Tesla’s Most Prominent Black CEO Resigns

By Josh Eidelson and Dana Hull | Bloomberg

The director of human resources at Tesla Inc. and one of the Black Company’s top executives, Valerie Capers Workman, will depart for a new job, leaving the company without a key defender following numerous controversies over racism in recent years .

Workman will be joining career networking company Handshake next week as chief legal officer, she confirmed in an email. Her LinkedIn profile shows that her role as Tesla’s vice president of human resources ends this month.

Workman has been a prominent voice within the company on racial issues and has also played a key role in leading Tesla’s response to the dangers posed by Covid-19. The departure has been one of the top most significant changes in recent months. Tesla struggled with a series of executive departures in 2018, but revenue has largely stabilized as the company’s stock has skyrocketed.

Shares of Tesla surged 50% last year, adding 743% in 2020. The company, which tends not to disclose much about its executive moves, did not respond to a request for more details. details.

“I am proud of all that I was able to accomplish at Tesla with the support of some truly brilliant colleagues, especially the Human Resources and Legal team,” Workman said in an email. Citing her high school experience in athletics, where she needed to “get past the baton in a better place than when I got it,” Workman wrote that she was “confident that I’ve done this at Tesla by doing so many important things. employee programs around the world.”

Workman, an attorney who started at Tesla’s legal department in 2018, was promoted to vice president of human resources in July 2020 and reports directly to CEO Elon Musk. . During his tenure, Tesla battled discrimination lawsuits, navigated pandemic waves, released its first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion report and told employees they could use Use one of the paid holidays to celebrate June 13.

Workman is featured in the company’s DEI report as an example of someone who rose rapidly through the ranks, moving from general counsel to head of human resources for several areas and finally same as her most recent executive role.

“My promotions exemplify one of the things I love most about Tesla; here you never have to be prepared to do just one thing,” Workman said in the December 2020 report.

African-American and black employees represent 10% of Tesla’s US workforce, but only 4% of managers at the executive level or above, according to the report.

In recent years, Tesla has faced several major lawsuits over its treatment of Black employees and subcontracted workers at the company’s car plant in Fremont, California. In October, a former contract worker at the factory was awarded $137 million in punitive damages after a jury concluded that Tesla ignored racial slurs and offensive graffiti. bear. Tesla is attractive.

In an internal email that Tesla released as a blog post on the night of sentencing, Workman wrote that she “heard every witness’ testimony” and attended every day of the trial, sitting at the defense desk. for Tesla. “The Tesla of 2015 and 2016 (when Mr. Diaz worked in the Fremont factory) was not the same Tesla of today,” Workman wrote in the post.

Workman drew on her experience as a Black woman in America when reflecting on the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.

She wrote in a message to employees at the time. “Fear for the lives of my husband and sons is a constant stream that I try to suppress so I can get on with my day.”

‘Why diversity matters’

Workman’s message describes steps she has taken including asking the company’s welfare team to provide an overview of mental health resources and reminding the head of security to “make sure that safety teams Security is mindful of their role to support employees and understand the stresses they are facing.” She added, “This is one of the reasons why diversity is important.”

Tesla’s 2020 DEI report also notes that Workman has led teams developing Tesla’s “employee-focused programs” in response to Covid-19.

Months after Musk defied a local health order by keeping the Fremont factory open, Workman defended the company’s handling of the pandemic at a city council meeting in Austin, Texas, where Tesla has moved its headquarters and is building the next factory. . She told panelists she was there to “actually tell you the true story of Tesla, not what you hear in the media,” according to a transcript posted on the website. of the city. “We were way ahead of the curve, and it’s a pity that the media didn’t catch that.”

Tesla has always been unclear about his organizational chart, preferring to focus on the company’s products rather than the people. Tesla just had three executives named in its regulatory filing: Musk, Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn, and Drew Baglino, senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering.

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