• A Tesla factory boss defended the decision to knock on workers’ doors when they are off 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 off sick.

Tesla Gigafactory senior director André Thierig suggested that workers at the plant on the outskirts of Berlin had been exploiting German sick leave laws 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, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported, citing a recording of an internal meeting.

Thierig said turning up at employees’ homes was not unusual, according to German press agency DPA, as reported by The Telegraph.

He told DPA that Tesla executives wanted to appeal to the “work ethic” of employees. Tesla factory execs have 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. It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent,” said Thierig.

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

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

Musk is known for encouraging a “hardcore” approach to work at Tesla, with employees having to sleep on the production line and in their cars to meet punishing deadlines in the past.

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