After Tesla CEO Elon Musk ordered its remote employees to return to the office, several workers have reported about lack of seats and crappy Wi-Fi, which indicated that the company was ill-prepared to welcome back its staffers, media reports say.
Employees who arrived at Tesla’s Fremont, California facility reportedly did not even have a place to sit. The desk situation was so bad that managers told some employees to work from home, The Verge quoted The Information as saying in a report.
Even if employees could sit down, the Wi-Fi signal was too weak for them to work, the report said.
Tesla’s headcount has doubled since 2019, now sitting at 99,210 people, it added.
Earlier this month, Musk cited excess hiring and a “super bad feeling” about the economy as reasons for a hiring freeze and company-wide layoffs that reportedly includes both salaried and hourly workers.
Salaried workers make up about one-third of employees at the company, although it is unclear how many of them work at the office or Tesla’s factories.
During the pandemic, most of the employees who used to report to Tesla’s Fremont campus, which consists of office buildings and a factory, stayed home, at least up until Musk called everyone back to work.
Current employees at Tesla said that those who drove to work at the Fremont factory struggled to find a place to park. Some reportedly opted to park their cars at the nearby BART station instead and then get shuttled to work by Tesla.
Recently, Musk gave an ultimatum to Tesla employees to either return to the office or get out, saying they “should pretend to work somewhere else” if they disagree with the company’s policy.
Musk sent a series of emails that asked employees to come back to the office or be terminated. He also warned that everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week.
The electric car-maker started laying off salaried employees after Musk announced last week to cut the workforce, which would result in reducing Tesla’s total headcount by roughly 3.5%.