Tesla Is Not A Honeytrap Says Musk

Apart from showing off the humanoid Optimus at Tesla Day 2022, Musk remarked on the work culture at Tesla and how it is different from “a few honey trap companies in Silicon Valley".

To support the statement, he further added, “Tesla is not that; we are demanding, and it’s not going to be easy, but your talents will be used to a greater degree than anywhere else”.

The prototypical 21^st century tycoon at the intersection of tech, social media, wealth (and even perfumes!) considers ‘having an environment where great engineers can flourish’ as one of his core responsibilities in running the company. “I think in many companies if someone is a talented, driven engineer, their talents are suppressed,” he added.

The tech world has already replaced the traditional 9-to-5 with the hyper-competitive ‘996 system’—from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, six days a week. Take it from Musk: Nobody ever changed the world on ‘40 hours a week’.

The engineering first philosophy

It is no secret that Tesla primarily focuses on making cars packed with well-tested and useful features that rely on top-notch engineering.

Creating a great environment where work is maximised attracts talented engineers and simultaneously improves the environment. It’s a flyway. Musk strongly believes everyone should be a “chief engineer”. Engineers need to understand the system at a high level to comprehend when they are making an “optimisation” that affects a system negatively or fails to consider other system elements that may be more important. For example, Musk [discussing SpaceX design challenges] noted that more time had been spent reducing engine mass than residual propellant—despite both being equally important.

“We [engineers] take a concept to production, and I get to create things from literally nothing. We start with basic engineering principles, and then Tesla gives us the freedom to exercise our engineering skills,” said Matt Kurihara, who joined Tesla as an intern. Eight years later, he’s a senior mechanical design engineer at the company’s Palo Alto office. 

“I have nothing but good things to say,” he added. 

On the contrary 

Earlier this year in June, Solomon Chau, a shareholder at Tesla, sued Musk over breaching fiduciary duty. In the complaint, he stated, “This toxic work environment has gestated internally for years, and only recently has the truth about Tesla’s culture emerged, leading to legal action from government regulators and private parties alike”.

A month later, in July, Musk created a scene about employee attendance by sending out an email demanding his employees work a minimum of 40 hours per week in-person. However, reports found that Tesla still does not have enough space or resources to accommodate the returning employees. Morale had apparently dropped so low that one-tenth of the workers were absent on any given day.

This is not the first time Tesla engineers have decried their CEO. Last year, some 19 engineers publicly claimed that Musk misled the public about Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Autopilot’s safety. 

The $0 marketing mix

Apart from the top grade engineering, Tesla cars have become the most desired luxury product in the category—relying heavily on word of mouth. Rather than deploying traditional marketing tactics worth a fortune practised by most legacy automakers, Tesla has managed to distinguish itself in the automaker market by spending $0.

At the start of 2020, Tesla was the highest-performing company in terms of total return, sales growth and long-term shareholder value. With his enchanting words and Twitter shenanigans, one can credit the brainchild business visionary Musk for effectively producing enormous free exposure for the company. Moreover, the brand’s recognition drives the demand for Tesla in the segment. 

Another major reason Tesla stands out from its competitors is its customer experience. No third party interferes in the company’s business from the initial test drive to follow-up maintenance. The automaker has ensured their relationship is not purely transactional, unlike the other players in the market. No wonder Tesla has the upper hand when talking about customer loyalty, with an overall satisfaction rating of 90%.