Tesla has increased the quarterly performance bonuses for many Gigafactory Shanghai workers, according to a new report. The facility is Tesla’s largest globally by volume, with 20,000 staff and a capacity to crank out a million EVs annually.
Tesla China employees told Reuters that they welcomed the reward after the company cut bonuses early this year, reportedly due to a safety incident at the factory that resulted in the death of one worker.
Three workers said that they received bonuses of 1.5 times their monthly base salary for Q2 2023, higher than the regular quarterly bonus of 1.2 times the monthly salary many workers received for average performance. They added that the company didn’t give them a reason for the hike.
In the wake of the bonus cuts in April 2023, workers had appealed to CEO Elon Musk, who had then stated that he was alerted about the situation and was looking into it. The China plant manufactures the Model 3 and Model Y for the local market and has also become the brand’s new export hub.
Early this month, reports surfaced about layoffs at Giga Shanghai. Tesla let go of several workers on the battery production line and offered some employees the option to shift to different workshops such as stamping, painting, or general assembly.
Musk visited the Shanghai plant recently and waxed eloquent about the employees' hard work, positive energy, and the ability to “getting things done.” He said that Giga Shanghai not just had the most efficient production, but also the highest quality.
Q2 2023 wholesale shipments of the Made in China (MIC) Model 3 and Model Y amounted to a record 247,217 units, up 120 percent from the previous year. It’s the highest quarterly output the factory has achieved since production started. The increasing sales can also be attributed to aggressive price cuts, which likely kept Giga Shanghai busy.
