SpaceX layoffs to protest Musk's behavior

SpaceX fired several employees who wrote and shared an open letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk's behavior.

The open letter, first published by The Verge, described Musk's behavior as "a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, especially in recent weeks." He cited SpaceX's "No Asshole" policy and called on the company to "condemn Elon's harmful behavior on Twitter."

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The authors of the letter stated:

“As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon Musk is considered the face of SpaceX — every Tweet Elon sends is a de facto public statement from the company. It is important to make it clear to our teams and talent pool that his messages do not reflect our work, the us or our values".

The open letter stated that Elon Musk's irregular behavior caused "shame" on SpaceX.

Some of the authors of the letter were fired on Thursday afternoon, according to an email sent by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. The news of the dismissal was first reported by the New York Times.

Shotwell said SpaceX "fired some of the staff involved" in creating the letter. "The letter, the requests and the general procedure made our employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and / or angry because the letter pressured them to sign something that did not reflect their opinions."

"We have a very critical task to complete and we do not need this kind of excessive activism."

An employee who agreed to the letter, but asked to remain anonymous, said the general feeling among other employees was that Shotwell's email was "deaf". The official claimed that the letter was the result of a "month of dedicated hard work and feedback to try to make sure we received as much information as possible".

Elon Musk has been unpredictable for some time, but since proposing the acquisition of Twitter in April - a $ 44 billion deal that has yet to be finalized - his behavior has attracted even more attention.

Last month, Insider reported that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $ 250.000 after Elon Musk allegedly exposed her and then proposed to her. Musk later joked about the incident on Twitter, telling another user "if you touch my sausage, you can have a horse".

You can read Shotwell's email below:

You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for your signature on an "open ” yesterday and your participation in a related survey.

 

Based on diverse employee feedback, this has upset many. That is, the letter, solicitations and process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views. Employees also complained that it interfered with their ability to focus on and do their work.

We have 3 launches within 37 hours for critical satellites this weekend, we have to support the astronauts we delivered to the ISS and get cargo Dragon back to the flight-ready, and after receiving environmental approval earlier this week, we are on the cusp of the first orbital launch attempt of Starship.

 

We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism — our current leadership team is more dedicated to ensuring we have a great and ever-improving work environment than any I have seen in my 35-year career. We solicit and expect our employees to all concerns to their leadership, senior management, HR, or Legal.

But blanketing thousands of people across the company with repeated unsolicited emails and asking them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys during the work day is unacceptable, goes against our documented handbook policy, and does not show the strong judgment needed to work in this very challenging space transportation sector.

 

We performed an investigation and have terminated a number of employees involved. I am sorry for this distraction.

Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time at work to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.

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Written by giorgos

George still wonders what he's doing here ...

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