Space X open letter by some staff

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And a number of them have now been fired by Space X president Gwynne Shotwell.

A number of the letter’s drafters were fired Thursday afternoon, according to an email sent by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and seen by The Verge. News of the firing was first reported by The New York Times.

In the email, Shotwell said SpaceX had “terminated a number of employees involved” in crafting the letter. “The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views,” wrote Shotwell. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”
Here’s her email in full.

You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for your signature on an “open letter” yesterday and your participation in a related survey. Based on diverse employee feedback, this has upset many. That is, the letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views. Employees also complained that it interfered with their ability to focus on and do their work. We have 3 launches within 37 hours for critical satellites this weekend, we have to support the astronauts we delivered to the ISS and get cargo Dragon back to the flight-ready, and after receiving environmental approval early this week, we are on the cusp of the first orbital launch attempt of Starship. We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism — our current leadership team is more dedicated to ensuring we have a great and ever-improving work environment than any I have seen in my 35-years career.

We solicit and expect our employees to report all concerns to their leadership, senior management, HR, or Legal. But 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 unacceptable, goes against our documented handbook policy, and does not show the strong judgement needed to work in this very challenging space transportation sector. We performed an investigation and have terminated a number of employees involved.

I am sorry for this distraction. Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time at work to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.

 
Sure. Can't have the minions form and express a well supported and informed opinion on their own. If SpaceX truly had a “no-asshole” (their [Musk's?] words, not mine, so please don't censor/censure me for quoting it), Musk by default couldn't be involved in any of its operations at any level whatsoever at all. But as always, hypocrisy rules...
 
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Oh you continental Europeans, time-wise you're always way ahead of us Pacific Rim dwelling guest workers/expats in Southern
California... I'm just about to summon enough willpower to gear up for breakfast...
 
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Let face it we talking about Elon Musk here...

He is eccentric special on Social Media
if He want to Tweet about TESLA the message is check and counter check by lawyers...
 
"Eccentric" is a supremely charitable way to characterize his demeanor... I'm definitely not a fan of cutting a-holes any slack just because they are rich, (in)famous, creative or successful in any way, shape, or form. Norms are norms.
 
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And a number of them have now been fired by Space X president Gwynne Shotwell.

A number of the letter’s drafters were fired Thursday afternoon, according to an email sent by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and seen by The Verge. News of the firing was first reported by The New York Times.

In the email, Shotwell said SpaceX had “terminated a number of employees involved” in crafting the letter. “The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views,” wrote Shotwell. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”
Here’s her email in full.

You may have received an unsolicited request from a small group of SpaceX employees for your signature on an “open letter” yesterday and your participation in a related survey. Based on diverse employee feedback, this has upset many. That is, the letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views. Employees also complained that it interfered with their ability to focus on and do their work. We have 3 launches within 37 hours for critical satellites this weekend, we have to support the astronauts we delivered to the ISS and get cargo Dragon back to the flight-ready, and after receiving environmental approval early this week, we are on the cusp of the first orbital launch attempt of Starship. We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism — our current leadership team is more dedicated to ensuring we have a great and ever-improving work environment than any I have seen in my 35-years career.

We solicit and expect our employees to report all concerns to their leadership, senior management, HR, or Legal. But 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 unacceptable, goes against our documented handbook policy, and does not show the strong judgement needed to work in this very challenging space transportation sector. We performed an investigation and have terminated a number of employees involved.

I am sorry for this distraction. Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time at work to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.

Shotwell - nomen est omen?
 
This is just to confirm that Elon Musk does not have a Papal Dispensation. Further, I have no reason to believe that anything said (I refuse to use Tweeter words) is true or even from Elon Musk. The other cool kid billionaires are keen to play games because hey, when you've got billions, you've got some extra time on your hands, and maybe you want to have a little high school fun with your rich buds. The response from the person from SpaceX represents a retrograde mindset, i.e. 'IF you stop working for one microsecond it will delay us going to Mars.' I can't take that response seriously since we were told we were going in 2010.

And if they want to avoid having 'those people' working for them then they should have an effective pre-employment screening process.
 

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