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Weeks after the bombshell news that Elon Musk fired the entire Tesla supercharger overnight, some executives and team members are reportedly being asked to return to the company.

Musk reportedly has brought back the director of charging for North America Max de Zegher, one of the 500 employees let go, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The outlet did not specify how many employees had been asked back to work, but noted it was more than one.

Related: Tesla Is Reportedly Revoking Internship Offers to College Students Weeks Before Their Start Dates: ‘I Spent Thousands On Housing’

Per de Zegher’s LinkedIn, his position is still listed as “Director — Charging, North America at Tesla,” a position he’s held for nearly two years.

Last month’s layoffs left many employees “in shock” when they were told their positions were defunct.

“In the middle of the night, I learned, along with all my Tesla Global Charging colleagues, the Tesla Charging org is no more,” Lane Chaplin, Tesla’s former North America real estate lead, wrote on LinkedIn at the time. “Thank you to all who have reached out to me already. Your friendship during the good times as well as the bad is sincerely appreciated.”

Musk seemingly addressed the layoffs via X, noting then that Tesla still planned on growing its Supercharger network albeit at a “slower” pace than originally anticipated.

Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024

Tesla Employee Was Sleeping in His Car Before Lay Off

Elon Musk is known for promoting a “hard-core” work culture, and employees have gone to great lengths to comply — some even slept under their desks when Musk took over Twitter.

One former employee, Nico Murillo, recently went viral on LinkedIn for sharing his story of sleeping in he parking lot to avoid a commute before being laid off.

“At one point in 2023, I was even sacrificing sleeping in my car on work days just to avoid commuting to work. Showered at the factory and slept in the parking lot. Microwaved dinner in the break room,” the former Tesla Production Supervisor wrote. “Sacrificed a lot for the company. But this is just a small part of a chapter that is ending, and there’s a whole book waiting to be written.”

Related: Elon Musk Tells Investors Cheaper Tesla Electric Cars Should Arrive Ahead of Schedule

Tesla reported a 9% quarterly revenue decrease during its Q1 2024 earnings call last month, the biggest drop the company has seen since 2012.

Earlier this month, college students reported that the electric vehicle company revoked their offers for summer internships just weeks before they were slated to start without explanation.

Tesla was up just shy of 3% year over year as of Monday afternoon.

Communicating and executing complex projects and operations can be challenging for even the most thoughtful and devoted entrepreneurs and team leaders. To help your business create events, initiatives, helpful analytical reviews, communications, and more, consider setting it up with a capable diagramming tool to help map out and guide those endeavors.

For entrepreneurs interested in a limited-time opportunity to save on a fantastic edition of Visio, from May 13th through 11:59 p.m. PT on the 22nd, you can get Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for Windows for only $19.97 (reg. $249). This one-time purchase features an on-premises solution for one PC of the user’s choice.

Visio gives users access to diagramming tools, with specific features for creating flowcharts, org charts, and even floor plans. To customize and shape a diagram to the specific needs of a given project or subject, users can choose from and work with any of Visio’s quarter-million-plus shapes. You can use these in addition to stencils and templates when shaping charts to your needs.

Visio comes with a number of additional helpful tools, including brainstorming generators like fishbone diagrams and SWOT analysis tools. It also supports the construction of network diagrams, and connecting diagrams to real-time data to help make faster decisions and glean helpful insights.

This deal is rated an average of 5/5 stars from 12 reviews on the Entrepreneur Store, with one recent one describing this as an “incredible deal on Visio 2021 Pro!”

From May 13th through 11:59 p.m. PT on the 22nd, you can get Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for Windows for only $19.97 (reg. $249).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

The phone lines were down at Berkshire Hathaway’s headquarters for a few days this week — so CEO Warren Buffett worked from his iPhone.

“I don’t know how to do much with it, but I do know how to answer calls,” Buffett, 93, told The Omaha World-Herald on Wednesday.

“I’m glad we didn’t sell all of our Apple,” he joked.

Related: ‘I’m Smarter Now…But Also Poorer’: Warren Buffett Says Berkshire Hathaway Ditched Its Entire Stake in Paramount at a Big Loss

Buffett only upgraded to an iPhone four years ago after previously using a $20 flip phone.

Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick in February 2020 that he uses his iPhone “as a phone” and doesn’t use “all its facilities like most people.”

^{Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

The news of Buffett using his iPhone for work calls comes days after Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, which saw the conglomerate cut 13% of its stake in Apple, or about 115 million shares.

At Apple’s March 28 closing price of $171.48 per share, Berkshire seems to have sold around $20 billion worth of Apple.

Apple is still Berkshire’s largest holding and Berkshire remains Apple’s single largest shareholder. Berkshire still has 6% of the iPad maker or 905 million shares worth about $167 billion, according to Apple’s Thursday closing price.

Related: Read Warren Buffett’s Annual Letter to Berkshire Shareholders

At Saturday’s shareholder meeting, Buffett hinted that Berkshire reduced its Apple stake for tax reasons. He said he was confident in the leadership of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was in the room at the time.

“We will own — unless something really extraordinary happens — we will own Apple and American Express and Coca-Cola when Greg takes over this place,” Buffett said, referring to future Berkshire CEO Greg Abel.

Apple makes up one-fifth of Berkshire’s portfolio. Berkshire’s next four biggest holdings are Bank of America, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Chevron.

Related: ‘An Obvious Move’: Elon Musk Suggests Warren Buffett Should Make This Investment Move Next

Businesses and business leaders can benefit from ongoing education. It can help inform you on trends in new markets and tools to access old ones that have been previously out of your reach. From brushing up on the latest digital marketing best practices to learning a new language, there are many ways you can set yourself up for improved business in the future.

To help aid in your ongoing growth as an entrepreneur and learner, you can get the Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle featuring Rosetta Stone for $179.99 (reg. $849) using coupon code: ROSETTA through May 12th only.

The lifetime subscription to Rosetta Stone included in this deal allows you to study all of the 25 different languages on the platform, which has been used for nearly three decades by TripAdvisor, NASA, and additional respected organizations. It uses speech recognition technology and lessons that mimic how we learn our native languages to help optimize the learning process.

This discounted bundle also features lifetime access to StackSkills Unlimited Online Courses, which features a rotating selection of e-learning experiences focused on a wide range of universally applicable subjects. Get access to over 1,000 online courses on IT, business, marketing, and a lot more with this highly rated subscription.

As a whole, this bundle is rated an average of 4.8/5 stars by verified purchasers in the Entrepreneur Store. Business leaders who understand the value of ongoing education will appreciate this opportunity.

Remember that you can get the Unlimited Lifetime Learning Subscription Bundle featuring Rosetta Stone and StackSkills Unlimited for $179.99 (reg. $849) using coupon code: ROSETTA when you order through May 12th.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Browsing online and using public networks can make your computer vulnerable to a wide range of hackers and trackers. For entrepreneurs running a business, being bogged down or having your team members bogged down by dangerous, cost-threatening disruptions like these is unacceptable.

A good way to keep you and your team safe and working fast while online is with a reliable VPN subscription. To help, this Windscribe VPN Pro Plan three-year subscription is available for $69.97 (reg. $207) through May 12th at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Windscribe can be a great VPN subscription for entrepreneurs and small businesses because it supports unlimited devices. Going beyond typical VPN services, Windscribe offers itself as a desktop application and browser extension. All-in-all, it can be used to unblock websites, block ads, and keep you safe without expecting you to configure a wide range of complicated settings.

Windscribe’s no-logging policy will keep your team safe, and its high-end encryption methods will keep their data safe from hackers and trackers.

This service runs on a system of servers in more than 69 countries and 112 cities. It uses something called split tunneling, which allows users to choose which apps use the VPN and which ones don’t. This is a great feature for teams with remote employees who toggle between work and personal programs on the same screen.

Windscribe is rated Very Good on Tom’s Guide and 4/5 stars and above on Tech Radar, PC World, and G2.

Don’t forget that this Windscribe VPN Pro Plan three-year subscription is available for the best-of-web price of $69.97 (reg. $207) only through May 12th at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Empowering mothers in the workplace takes a thoughtful and multifaceted approach. Today, women in most households still bear the brunt of the majority of familial and household responsibilities while also working full-time. It’s unfair — and saying that it’s a lot to juggle and have on your plate is an understatement. The reality is that moms are expected to be everything both at home and at work, and that can be incredibly difficult and daunting physically, mentally and emotionally.

As a mother and entrepreneur myself, finding ways to elevate the mothers at my own company and create a culture that truly fosters work-life balance has been paramount from day one. Since starting ZenToes in 2015, I’ve grown my own family, hired an incredible team of women who have done the same and managed, with the help of my team, to grow Zentoes into a multimillion-dollar business.

While seeing your business’ success demonstrated through metrics and revenue growth is amazing, what’s been most rewarding is witnessing how dedicated our incredible team of employees is to grow with us. Below, I’ve outlined seven tips for other entrepreneurs looking to empower their employees.

1. Have flexible hours and work arrangements

Remote work options are critical in helping to ensure flexibility in schedules for moms to balance family responsibilities, including everything from pickups and drop-offs to sick days at home with the kids. They’ll also create happier attitudes towards work overall.

Related: Want to Be More Productive as a Working Mom? Try These Steps

2. Put women in leadership positions

Having women in leadership positions is crucial to creating mentorship opportunities and fostering the next wave of leaders. Creating opportunities for other women in the workplace helps elevate all women.

Related: Why I Hire and Invest in Working Moms

3. Support professional development

We believe strongly in not doubting the gaps in some women’s resumes from staying home with young children. Parenting can be a huge learning curve for people management. It’s also important to offer professional development opportunities specifically to help mothers feel confident in the time they are out of the workforce.

4. Encourage work-life balance

Prioritize having open and honest conversations with employees around ‘mom guilt’ and the need to ‘do it all.’ Employees will both feel happier and perform better when they feel at ease and balanced in their personal and professional lives. To us, it’s essential to create space for women who have families or are planning to have families to be able to take the time they need to feel successful in both work and family life.

5. Ensure redundancies to cover leave

This applies to both sides of the parental relationship! At my company, our small, scrappy team has had to identify and build redundancies to ensure the work still moves forward, and we’re not without coverage while a parent is out on leave. Documenting SOPs and having collaborative decision-making processes have been instrumental in ensuring our success.

6. Allowing for social outlets at work

It’s beneficial to have casual, weekly team-building meetings that cover social topics that allow for group sharing amongst our employees. It’s a moment for everyone not to be focused on just work or just their families and be able to share about themselves as individuals.

Related: What Working Moms at Your Company Really Need This Mother’s Day

7. Don’t forget about the partners on the other side of these working mothers

Offer the same benefits to both partners in a family unit – flexible hours, work redundancies, etc – to normalize and allow partners to be more equal at home. If they have the same flexibility, there should be a correlation in the undertaking of responsibilities – lending well to supporting a more equal future. In my household, my husband taking a fair share of the household load has been instrumental in making ZenToes a success.

Entrepreneurs should approach creating work policies, arrangements, benefits and team-building initiatives holistically, paying particular attention to the diverse needs of all employees, especially moms. Ultimately, moms are an incredibly valuable part of any business team, bringing vision and a uniquely thoughtful perspective to their work each day. Allowing for balance, honesty and communication is critical. Your company and all your employees will be better off with it.

Navigating today’s labor market is a high-stakes game for small businesses as they compete to attract top talent. The U.S. Chamber reports that while there are 9.5 million job openings in the U.S. this year, there are only 6.5 million workers to fill them. With small businesses employing over one-third of all U.S. workers, a labor shortage can amplify the pressure to find and retain employees. But as small businesses look at their workforce, it’s not just about filling roles; it’s about meeting the needs of both new and current employees to build an enduring team committed to helping the business grow.

Here are a few strategies for small businesses to consider as they build and strengthen their teams.

Related: 4 Ways the Labor Market Is Changing Right Now

Create a hiring plan that looks a year ahead

For small businesses where time and resources are often limited, it’s crucial to be a few steps ahead when hiring new talent. Waiting until there’s an immediate hiring need can lead to a scramble and ultimately constrain revenue growth. To avoid this, map out your anticipated hiring needs for the next year.

When building a hiring plan, make sure to account for seasonality or peak periods of your business experiences, any expected attrition, anticipated growth in your business and desired efficiencies you’re hoping to achieve. This will help ensure you’ve created a resourcing plan that will better support you in effectively running and growing your business, and can give you a runway of two to three months lead time to have additional hires in place when they’re needed most.

Go beyond hard skills when hiring

In the hunt for the perfect candidate, getting caught up in the checklist of hard skills can be easy, but looking for an exact match of qualifications on paper can limit the talent pool. Soft skills like teamwork, active listening and reliability are often the components of what turn employees into partners in your business’s success. They not only determine if your team can thrive, but will also be reflected in how your customers experience your company. During the interview process, use behavioral questions to understand how candidates think and work through complex situations. You’ll find that those skills and experience will translate well to helping you with complexities your business may face.

Approach onboarding like your future depends on it

Onboarding is your chance to establish strong expectations for how you want employees to contribute to and represent your business going forward. Make it count. Set the bar high. These newest employees are your change agents in helping you achieve your dreams for your company. It should also provide a comprehensive roadmap that delivers both company and personal expectations to set everyone up for success. Providing clarity on what’s required of employees and expectations for how they deliver for your team will help your employees understand what you care about, how much you care about them and encourage them to reciprocate with the extra effort you and your business deserve.

Evolve from a paycheck to total rewards

For many employees, money isn’t the sole driver when choosing an employer. While salary increases and other monetary benefits go a long way, these aspects of compensation aren’t the be-all and end-all of employee satisfaction. Gerald Hamel, a QuickBooks customer and treasurer of Make a Chess Move, recognized the importance of this amid the “Great Resignation” and decided to start offering employees more than a paycheck and provide them with a package of benefits that really fit their needs. After all, workers who receive some benefits aren’t likely to leave their current employer for another (only 18% plan to do so). Consider offering other benefits such as comprehensive medical insurance plans, PTO and retirement accounts to attract new employees and increase retention.

Perks that span beyond traditional benefits can also serve as a strong incentive for employee retention. For example, 48% of employees say that flexible work hours are one of the top three aspects they value the most. Consider offering a work structure that can support employees’ work-life balance through hybrid or remote work. These are often important among employees and can help small businesses stand out in today’s competitive workforce environment.

Related: 2024 Could Be the Year that Makes or Breaks a Lot of Small Businesses, According to a New Report

Quantify the pulse of your employees

As a business grows its workforce, performance data becomes crucial to understanding how the team is performing, how engaged team members are and opportunities for improvement. Go beyond asking employees for their feedback. Conducting a formal, anonymous survey will help you quantify and track progress against established employee priorities including their desire to stay, their commitment to being customer-focused every day and their assessment of company operations or career development resources.

Tracking these dimensions over time will help you assess if your efforts to support and grow your employees are paying off. Set joint goals for these scores with your employees and ask them to be involved with developing and implementing improvements that can drive scores up. You’ll find employee commitment is likely to go up when they have an opportunity to inform action plans, realize the benefits and collectively celebrate score improvement.

What makes small businesses stand out in their communities isn’t only their product or service, but the people behind the business. In today’s job market, it takes more than a classified ad to find the right people to help run a business. By embracing thoughtful hiring tactics, nurturing a culture of growth and valuing employee feedback, small businesses can hire and retain employees who are just as invested in the business’s success.

Running a business is notoriously stressful. According to Forbes, entrepreneurs seem to experience greater stress than other types of workers. Many of us carry the tension of our day-to-day lives in our muscles, most commonly in the neck, shoulders, and back.

If this goes unchecked, it can become an ironic distraction from the work you were stressing about. To keep a balanced and more comfortable status quo, consider the occasional massage.

This Deep Tissue 4-Head Percussion Massager with 12 intensities and four modes for full-body muscle pain relief is on sale for just $127.99 (reg. $159). Featuring 3,3000 RPM, this cordless massager is designed to deliver soothing tissue relief while maintaining a quiet operating mode, so you can use it in your office without distracting anybody outside.

In addition to its 12 intensity levels, this massager features a convenient LED screen that lets you see the settings and battery life easily. Its cordless build makes it easy to maneuver and reach every spot that might need attention. The reliable 2,000mAh battery also ensures a full massage when this massager is charged up.

You can count on the four heads of this percussion massager to deliver a lot of benefits when used correctly and regularly. You can use the massager to reduce stiffness in your muscles, relieve strain from tension, and even increase blood flow, which can be great for your overall health.

This Deep Tissue 4-Head Percussion Massager features 12 intensities and four modes, offering full-body muscle pain relief, and is on sale for just $127.99 (reg. $159).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

When you run a company, you need every basic tool available to streamline your communications, content creation, and sales abilities. You also need to operate on a computer outfitted with a capable and robust operating system designed to support modern productivity.

Through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 12th only, you can get The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro Bundle on sale for just $69.97 (reg. $438).

Known by many for a long time, Microsoft Office Professional features a suite of apps designed to help you write, present, organize, email, and more. Unlike with Microsoft 365, there are no additional monthly fees with Office. These are the ones included with this lifetime license:

• Access
• Publisher
• OneNote
• Teams
• Outlook
• PowerPoint
• Excel
• Word

This bundle also includes Windows 11 Pro, the latest Microsoft operating system, which offers advanced security features and productivity elements that can help keep any modern professional on task and safe.

On the security front, the system uses tools like Smart App Control, biometric logins, and TPM 2.0 to help keep you protected. When it comes to productivity, it offers tools like improved voice typing and the support of AI-powered tools like Microsoft Copilot. And because Office includes Teams, you get a hub of communication for your team.

This deal has several 5/5 star ratings on the Entrepreneur Store, and Windows 11 Pro is rated 4/5 stars on PC Magazine and TechRadar.

Through 11:59 p.m. PT on May 12th only, you can get The Ultimate Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro Bundle on sale for just $69.97 (reg. $438).

StackSocial prices subject to change.