However, Musk had not commented specifically on staffing in
China, which made more than half of the vehicles for the automaker globally and
contributed a quarter of its revenue in 2021.
The company canceled the three events for positions in
sales, R&D and its supply chain originally scheduled for June 16, 23 and
30, notifications on messaging app WeChat showed late on Thursday, without
stating a reason.
Tesla did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on
Friday.
Notification of a June 9 event to recruit staff for “smart
manufacturing” roles was not visible and it was not immediately clear it had
been held as planned.
The China operation is still allowing resume submission for
more than 1,000 openings posted on the social media platform, such as
aerodynamics engineers, supply chain managers, store managers, factory
supervisors and workers.
Musk had a “super bad feeling” about the economy, he said in
an email seen by Reuters last week.
In another email to employees on Friday, Musk said Tesla
would reduce salaried headcount by a tenth, as it had become “overstaffed in
many areas,” but added that hourly headcount would increase.
Production at Tesla’s Shanghai plant was badly hit after the
Chinese commercial hub began a two-month COVID-19 lockdown late in March.
Output is set to fall by more than a third this quarter from
the previous one, outpacing Musk’s prediction. -Reuters