Electric automaker Tesla is cutting salaries and laying off hourly staff as the coronavirus hammers demand and impacts operations.
In an email to employees, Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) said anyone who holds a director or vice president position will see a pay cut of 20% to 30% while others will see their pay slashed by 10%.
“While we are continuing to keep only minimum critical operations running, we expect to resume normal production at our U.S. facilities on May 4, barring any significant changes. Until that time, it is important we take action to ensure we remain on track to achieve our long-term plans,” the email said, according to CNBC.
The pay cuts are expected to last until the end of the second quarter. Non-U.S. employees will see similar cuts, according to the email.
Tesla Cuts Employees
Nonessential employees will begin to receive furlough notices “in the coming days.”
Employees who cannot work from home or have not been “assigned to critical work onsite” are considered nonessential.
The company is also halting all salary and hourly rate adjustments and equity grants.
Tesla stopped all contract work with staffing agencies until further notice last week. It released hundreds of temporary employees from their jobs.
According to Forbes, as of mid-July 2019, Tesla employed more than 45,000 at its factories around the world.
Production jumps
News of the furloughs comes a week after the company reported an increase in first-quarter deliveries.
Production and deliveries of its new Model Y sport utility vehicle were significantly ahead of schedule. The company delivered its highest number of vehicles in any first quarter to date.
It produced and delivered the Model Y for the first time in Q1.
The company, however, did not break down deliveries or production by model in its report.
Tesla reported delivering approximately 88,400 of its electric vehicles in Q1. Estimates were for around 79,900. Tesla also said it produced around 103,000 vehicles in total.
“Like many publicly traded companies, Tesla isn’t immune to COVID-19, but these delivery and production numbers show it produces solid products that are in demand,” Banyan Hill Publishing’s Amber Lancaster said.
Tesla Plant Status
Tesla only began to temporarily suspend production at its San Francisco Bay Area vehicle factory on March 24. It previously closed its Shanghai factory to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in China, but has since re-opened it.
In late March, the company said it would slash the on-site staff at its Storey County, Nevada, gigafactory by 75%, according to a note from county manager Austin Osborne.
Shares of Tesla were up 1.9% in Wednesday premarket trading.