German Tesla executives visit sick workers’ homes to ‘appeal to employees’ work ethic,’ says factory boss

Managers at Tesla’s Grünheide factory in Germany are visiting the homes of workers on sick leave, but don’t expect them to bring chicken noodle soup and orange juice.

A manager at Tesla’s Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory sent officials to check on around 30 sick employees, according to a German media report. Handelsblatt newspaper. According to a recording of an internal meeting, these visits were paid for.

Employees did not react well to their superiors’ visits, with some planning to call the police or slam the door in their superiors’ faces.

But the production manager of the Grünheide factory, André Thierig, has redoubled his efforts to visit the sick workers. He said the widespread use of sick leave is because workers are taking advantage of Germany’s policy of giving employees their full salary for six weeks off. About 5% more employees take sick leave on Fridays and late shifts than on other workdays, he said, citing company analytics.

“This is not an indicator of poor working conditions because the working conditions are the same every working day and in all shifts,” Thierig told Tutor. “This suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”

Thierig added that visiting workers on sick leave was a common practice and was just an “appeal to the employees’ work ethic.”

Union grievances

These checks follow reports of rampant absenteeism at the factory. Handelsblatt newspaper reported that sick leave at Tesla’s German factory increased 17% in August, triple the German auto industry average.

The rise even caught the attention of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who wrote on X that he planned to investigate the matter.

Dirk Schulze, regional director of IG Metall, the German union representing some of the plant’s 12,000 workers, said difficult working conditions and long hours have necessitated a higher rate of sick leave. . Tesla would need to make changes to its work culture if it wants to see a reduction in employee sick leave, he said.

“Employees in almost all areas of the plant reported an extremely high workload,” he told the Tutor. “When there is a staff shortage, sick workers are put under pressure and those who remain healthy are overloaded with extra work. »

Tesla and IG Metall did not respond Fortunerequest for comment.

Last October, German media reported a high number of workplace accidents at the factory, such as burns and limb amputations, which forced workers to take at least three days of sick leave. Tesla said workers received protective clothing and factory safety training.

The German gigafactory, which opened in 2022 as the company’s first European operation, promised the capacity to eventually produce one million cars per year. But the company fell short of expectations and lowered its monthly production targets last year as it tried to reduce electric vehicle costs amid falling demand. Tesla planned to voluntarily lay off around 300 German factory workers in April.

A few months after starting operations, the German factory struggled to retain employees. Workers at the time claimed that some employees were taking sick leave longer than their period of employment due to a lack of motivation. Others left due to low wages in an otherwise competitive sector.

The electric vehicle giant has a history of punishing workers who take sick leave outside of its European operations. During the pandemic, two U.S. Tesla employees said they received termination notices after calling in sick and waiving unpaid leave, although the company gave employees the option of not returning to work. They didn’t feel comfortable. Workers at Tesla’s Nevada factory say the company threatened to fire them for taking sick days, which Tesla considered “an unscheduled day off.”

“It’s at the discretion of the supervisor,” an anonymous Tesla employee told the Tutor in 2019. “If they want to get rid of you, it’s very easy to say that an absence was not scheduled or was not approved. »

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com