Amanda Manley was employed at Tesla from 2017 to 2020. Now she tells us what it was like to work in tech billionaire Elon Musk’s company.
What kind of report is this? Today’s Project Manager Amanda Manley from Indianapolis summarizes in an article on businessinsider.com why working at Tesla for three years was fulfilling, but also incredibly exhausting and sacrificial.
When the 34-year-old American started working for tech billionaire and CEO Elon Musk’s company in 2017, everything was still in order. Even more than that. She describes it as an “incredible exhilaration” to be part of a team that believes everything is possible and feasible. She became a real Tesla supporter in a very short time. When she started, she didn’t even know who Elon Musk was.
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Unbelievable grind
What were Amanda Manley’s duties? According to the report, the employee was hired as a Department of Motor Vehicle Operations Specialist to help open Tesla’s first dealership in Indiana and develop various processes and policies.
Her team consisted of four women who often worked 12- to 16-hour shifts in the back room of the service center in Indianapolis so that, for example, all car deliveries could take place on schedule.
Despite the enormous working hours, she describes the years 2017 and 2018 as extremely fulfilling and inspiring because she had such great colleagues who pulled together and created the best possible synergies.
What were the downsides of the job? Due to the enormous hours of work, it was inevitable that Amanda Manley missed a lot in her private life. Here the wedding anniversary, there the daughter’s dance performance, one year even Christmas. Tesla was also there for the honeymoon.
She also increasingly took work home with her. She talked on the phone while eating instead of making time for her family. The mother and wife justified this because, from her perspective, she was the only one who could do certain tasks or make decisions.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. At the end of 2018, customer inquiries increased so much that working hours became even more severe. Amanda Manley often worked late into the night. In the fourth quarter, the stress was so high that she had to fight against tears over and over again, constantly stressed and overworked.
But she didn’t quit, but instead struggled because other employees worked even more and even slept in the office. This created a kind of substitute family within the workforce because they no longer had time for their own.
How did Tesla end? When Amanda Manley became a mother for the second time in 2020, she was allowed to take six months of maternity leave. When this phase was over, Tesla immediately welcomed the familiar madness from day 1. It quickly became clear to her that she would not be able to handle this heavy workload again with a small child waiting for her at home.
When she had the opportunity to start as an auditor at another company, she resigned from Tesla. Three years later, she is still working on recovering from her time at Tesla and making up for lost time with her family. Looking back, she can’t believe she was able to work like this for so long. The employees of this company probably feel the same way: The 22-year-old boss of a company demands that his employees work 80 hours a week: “We don’t offer a work-life balance.”