Tesla is looking to lay off more workers at its Gigafactory in Nevada, coming as the latest in the company’s efforts to trim its workforce globally.
After the company sent a letter to affected workers globally noting that they would be let go earlier this month, multiple additional rounds of layoffs have hit the company. From Tesla’s advertising team, which was cut in its entirety, to follow-up layoffs hitting those in the U.S. and in Germany, the move represents the latest in the company’s attempts to trim costs by restructuring—and getting rid of what it considers “redundant” positions.
As spotted in a notice sent to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation this week, Tesla plans to cut roughly 693 employees from the plant in Sparks, Nevada (via Reuters). The notice came as a part of the U.S. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires companies of more than 100 workers to report any mass layoffs or location closings 60 days ahead of official announcement.
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Tesla’s Giga Nevada builds battery cells, and the company is currently expanding the facility to add additional 4680 cell production capacity and production lines for the Semi.
Alongside the recent layoffs, three high-profile Tesla executives have departed from the company, including Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering Drew Baglino, Vice President of Public Policy and Business Development Rohan Patel. In addition to Baglino and Patel, who announced their departure on Monday, the same day that news of the layoffs broke, Vice President of Investor Relations Martin Viecha announced his departure at the end of the Q1 2024 earnings call on Tuesday.
Regarding the layoffs, Tesla and Elon Musk have framed them as a tough but necessary decision, with Musk saying that the company would need to restructure like this around every five years or so, in order to “reorganize and streamline the company for the next phase of growth.”
Tesla’s earnings call also touched on the decision, with Chief Financial Officer Vaibhav Taneja highlighting the move’s overall annual savings, and using the same “next phase of growth” terminology.
“As we prepare the company for the next phase of growth, we had to make the hard but necessary decision to reduce headcount by over 10 percent,” Taneja said. “The savings generated are expected to be well in excess of $1.1 billion on an annual basis.”
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