Hyunjoo Jin, Victoria Waldersee

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters: Tesla has cut 14% job listings since Elon Musk, Chief Executive of Tesla, warned that he is worried about the economic outlook and suggested that he needed to trim staff. This would mean that there will be no further hiring in this country.

Tesla’s actions show concern for the state of the global economy, as markets shrink and inflation rises. Recession worries are rampant.

According to Thinknum Alternative Data, there are now 5,011 job listings for Tesla on the website. This is down from 5,855 when the site was launched. Listings have fallen 32% since a May 21st high.

About 20 other people identifying as Tesla employees also claimed they were let go, laid off, or had their jobs terminated within the past week according to online posts and interviews with Reuters. This is quite a small number considering Tesla’s staff size, however, several people said they were part a 10% job cut, which suggests that Tesla is actually layingoff workers.

Other Tesla workers cited a sense of uncertainty over how job cuts would be implemented and said Musk’s order earlier this month that they return to the office and stop working remotely had made their positions untenable.

Tesla has not responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.

It was unclear what the full extent of job cuts were and whether they have been compensated by increased hiring. Tesla is still a highly sought-after employer, with its climate-focused mission and record of innovation which has fuelled rocketing car sales.

Tesla, with around 100,000 workers worldwide at the end last year, cancelled three of its online recruitment events this month for China.

Tesla continued to hire people in Germany and other areas where it is ramping-up production of its electric vehicle factory. Brandenburg is the state that the plant is situated. This week, the regional economy minister said that Tesla had hired between 500-600 new employees per month.

“SUPER BAD” START TO MUSK MESSAGES

Musk sent an email to Tesla executives June 2, showing that he was feeling “super bad” about the economy. The email, which was published by Reuters on June 2, stated that Musk had told them that he needed to reduce staff by around 10% and “stop all hiring globally.”

Following up, he wrote a message to all employees stating that the 10% job cut would only apply to salaried workers. He tweeted on June 4 that in the next 12 month, the headcount of salaried employees would be the same as before and the total number at Tesla would increase. Musk’s warning about the economy was read by analysts as a warning for the broader auto sector, which has seen strong demand relative to production despite two years of global pandemic and increasing concern of the risk of recession.

Tesla has seen record sales and earnings, despite the constraints of its supply chain. However, production in Shanghai was stopped by a lockdown. Tesla Investors’ concerns over Musk’s proposed purchase of Twitter (NYSE:) also caused its stock price to drop. Another source found evidence suggesting that Tesla may have slowed job postings in the last week. Snow Bull Capital, an Hedge Fund, estimated that there was a 24% decline in Tesla postings worldwide in the first week. There was a 12% drop in the second.

Julian Cantu was a Tesla worker who worked in Austin for more than a year. He claimed that he received severance pay. Cantu stated that “I didn’t think it would happen” and was compensated on an hourly basis.

Cantu said to Reuters several members of his team were also losing their jobs. He said that some of the team had relocated to Texas in order to work at Tesla.

Others who have left Tesla include the company’s country manager in Singapore, the company’s senior representative in India, a market it has suspended plans to enter, and a senior manager at Tesla’s Texas factory.

Musk stated in an email to his company that he was going to fire employees who didn’t return the office two days prior. He said making some of the best products would not be possible by “phoning it in”

Tesla has its headquarters in Texas. It also has U.S. locations in Fremont and Palo Alto in California.

Musk’s abrupt order to workers to return to working from the office blindsided some, two Tesla workers told Reuters.

One employee at Tesla, who was working remotely, stated to Reuters that these mixed messages were impinging onto his job.

“Many conference calls that I’ve been on have had people ask, “Have they heard anything?” Is there anyone you can think of who was laid off. The person stated that they spend 5-10 minutes trying to find information at the start of each call.