Managers at Tesla’s Grünheide factory in Germany are visiting the homes of workers on sick leave—but don’t expect them to be bringing chicken noodle soup and orange juice.
A director of Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg sent managers to check on about 30 sick employees, according to German news outlet Handelsblatt. Per a recording from an internal meeting, these visits were paid.
Employees did not respond well to visits from their managers, with some planning to call the police or slamming the door on their supervisors.
But Grünheide factory manufacturing director André Thierig doubled down on the company’s decision to visit sick workers. He argued widespread use of sick days is a result of workers taking advantage of Germany’s policy that grants employees full pay for six weeks of leave. About 5% more employees take sick leave on Fridays and late shifts compared to other workdays, he said, citing company analyses.
“That is not an indicator of bad working conditions because the working conditions are the same on all working days and across all shifts,” Thierig told the Guardian. “It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”
Thierig added that visiting workers on sick leave was common practice and just an “appeal to the employees’ work ethic.”
Union grievances
The check-ups follow reports of rampant absenteeism at the factory. Handelsblatt reported that sick leave at Tesla’s German factory increased 17% in August, triple the average in the Germany auto industry.
The surge even caught the attention of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who wrote on X that he plans to investigate the matter.
Dirk Schulze, a regional director of IG Metall, the German union representing a chunk of the factory’s 12,000 workers, said harsh working conditions and long hours have necessitated higher rates of sick leave. Tesla should make changes to its work culture if it wants to see a reduction in employee sick leave, he said.
“Employees from almost all areas of the factory have reported an extremely high workload,” he told the Guardian. “When there are staff shortages, the ill workers are put under pressure and those who remain healthy are overburdened with additional work.”
Tesla and IG Metall did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Last October, German media reported a high number of work-related accidents at the factory, such as burns and limb amputations, that forced workers to take at least three days of sick leave. Tesla said workers received protective clothing and training on factory safety.
The German gigafactory, which opened in 2022 as the company’s first European operation, promised the ability to eventually produce a million cars per year. But it has fallen short and lowered its monthly production goals last year as it navigated cutting costs on electric vehicles amid waning demand. Tesla planned to carry out voluntary layoffs of about 300 German factory workers in April.
Months after the German factory began operations, the plant had trouble retaining employees. Workers at the time claimed some employees took sick leave longer than their period of employment due to lack of motivation. Others left due to low pay in an otherwise competitive industry.
The EV giant has a track record of allegedly punishing workers for taking sick leave outside of its European operations. During the pandemic, two U.S. Tesla workers said they received termination notices after calling out sick and opting out of unpaid leave, despite the company giving employees the option of not returning to work should they not feel comfortable. Tesla factory workers in Nevada have claimed the company threatened to fire them for taking sick days, which Tesla deemed “an unplanned day off.”
“It’s at the discretion of the supervisor,” an anonymous Tesla employee told the Guardian in 2019. “If they want to get rid of you, it’s very easy to say an absence was unscheduled or not approved.”
