So far, Tesla has found only a small fraction of the engineers needed for a new European plant near Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is struggling to show that his company is an attractive employer, as the electric vehicle maker struggles to find employees for its new European plant near Berlin. But as the opening date approaches, more specifically the summer of 2021, Musk finds the task of recruiting more difficult than expected.
Tesla should quickly recruit around 7,000 employees because the first cars are due to roll off the assembly line at the Grünheide plant as early as July next year. By the end of 2022, 5,000 more employees will need to be hired to increase production.
However, about eight months before the planned start of production, about 70% of the workers are still missing. This is reported by the German edition Automobilwoche. In addition, Tesla still needs to hire over 100 engineers.
Over time, Tesla representatives began a global search for suitable personnel. And when Musk visited Berlin last month to receive the Axel-Springer-Award for Innovation, he did his best to speed up the recruitment process. He personally conducted job interviews and hosted advertising campaigns, signing autographs and posing for selfies.
According to a survey by Berlin-based Civey for Automobilwoche, 36% of those surveyed consider Tesla to be an attractive employer, but 32% think the opposite. A similar number refrained from answering at all.
One reason for Tesla’s hiring problem is that employees with the skills the company needs have no problem working in Europe.