Tesla factory boss defends knocking on workers' doors when they're off sick at home

• A Tesla factory boss defended the decision to knock on workers' doors when they're out sick.

• André Thierig denied the home visits were unusual and suggested workers were exploiting the system.

• High rates of absence at the factory have attracted the interest of Elon Musk.

The boss of Tesla's German factory has defended the decision to send managers to knock on workers' doors while they're out sick.

André Thierig, the senior director of the country's Gigafactory, suggested that workers at the plant near Berlin had been exploiting German sick-leave laws. His defense came after local media reported that managers had been visiting the homes of some employees when they were off sick.

Some of those visits were met with doors slammed in bosses' faces and workers threatening to call the police, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported, citing a recording of an internal meeting.

Thierig said turning up at employees' homes was not unusual, the German press agency DPA said, according to The Telegraph.

He told DPA that Tesla executives wanted to appeal to the "work ethic" of employees. Tesla factory execs previously said the rate of sick leave was higher on Fridays.

"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 said. "It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent."

The plant's human-resources manager said the rate of employees calling in sick at Tesla's German factory, which employs about 12,000 workers and is the carmaker's only manufacturing plant in Europe, jumped to 17% in August, Handelsblatt reported — three times the average for the rest of the German auto industry in 2023.

The high rates of sick leave have drawn the attention of Elon Musk. In a post on X, the Tesla CEO said he would look into the report.

Musk is known for encouraging a "hardcore" approach to work at Tesla, with reports saying employees had in the past slept on the production line and in their cars to meet deadlines.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal working hours.

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