- Parking is a colossal nightmare, there are efforts to clear things up and make people register their vehicles and have placards but in the meantime, it's just a complete wreck, expect to need to park in south lot and take the shuttle to the facility, unless you drive an EV where you can valet it
- If you're new, expect to get lost on the way to the line because they'll show you once but not give you any handy info on finding it again, they also won't tell you where the nearest bathrooms, cafe, or other important areas of the factory are because they don't care enough to tell you
- If you're lucky you'll get a solid group with a competent supervisor, if you are unlucky you'll get sent to a group with absolutely abysmal management with zero leadership. It was made clear from day one on that nobody cared about me no matter how hard I worked on the line, solid employees were fired over trivial things, poorer performing employees stuck around if they sucked up enough to supervisors and leads. My group got written up for the dumbest and most inconsequential reasons no matter how perfect we were up to the point of the incident occurring, and positive feedback was rarely given out to anybody. Leads walk around yelling at associates to do something when the line slows down even though the work is exhausting and the breaks are way too short.
- I cannot stress this enough, days are 12 hours long, you get four 10 min breaks and one unpaid 30 min lunch, that's it. The job is exhausting, you are pretty much always on your feet, always lifting, moving, bending, reaching, and putting your body in stressful positions over and over again. Over time this is absolutely taxing and doing it multiple days in a row can totally exhaust you. There's not much that the company can do if you get hurt aside from send someone to check on where you are experiencing pain and offer advice and stretches, but more often than not it won't result in any long-term solution. Tesla encourages proper ergonomics and to not put yourself in a position to get hurt, but at times it's basically impossible to do that.
- Break areas are fine for what they are, its hard to get access to a microwave no matter how many are within the area. Some associates will steal your food if you put them in the fridge. I had my backpack rifled through on one occasion. I recommend bringing a lock for your things.
- Bathrooms are unacceptably filthy, in disarray, and way too far from the line. This is the only job I worked where going to the bathroom was ever a problem. There are never enough people on the line to fill in for you while you take care of a basic human need. Leads and supervisors were always super rude about you needing to take care of business.
- If you are late or have to excuse yourself from your shift within 2 hours of your shift start you are basically screwed. Tesla does not take absences lightly nor do they want you being late at all, even if its just by a few minutes. It is very easy to get written up for not being on time and you can get yourself fired if you call out too often.
- ESPP and the income for a production associate are kind of oversold as a positive when its anything but that. Starting hourly pay is essentially poverty wage in the Bay Area and you only get overtime pay after 10 hours, not 8 hours like you would think. Because of the stock prices, it will take forever for ESPP to be a solid incentive.
- There really isn't much room to move up within general assembly, your ceiling is really becoming a supervisor after becoming a lead and there's basically a never ending logjam to get there. It also seems like Tesla drags their feet on hiring for internal roles and its hard to really stick out if nobody will stick up for you.
