SpaceX: 80 To 100 Hours Weekly Work Requirement Not True, Says HR Head

First Posted: Aug 05, 2016 06:13 AM EDT
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SpaceX head of Human Relations Brian Bjelde pushed back against the notion that the company asks its employees to overwork. Bjelde stated that they recruit people who are driven by the company's mission and it is a myth that most of their employees are working 100 or even 80 hour weeks on a regular basis.

Bjelde did not deny that there are times that schedules are tight so employees need to keep up and that just goes along with launching rockets. However, he further explained that they want SpaceX employees to be productive over the long term and that means working at a sustainable pace. Bjelde said that they have a lot of employees like him who have been more than 10 years in the company and have built fantastic career with SpaceX. He also revealed that SpaceX turnover rates are below average for the industry. However, Bjelde did not specify the rate.

Reportedly, SpaceX company and the entire management are a demanding employer that hires the best and brightest individuals and expect them to work hard toward solving some very difficult problems. SpaceX has been inclined in creating projects that take a step forward to advanced technology. Just recently, Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rocket has been tested which was able to soar into space and land in the ocean, Ars Technica reported.

In previous years, former SpaceX employees made it public that the company forces them to work for long hours under a relatively low pay. Some former employees even filed lawsuits alleging that Musk's rocket company violated California labor law, IB Times reported.

SpaceX, however, still received 39,000 applications for internships in 2015 despite the lawsuits. Bjelde revealed that the number continues to exponentially grow. SpaceX competition is also fierce as they only hired 650 interns last year out of the thousands of applicants.

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