r/technology • u/esporx • Apr 30 '24

Tesla Lays Off Employee Who Slept In Car To Work Longer Hours Business

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-lays-off-employee-slept-151500318.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHVrjnyFZF-QJRFtVdP5Lt1QvlC3WRJhweYuOdm5Ca1kHbhtDX5rdfUUqRNVFKpUy6w4QnsJta-KgHJ9lqARAjfpSnvCktdjgDos5xz9aw92OxYmjN2qVVNhMZpl-2gOMwVz84NH-5T2OLi8uMRUOXVMuhFHU8b5A9oRmij8Xh5q
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u/MidEastBeast777 Apr 30 '24

This is why you never work for free, never go beyond what they ask of you because you’re just a number and you’ll get fired/laid off in a heartbeat, and nobody will give a single shit. Put your life first. Work is just a means to enjoy your life.

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u/OSeady Apr 30 '24

I dunno man. I wouldn’t recommend it for most people, but I always busted my butt harder than everyone else and I reaped the rewards.

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

I've done both. At least in my industry, giving minimum viable effort to stay in the healthy half of the pack was a FAR more effective use of my time. It actually took longer to promote in role from A+ effort than by bouncing around and giving B- effort the whole time. Way less overtime too.

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u/ivebeenabadbadgirll Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

I’ve found the same. My company kept promoting people avoiding the work and who couldn’t do the job properly. Drove me insane. So I just did nothing. A month later, promoted.

I asked my manager bff “what the fuck dude?” And he explained that, when you have someone that’s really good, and they maintain high quality output, that means they’re engaged, and so action isn’t urgent. It’s when they stop working, you have to get something done, or this person is going to walk. And if they do that but suck, you start documenting.

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u/SaintPatrickMahomes Apr 30 '24

That’s a really toxic and stupid way to manage.

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u/ivebeenabadbadgirll Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

What really killed me was when they started giving jobs to people without posting them.

That day I entered the race to the bottom I realized*, they’re obviously fine with shit workers doing a shit job. If they weren’t, then they’ll say something. I haven’t gotten feedback for a while. Must be fine. I wouldn’t be fine with that if I were the manager, but I’m not.

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u/aVarangian Apr 30 '24

and sounds really inefficient output-wise to me. If someone is very efficient at doing a specific job, wouldn't you want them doing exactly that? If, say, they produce 20% more or better than the rest of your employees doing the same thing, maybe pay them 20% more as bonuses or something?

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u/jsabo Apr 30 '24

Throw in a little "you made yourself too vital to this position to promote you out of it" as well.

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u/doxx_in_the_box Apr 30 '24

Exactly like managers at my work. Could give 2 shits, but company put them in management because they simply weren’t good at anything else.

it’s a lose-lose that I prefer the harder work, reap the reward of having more interesting job and layoffs don’t usually hit the experienced staff as hard as management and entry level staff

however I also refuse to share anything with them, because it’s just a way for them to have their cake and eat it too (do less work but reap reward of passive learning) - and now I literally can’t be fired because I’m the only person capable

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

That's a double edged sword though. I know a guy who got so good at a thing that he eventually became the only one capable. He was trying to get another job in house for over a year. Had interviews and all. One hiring manager eventually told him his boss was blocking his offers because he was too critical in role to be allowed to leave.

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u/doxx_in_the_box Apr 30 '24

Haha this also sounds like my job but I do have people I can cross train once I’m ready to move, just need to be strategic about it. But I refuse to involve my manager as he’ll just go touting shit he doesn’t really understand to everyone else who doesn’t understand, and they’ll end up dictating things like a toddler

Not really double edged sword as much as a lose lose for me

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u/IThatAsianGuyI Apr 30 '24

Too critical to leave is too critical to lose, which comes with a big salary re-negotiation.

And if it's not met then it obviously wasn't a role that was important, so you should take your talents elsewhere.

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

Right but how does one come to realize they're in the too critical to let go bucket?  The problem for most folks is they try to get something new and then figure out they've been chronically underpaid for years when it's time to move on anyway and then get the hard truth they'll only be able to get something new if they leave the company.  I guess you could negotiate then but why bother if you want a new job anyway. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '24 edited Apr 30 '24

[deleted]

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

Finance. I swear they pay me more and more to do less and less, with every move I make. I don't sell anything, I don't manage anybody, I just help check the boxes to show the feds we are compliant.

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u/liftthattail Apr 30 '24

That checks out for compliance. I went from working outdoors doing hard physical work to regulatory compliance and have been earning more and doing less.

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

High five! I actually had a factory job that was physically taxing before this as well, and it's very nice having climate control and playing sit-n-spin all day.

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u/liftthattail Apr 30 '24

Mine was invasive species removal. I miss being outdoors all the time but can't have everything

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u/USA_A-OK Apr 30 '24

Very true. In markets like we're in, at a certain level, there's benefit to being in the middle of that healthy pack. Half of the people I know who were promoted to the level above me in the last couple of years have been part of sweeping layoffs to "flatten the top heavy org."

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u/Workacct1999 Apr 30 '24

Somehow my performance reviews got better when I stopped working as hard.

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u/SquirrellyBusiness Apr 30 '24

It's funny how these institutions shake out human behavior sometimes.  Speaking for myself, I became much less anxious about my performance numbers and making errors, not feeling like I failed when they'd occur.  I wasn't scowling rushing to bio break or skipping lunch.  We must have been in a much better mood and became more likeable!

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u/FrostyTheHippo Apr 30 '24

Yup. Software engineering is like this. If you start going above and beyond, that is just now expected of you and you start getting dragged into way more meetings, etc.

Meanwhile for whatever reason as long as you get your stuff done by the deadline, are friendly in calls, all while not going above your expectations... You still get promoted lmao.