By Tamara Jones
Do you know what Tesla is? I know, easy question. Did you know that Tesla Motors does not have a public relations (PR) department? Shocking right. The average company spends about 12% of their annual revenue on PR and communication, so for a Fortune 500 company to neglect this area of business altogether is a complete anomaly. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, dissolved his PR department in 2020. His rationale for such an aberrant action was “not believing in manipulating public opinion.” A public relations team is an integral part of any successful company or organization. They are tasked with the job of handling a company’s reputation through communication measures. Tesla is currently facing major scrutiny involving diversity issues and the company and CEO’s reputation is under fire. Tesla is party to over 1,200 lawsuits, nearly all of which center around the issue of discrimination. In October 2021, Tesla was ordered to pay $137 million to a former worker who accused the company of ignoring a years’ worth of harassment, discrimination, and racist abuse. Owen Diaz, an elevator operator at Tesla from 2015 to 2016 recalled treatment he detailed as “straight from the Jim Crow era.” Some of the instances include employees drawing swastikas and racist graffiti around the plant, using racist slurs (including the N-word), and an overall hostile work environment – all of which were ignored by supervisors. There is an ongoing lawsuit that has been filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing. They are alleging that the Tesla factory in Freemont, California, is racially segregated and that black workers are subjected to racist slurs and drawings. Tesla has yet to issue a comment on these legal matters, which makes the company look complicit with fostering a hostile and racist working environment. It would be a prime time to reinstate a Public Relations department. Sources: Tesla hit by another lawsuit over racism by an ex worker https://www.reuters.com/business/tesla-hit-by-another-lawsuit-over-racism-by- ex-worker-2022-02-22/ Is it Smart for Tesla to Not Have a PR Department? https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/06/07/is-it-smart-for-tesla-to-not-have-a-pr-department/?sh=262edf1c396b
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorBowie State University SPR Group Student Blog Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|