Tesla performs random, unannounced home visits to employees taking sick time

[DrQ]

Tesla performs random, unannounced home visits to employees taking sick time, gets door slams and threats to call cops​

Snippets from an eyebrow-raising conversation recorded during a Tesla meeting in Germany are making the rounds this week. Allegedly, the Grünheide-based Tesla Gigafactory’s managing director and human resources director chose a random group of 30 employees on sick leave. Then, they went to their houses to “see how they were doing.”​

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Many Americans might feel shocked to learn that the U.S. also allows home visits by employers. Bosses can “visit” or perform a “welfare check” by knocking on your door. They must respect your privacy and personal space. Culturally, of course, I’d expect such a move would be received similarly to, if not worse than, the German Gigafactory workforce response.​

Tesla performs random, unannounced home visits to employees taking sick time, gets door slams and threats to call cops

Apparently, in July 2024, the Tesla Gigafactory offered employees a bonus if they didn’t submit much sick time.

www.motorbiscuit.com

 

[davidvel]

What an incredibly caring, employee first company. Never heard of U.S. companies caring so much about sick employees to make house calls to make sure they are OK. This is very sweet, and they should be commended.

 

[WorldT]

Good one

 

[mjm1]

I don’t know. If 17% of the workforce is out “sick” at the same time I can see why they might want to check it out. If they know there is something going around that is contagious then maybe not. My guess is the people who screamed the loudest weren’t really sick. Hard to know.

 

[stmartinfan]

I'm not sure if German laws have changed, but back in the 70s employees had much greater protection there than in the US..and considerably better benefits. I worked as a civilian HR employee for the US military in Germany along side many local people. Their sick leave and vacation benefits far outstripped anything we got as US civil service workers, and the process to layoff or fire someone who was a German national was considerably more stringent than with a US employee. I would expect the German policies would be especially galling for Tesla managers if they'd come from the US!

 

[Brett]

Sounds like something from the TV show 'The Office' but that's in Germany, here in America no one takes sick leave unless they are actually sick.
It's now called personal time off or 'mental health day' or something, I'm old and retired so I don't know

 

[jp10558]

Sounds like trying to bring back what Ford did in the early 20th century! And it wasn't a good thing.

 

[noreenkate]

Many Americans might feel shocked to learn that the U.S. also allows home visits by employers. Bosses can “visit” or perform a “welfare check” by knocking on your door. They must respect your privacy and personal space.

"Out of residence sick" was the one thing that could get you fired immediately from my old job, it was one of the conditions of having "unlimited" sick time. That kind of benefit wasn't worth risking.

 

[WorldT]

I don’t know. If 17% of the workforce is out “sick” at the same time I can see why they might want to check it out. If they know there is something going around that is contagious then maybe not. My guess is the people who screamed the loudest weren’t really sick. Hard to know.

This wasn't a check in to see how you are doing. It was to catch those that were lying.

 

[davidvel]

This wasn't a check in to see how you are doing. It was to catch those that were lying.

What's the difference?

 

[WorldT]

What's the difference?

A concerned manager may call, email or stop by to drop off some soup when you are sick. That is going over and beyond. A manager who thinks people are lying (not really sick) stops by to catch the liars.

Two very different things.

 

[mjm1]

This wasn't a check in to see how you are doing. It was to catch those that were lying.

A concerned manager may call, email or stop by to drop off some soup when you are sick. That is going over and beyond. A manager who thinks people are lying (not really sick) stops by to catch the liars.

Two very different things.

Understood. It could also be a bit of both. If a company suspects that people are taking advantage of the situation what are they supposed to do? It sounds like they were very selective in checking in on a small number of employees.

 

[jp10558]

Understood. It could also be a bit of both. If a company suspects that people are taking advantage of the situation what are they supposed to do? It sounds like they were very selective in checking in on a small number of employees.

Ask for a doctors note? What if the people weren't home because they were en route to the doctor, or were in the hospital, or going to the pharmacy?

 

[davidvel]

A concerned manager may call, email or stop by to drop off some soup when you are sick. That is going over and beyond. A manager who thinks people are lying (not really sick) stops by to catch the liars.

Two very different things.

In the end there is no difference. If the people are sick, they give them soup. No harm, no foul. If not, maybe they get caught. It seems like most things, the people that are truly incensed are the ones getting called out for bad behavior.

But then, I think there should be a $2,500 fine for having your cell phone in your hand in a car, or running a red light. When there is little ability to actually enforce, you need to give people a reason to police themselves when no one is looking, but they fear someone might be.

 

[WorldT]

Understood. It could also be a bit of both. If a company suspects that people are taking advantage of the situation what are they supposed to do? It sounds like they were very selective in checking in on a small number of employees.

Ordinarily it could be both. However, judging by the responses of some of the people involved, I don't think they came bearing soup.