Tesla has laid off staff in Asia as it cuts back on jobs after an edict by chief executive Elon Musk that the electric carmaker needed to reduce staff.
The company’s country manager in Singapore and its senior representative in India have both left, according to current and former employees.
Overall, the number of job listings on Tesla’s website has dropped to 5,011 from 5,855 at the start of the month, according to data provided to Reuters by Thinknum Alternative Data. Listings are down 32% from a recent high on May 21.
Hedge fund Snow Bull Capital calculated a 24% drop in Tesla job postings globally in the first week of June, and a 12% decrease in the second week of June.
Tesla’s actions are a concerning sign of the health of the global economy as markets contract, inflation soars and recession worries run rampant.
Carmaker Signals Layoffs
About 20 people identifying themselves as Tesla employees said they were laid off, let go or had positions terminated in the past week in online postings and interviews with Reuters.
That is a tiny number compared with the size of the company’s overall workforce, but several described being part of a 10% job reduction, signalling that the company is indeed laying off workers.
Other Tesla workers cited a sense of uncertainty over how job cuts would be implemented and said Musk’s order earlier this month that they return to the office and stop working remotely had made their positions untenable.
The carmaker did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Tesla, which had about 100,000 employees globally at the end of last year, also cancelled three online recruitment events for China that had been scheduled this month.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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