missing the string quartet!” Musial wrote on LinkedIn.

The gallows humor pervaded the Supercharging team, which had set up more than 6,200 stations and 57,000 connectors worldwide and was in the process of opening the network to other automakers, which should increase usage.

Musk says Tesla still plans to grow the network, albeit at a slower pace. He rehired de Zegher, but hasn’t said how many others will be asked to return.

It’s also unclear whether the company will have enough personnel to sustain Supercharger stations, after layoffs hit several technician groups. A former employee in California said two dozen people were cut from an 80-person team that maintained and fixed Superchargers in Northern California, leaving gaps in both geography and specialties.

The region now has just one employee in an over 200-mile stretch between Santa Rosa and Eureka, said the person, who was cut two weeks after the initial layoff announcement.

Another person in a similar role based in Canada predicted chaos after he and dozens of others were let go, since many Tesla charging stations are hours apart, and the amount of work required will only increase once more companies’ customers get access.

He said he’d worked for two weeks after the initial layoff announcement in a state of distraction and uncertainty, where an ever-growing workload and constantly disappearing co-workers made it difficult to concentrate. On his last day at Tesla, he said he was dispatching technicians and attending his daily slate of meetings, only to find himself locked out of his company laptop at 10:45 p.m. By 11:01 p.m. that night, he received the layoff notice at his personal account.

The cuts are hitting at a time of sluggish demand for the broader EV industry, which is heaping pressure on a workforce already coming to grips with changes in the company’s culture, according to a former sales employee. The person said he’d already seen significant turnover in his near-decade with Tesla, and that each departure cost the carmaker crucial institutional knowledge.

“Great companies are made up of equal parts great people and great products, and the latter are only possible when its people are thriving,” Rich Otto, who resigned as Tesla’s head of product launches this month, said in a LinkedIn post that he deleted after media outlets reported on it. “The recent layoffs that are rocking the company and its morale have thrown this harmony out of balance, and it’s hard to see the long game.”

The Fortune 500 Innovation Forum will convene Fortune 500 executives, U.S. policy officials, top founders, and thought leaders to help define what’s next for the American economy, Nov. 16-17 in Detroit. Apply here.
About the Authors
By Kara Carlson
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Dana Hull
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Bloomberg
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Success

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Success

jiro
CommentaryLeadership
You don’t need to be an expert to hire one. You need a tunaman
By Vitaliy KatsenelsonJuly 28, 2026
1 hour ago
Gen Z say selling their secondhand stuff online is teaching them more about business than college—and 85% of hiring managers agree
SuccessCareers
Gen Z say selling their secondhand stuff online is teaching them more about business than college—and 85% of hiring managers agree
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 28, 2026
5 hours ago
This CEO was bedridden 16 hours a day. She turned her own misdiagnosis into a self-funded, multimillion-dollar thyroid clinic
SuccessMost Powerful Women
This CEO was bedridden 16 hours a day. She turned her own misdiagnosis into a self-funded, multimillion-dollar thyroid clinic
By Sydney LakeJuly 28, 2026
5 hours ago
Photo of Elon Musk
SuccessElon Musk
A Nobel economist challenged Elon Musk to donate his entire $1T fortune by 2036. Musk’s reply: ‘I am actually going to do something along these lines’
By Sydney LakeJuly 27, 2026
15 hours ago
l
Arts & EntertainmentWealth
LeBron James joins California’s billionaire exodus, but he may not escape the wealth tax
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
16 hours ago
People at dinner table paying the bill
Personal FinanceVisa
About half of Gen Z owe their friends more than $1,000, while nearly another half goes into debt to cover group expenses they expect to be repaid
By Catherina GioinoJuly 27, 2026
16 hours ago

Most Popular

New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
Retail
New York City women are making up to $30,000 per month by renting out their closets to strangers
By Sarah GlodekJuly 27, 2026
1 day ago
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
C-Suite
Why did a $154 billion CEO just endorse stripping most Americans of voting rights—and taking us back to the 19th century?
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
20 hours ago
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
Real Estate
The millennial generation is split in 2: an older crowd with boomer-style comfort, a younger set going 'back to the early 1900s'
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 25, 2026
3 days ago
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
Commentary
I've been teaching college students for decades. Most of them can no longer finish a book
By Austin SaratJuly 26, 2026
2 days ago
One-third of Seattle's downtown is empty: Here's how America's boomtown turned into one of the toughest places to find a job
Real Estate
One-third of Seattle's downtown is empty: Here's how America's boomtown turned into one of the toughest places to find a job
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 27, 2026
1 day ago
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
Success
An 11-year-old is cleaning his neighbors' trash cans for $10 each—he now has 100K followers as teens face the worst summer job market since 1948
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 25, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.