Tesla Workers Stay Despite Lower Pay — Employees Betting on Elon Musk’s Success?

Key Takeaways

• The median pay at Tesla is $200k lower than that of other Big Tech companies.
• Tesla staff are being offered generous stock grants over high base salaries.
• Some employees at Tesla have benefited greatly from shares in the company, but what about new employees?

Tesla is paying its staff significantly less than other Big Tech companies to retain employees who are passionate about the company’s mission, according to a new investigation from Business Insider .

Despite low base pay, generous stock grants have provided some staff with enough for a retirement fund in their twenties—but with stocks as volatile as Tesla, it is not guaranteed that new staff may benefit from this.

Tesla Pay Significantly Lower

Business Insider obtained a database of around 100,000 Tesla employees, showing everything from their salaries to who they reported to.

According to the SEC filings in 2021, Tesla employees’ median pay was around $40k. This is significantly lower than the median pay at Google and Meta, which sits at around $290k.

The publication found that many Tesla employees are making more on stock grants than their actual base pay salaries.

The highest-paid employees were those who worked in machine learning and AI. Lower-paid staff worked in sales, delivery, and customer support jobs.

Employees Bet on Future

Grace Kay, a correspondent at Business Insider, said that Tesla’s lower pay makes sense because it is looking for “people who are truly dedicated to the mission of the company.”

Musk, who once claimed to sleep on Tesla’s floor during a crunch period, has long emphasized the importance of hard work in his companies.

In one of his emails to staff on Tesla’s remote work policy, he wrote: “The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence.”

“That is why I lived in the factory so much – so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.”

The company’s base pay salaries mirror this outlook. A lower than average’ salary will likely only attract employees who are passionate about the company’s mission and willing to bet on the company’s success.

Worries for New Staff

Some Tesla staff who worked at the company in its early days have made so much money off the stock grants that they have enough for retirement.

While these staff felt highly fortunate in their position, they expressed concerns about new staff entering the job expecting the same returns.

More than other companies in the industry, Tesla’s stock has proven to be heavily influenced by the actions of its CEO. Tweets from Musk have heavily affected the company’s stock in the past, with some even resulting in lawsuits from the SEC.

Although some staff have reaped the rewards from their lower-paid roles, if Tesla’s stock loses its momentum, employees may expect a higher salary to match the rest of the industry.