Tesla China Recalls Laid-Off Employees

Tesla‘s China region recently initiated the process of recalling previously laid-off employees in the past two days. It is expected that more than 100 people will be recalled, and due to the recent start of this work, the number of recalls may change. Currently, the planned recalled employees were originally from departments such as charging, sales, after-sales, and delivery. If they agree to be recalled, returning employees need to return “3” parts of the “N+3” severance compensation and their seniority will be recalculated.

On April 15th local time, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed in an internal email to employees that the company will cut more than 10% of its global workforce to reduce costs and improve productivity.

Tesla’s operations in China are also affected, with layoffs exceeding 10%. The layoffs in the charging, sales, and marketing teams even reached a rate of 40%-50%. For those who are laid off, Tesla’s compensation standard is ‘N+3’, and they are required to leave the office on the same day after agreeing on the layoff compensation terms. By the end of May, Tesla China has started issuing layoff compensations.

Two employees from Tesla’s Beijing office said that after the layoffs, the number of staff in the Beijing office was reduced by nearly half, and the Shanghai office also decreased by almost one-third. Stimulated by price reductions, Tesla’s sales in China rebounded in May. Data from the China Passenger Car Association shows that Tesla sold over 55,000 vehicles domestically in May, an increase of 77% compared to the previous month and a 30% year-on-year growth. In May, Tesla’s wholesale sales of new energy passenger cars in China reached 72,573 units (including exports).

According to a laid-off employee, the first group of employees to be recalled are from Tesla’s charging team, followed by sales, after-sales service, and delivery staff.

On May 14th, Tesla also rehired some employees from the supercharging team in the United States. The team was disbanded at the end of April, with nearly 500 employees being laid off. The highest-ranking person among those rehired is Max de Zegher, North American Director of Charging Operations. Currently, Tesla has started recruiting for sales, after-sales service, and delivery positions in China.

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