How many of you are aware of how Elon Musk runs his companies? Exactly, very little! That is because all of his employees are required to sign confidentiality agreements, thus preventing them from talking about what happens behind the scenes. However, a few ‘whistleblowers’ have stepped forward and told a few things about how Musk is running his companies. We’ve got to say; it does look a bit terrifying. Check out the 20 leaked details about the strict rules that Elon Musk expects his employees to follow;
It became quite obvious that Musk is not amused by jargon when he sent an email titled ‘Acronyms Seriously Suck.’ In his email, he wrote that such verbiage features uncalled for words and not only confusing but also hard to remember. Therefore any jargons that have to be used must be approved by himself first.
As it happens, Musk has a strong and sensitive sense of smell. Thus all employees are advised not to wear any cologne or perfume.
There are no employee discounts! Although a lot of the companies offer discounts to their employees, Musk believes in taking ‘corrective action’ against anyone who is offering a discount on Teslas. He insists that the same prices must be maintained everywhere.
The safety markings are banned. Since Musk doesn’t like the green or yellow color, almost all of the safety markings are in grey.
An ex-employee of the company that worked in the health and safety department told the media that when she tried warning the company about a potential explosion hazard, she was told that since fixing the problem would have to halt the production line; it will not be followed up.
The employees are only allowed to have one-way conversations with Musk. Employees can only speak to Musk if he believes that he can learn something from them. Once he does, he moves onto the next subject or will simply shut the conversation down.
Owing to the fact that safety regulations consume a lot of time, the factories are nowhere near as safe as the cars. No part of the production line can be shut down for any reason whatsoever thus the preventative maintenance schedules generally go ignored.
There was once an incident that involved a sewage leak spilling all over the floor of the California Tesla factory. However, the employees were forced to walk and work through this mess while plumbing repairs went on.
A famous alleged question that Musk asked one of his managers was, ‘why do the workers need to go home?’ Apparently, there are no weekends off when you are working for Elon Musk.
Musk was under fire back in 2015 for scolding an employee of Tesla who missed a meeting so that he could attend the birth of his child. There are also reports of employees that had been placed on medical leave after a work injury but prevented from coming back to work.
Quotas are to be filled no matter what. To meet the production targets, self-imposed, of Tesla Model 3, the factory workers were provided free Red Bull energy drinks to help them combat exhaustion.
It is also a well-known fact that managers have supposedly told the staff not to ask Mr. Musk questions or raise objections or concerns.
Elon has declared the meetings to be the number one enemy of creativity. Thus large meetings are considered a no-go!
While Elon Musk maintains that his position is neutral, company’s employees have been fired for wanting to unionize.
You are not supposed to ask for a raise. It has been reported that the employees at the Fremont Tesla factory are paid less as compared to the typical salary of a US automotive production worker. This leads to employees working extra hours.
It has also been reported that the employees are prevented from reporting workplace injuries to keep the injury rate at Tesla in check.
As per a TED talk that Elon gave in 2013, ‘things should be boiled down to the most fundamental truth, and then reasoned up from there.’ All employees are expected to think this particular way!
However Elon treats his employees, he will not tolerate rudeness between his coworkers.
There is no chain of command so as to speak. Employees are expected to get the work done without being worried about the bureaucracy.
Unless the orders have been given by Elon himself, he expects the employees to disregard the company’s procedures and come up with their own ways of proceeding forward.
