Elon Musk has told employees in a company-wide email that he must approve all new hires at Tesla, including contractors.
The Tesla CEO said executives should “think carefully” before sending him a new employee.
It’s a sign that Musk may be refocusing on Tesla after finding a new Twitter CEO.
Elon Musk is making a change at Tesla: the CEO wants to personally approve every new hire.
“Think carefully before you send me a request,” Musk wrote in an email obtained by Business Insider. “No one can work at Tesla, even as a contractor, until you have emailed my approval.”
In Monday morning’s email, the Tesla CEO said he wanted to “get a better understanding of our hiring” and that executives should send him a list of their candidates for approval once a week. The EV blog Electrek has as first reported on the email.
According to Tesla, it received 3.6 million applications in 2022
In the past year employed Tesla almost 130,000 employees and increased its headcount by about 30,000. The company’s hiring process is already very competitive. In 2022, the carmaker said it received over 3.6 million applications have received.
For Musk, however, his personal interference in the application process is not a new strategy. In 2019 he sent one similar emailin which he asked for approval for all new hires.
The latest email came just days after Musk announced he had hired a new CEO for Twitter. The billionaire shared that former NBCUniversal advertising executive Linda Yaccarino will step down as Twitter CEO in about six weeks take over and that he will move into a CTO role to oversee the social network’s products.
“Thank you – Elon”
Tesla shares soared after this announcement and so did investors rails the message to celebratethat Musk will devote himself more to the electric car manufacturer.
Since Musk took over as Twitter CEO in November, some Tesla shareholders have expressed concern about his focus on the social media company, as Musk has been sleeping at its headquarters. Recently wrote several Tesla investors an open letterin which they said Musk was “distracted” by other endeavors and called for him to be reined in.
A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Musk’s email prior to the publication of this article.
Read Musk’s full email, titled “Recruitment,” below:
I would like to gain a better understanding of our attitudes. The vice presidents should send me a list of their department’s hiring requests once a week.
Think carefully before sending me the request. No one can work at Tesla, even as a contractor, until you have emailed my approval.
Thank you,
Elon
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