Tesla has introduced new attendance policies for its hourly workers and it has left some scratching their heads. The policy allows Tesla to cite employees who are even one minute late to work. Enough citations, called “occurrences” under the new internal policy, and employees could face termination.
The policy is designed to be more equitable according to the company. For example, employees are not just penalized for being late, but are penalized more the later they are.
Employees who have a longer tenure with the company are also given more leeway than newer employees. Employees who have been with the company more than three months can accrue 4.5 occurrences before being terminated. For employees with less than three months, termination come after only 3.5 occurrences.
Employees can also be required to work overtime on short notice when “critical business needs” are cited by “Vice President level [personnel] or higher.”
“Based on employee feedback, we’ve recently updated our attendance policy to be more fair and flexible. We’re appreciative of the hard work by our production teams, and regularly review policies to work for our employees. The policy update has been in the works for nearly two months and is similar to what you would find at other companies,” the company told CNBC.
The company has made headlines lately for an ongoing feud with a former employee. Tesla accuses the company of trying to sabotage its operations. The employee, a technician named Martin Tripp, claims he is a whistleblower who is trying to bring to light safety concerns and waste at the company.
The company filed a lawsuit against Tripp accusing him of writing software that hacked Tesla’s manufacturing operating system and transferring large amounts of Tesla data, including confidential photographs and a video of Tesla’s manufacturing systems, to outside entities.
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