- Following an open letter to SpaceX, condemning the actions of its CEO, a heated debate sparks among the employees on an internal chat system.
- As reported, employees are being asked to sign on to the letter’s recommendations.
- At least five SpaceX employees are said to have been dismissed as a result of their involvement in the writing of an open letter to the company’s executives.
According to the source, Musk’s recent online behaviour in the wake of the Twitter takeover has created a debate among SpaceX employees on the company’s internal chat system, which includes 2,600 employees.
Employees at SpaceX are said to have written an open letter to the company’s president Gwynne Shotwell, criticising CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter behaviour, which is consequently harmful to the company itself. The letter has reportedly emphasized that corporate employees are invited to digitally sign the letter, either publicly or anonymously, with a signed copy of the letter to be sent to the President.
The letter stated, as was published on The Verge, “Employees across the spectra of gender, ethnicity, seniority, and technical roles have collaborated on this letter. We feel it is imperative to maintain an honest and open dialogue with each other to effectively reach our company’s primary goals together: making SpaceX a great place to work for all, and making humans a multi-planetary species.”
The identity of the individuals who wrote the letter is yet unknown, and the employees who posted it in the internal chat system have not replied to demands for comment.
“Elon’s behaviour in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter continues. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”
It’s unknown how much of the staff was let go. However, the president’s email, acquired by The New York Times, stated that the corporation had reviewed the letter and removed a number of personnel involved.
The open letter went on to discuss the latest allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against Mr Musk in the context of his disputed acquisition of Twitter.
Insider reported in May that a flight attendant said Mr Musk had approached her on a journey to London. Following this, he had made sexual advances and even exposed himself in front of her. In 2018, SpaceX paid the flight attendant a staggering amount of $250,000 to settle charges, according to Insider. To which Musk responded by joking about his genitalia on Twitter and branding the allegations to be “utterly untrue“.
The letter claims that the corporation is not adhering to its well-publicized “No Asshole” policy and its “zero-tolerance” policy on sexual harassment. Further suggests that SpaceX should publicly confront and denounce Elon Musk’s destructive Twitter behaviour, hold all leadership equally accountable for bad behaviour, and clearly clarify what exactly SpaceX’s ‘no-asshole’ and ‘zero tolerance’ standards are designed to achieve and implement them consistently.
However, Ms Shotwell wrote in an email to her team, defending Musk, that “Blanketing thousands of people across the company with repeated unsolicited emails and asking them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys during the work day is not acceptable.”
