Tesla has been visiting the homes of as many as 30 German employees who called in sick, according to a report from the Telegraph, which added that the EV maker even defending such visits, citing Elon Musk’s investigation into the high rates of absenteeism within the company.
The report cited the manager of Tesla’s gigafactory, André Thierig, as saying that turning up at the homes of staff like this was not unusual and that they “wanted to appeal to the work ethic of the workforce.”
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This came after the percentage of Berlin gigafactory workers calling in sick reached 17% in August, compared to the German car industry’s sick leave average of a little over 5%. The gigafactory employs around 12,000 staff.
The situation reached the extent of Tesla giving bonuses of €1,000 (£830) to staff who turn up to work regularly (more than 95% of the time), with executives going as far as to call staff who frequently call in sick as “dishonourable” and as “exploiting” the system.
German carmaking union IG Metall claimed that the high absence rate was due to the staff being overworked and put in unsafe conditions. Musk, a vocal critic of unions had clashed with them multiple times.
“That is not an indicator of bad working conditions because the working conditions are the same on all working days and across all shifts,” the report quoted Thierig as saying. “It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”
Musk even responded to a tweet describing the situation.
“We will not tolerate some people bending their backs for others who just don’t feel like coming to work,” the report quoted Thierig as telling staff last year. “There is no room in his factory for people who don’t get out of bed in the morning.”
Some of the staff members haven’t taken the visits well. The report said some of them slammed doors and some even threatened to call the police, according to Tesla’s HR director Erik Demmler.