SpaceX HR chief: “It’s a myth” that our employees are overworked

Eric Berger

If you want to fly Dragons, you've got to get close to the fire.

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In recent years, former SpaceX employees have said that the company forced them to work long hours for relatively low pay. Some even filed lawsuits alleging that the Hawthorne-based rocket company violated California labor law. What seems clear is that the rocket company is a demanding employer, hiring the best and brightest and expecting them to work hard toward solving some very difficult problems—like landing rockets on boats in the ocean.

However, during a revealing Reddit AMA on Tuesday with Brian Bjelde, head of human relations at SpaceX, the engineer pushed back against the notion that the company overworks its employees. "We recruit people who are incredibly driven by our mission, but it’s a myth that most of our employees are working 100 or even 80 hour weeks on a regular basis," Bjelde wrote. "Sometimes you have incredibly tight schedules that you need to keep, and that just goes along with launching rockets. But we want our employees to be productive over the long term and that means working at a pace that’s sustainable."

According to Bjelde, SpaceX turnover rates are "below average" for the industry, although he didn't specify the rate. "We have lots of employees, like me, who have been here more than 10 years and have made a fantastic career with SpaceX!" he wrote. "Getting to Mars is a long term mission so we seek to attract employees, and retain them, for the long term."

It was also evident during the AMA that there is no shortage of young, talented engineers willing to subject themselves to whatever working conditions SpaceX had to offer them. Many questions focused on how to successfully apply for a job or an internship at the rocket company. Bjelde encouraged Redditors to keep applying, and in addition to having excellent grades, to become involved in extracurricular activities that "flex" one's engineering muscles.

Competition is fierce. Bjelde revealed that SpaceX received 39,000 applications for internships in 2015 and added that "this number continues to exponentially grow." And how many of those applicants were successful? A spokesperson for the rocket company told Ars that SpaceX hired 650 interns last year.