Trends: Valerie Capers Workman ‘90

Bringing My Whole Self To Work At Tesla

By Valerie Capers Workman ’90, VP, People at Tesla

In May 2020, I was six months into my leadership role at Tesla— having been promoted from the Compliance, Associate General Counsel to the executive HR Leader—when, on the heels of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, I was watching, along with the world, the relentless and harrowing images of the murder of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd.

On one of those days, in the midst of these two world-shaking events, I decided to write about a particular day at work. It was the day that I kept asking myself, “How do I continue to perform with excellence when part of me is struggling?”

Over a year later, I continue to receive notes of appreciation from thousands of Black professionals and allies for social justice who thank me for putting my challenge into words—a challenge shared by so many. Before I posted the essay reprinted in full below, I shared it with our CEO, Elon Musk, and let him know that I wanted to put it on LinkedIn. He told me that I had his full support.

Today I shared the following message with employees at Tesla:

Last Thursday morning, as I opened my weekly team meeting, I asked myself whether I should allow them to see the emotions I am experiencing or if I should try to carry on, business as usual. The scope of my role at Tesla and seeing the breadth of the teams that I lead represented on the call were juxtaposed against the morning view of my teenage son heading out of the house for his daily jog. The site of my son valiantly determined to keep his morning routine gripped me with equal parts of fear and pride.

As I started to speak, I heard myself begin, “Team, I’m having a hard time this morning and I have decided that I am not going to pretend that today is not challenging for me.” I continued that the recent events in Minneapolis were making it difficult for me to focus on work today and, if it were difficult for me, I can imagine that hundreds of our employees are feeling the same way. As the team that is responsible for the work life of our employees, I said that we should recognize our responsibility to ensure that we acknowledge how our employees might be feeling as the real time images of an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, pleading for his life are playing repeatedly on every social media platform.

Today, I want to say to all employees who care about social justice and specifically to Black At Tesla that I see you. To those who are outraged but may not understand what it’s like to be Black at Tesla or Black in America, start by doing the hard work of listening to others whose experiences are different than yours. Here is mine:

I know what it’s like to live with the ever-present fear that a loved one will have a deadly encounter simply because of the color of their skin. When I was coming into work during Shelter In Place, I clipped my work badge to my seatbelt so I would not have to reach for it in case I was pulled over and had to explain why I was on the road. Being prepared for such encounters is just part of my day. Fearing for the lives of my husband and sons is a constant nagging undercurrent that I suppress so that I can go about my day (just as my mother, my grandmother and my great grandmother learned to live with this fact of life). Despite being a proponent of bringing your whole self to work, I never discuss this part of my life in the office.

Yesterday afternoon, my 21-year-old son was riveted to his phone as usual but for the first time in months his face was filled with joy and excitement. He was watching the SpaceX launch and as a lifelong advocate of space travel and young man who could tell you more about the possible benefits of asteroid mining then you might care to know, it was a moment he cherished. And then the moment was over. He put his phone in his pocket and left the house with his dad and his two brothers to demonstrate peacefully in Sacramento. This is what it’s like to be Black in America, constantly compartmentalizing your life so that you can effectively navigate the two worlds that you live in. This duality is the basis of “code switching” and if you have never heard this term, Black At Tesla will hold a forum on this learned skill and I hope you all attend. For now, suffice it to say that code switching is what allows Black employees to be excellent at work while we are dealing with the pain, stress and fear of daily life that we feel is not appropriate for us to discuss at work.

I know that all of us at Tesla, no matter how we self-identify or which group(s) we ally with, are never comfortable just standing idly by when we see that something needs to get done. Having a bias for action is a minimum basic requirement for a company where excellence is the standard. We chose to work at Tesla because we made a conscious decision to work for a company that is determined to make a difference, determined to make the world a better place for the next generations. We are all about being scrappy and getting things done, so sitting and watching events unfold and feeling powerless to do anything to help make a change can be extremely frustrating for people like us.

Knowing this I have asked the Diversity & Inclusion team to put together a list of groups that you might want to research if social justice is a goal that is important to you. In addition, I have also

asked the Benefits team to provide a brief overview of Lyra Health, a mental health resource available to Tesla employees. Mental well-being is as important as physical health and Lyra provides very proactive and actionable counseling for “doers” like us. Please take a look at these resources for more information. I also called a meeting with our Employee Resource Group, Black At Tesla to provide emotional support and information on resources to help get through this time period without feeling helpless. In the short term, I have reminded the Head of Security to ensure that security teams are mindful of their role to assist employees and understand the stresses they are dealing with and I have worked with HR and Workplace teams to figure out ways to help employees get to work as we now have to consider local curfews in addition to COVID-19 safety protocols. I am honored to do this work and appreciative of the support from Elon and my colleagues on the executive level. This is one of the reasons why diversity matters.

So, last week, I decided that bringing my whole self to work is more than just rocking my natural hair or supporting Tesla’s Employee Resource Groups or championing diversity. It’s about being willing (and able) to show how social injustice is not an intellectual concept for me. It’s a part of my life and as a Tesla leader, to know all of me is to know that when I see these images, I am seeing a possible future for someone I love. And so I started my team meeting by saying, “Team, I’m having a hard time this morning and I have decided that I am not going to pretend that today is not challenging for me.” After I spoke we had a brief but meaningful exchange. A safe space was opened. The air was cleared. And then we moved on to discuss business.

There is much, much more work to be done both inside Tesla and in our communities to heal, share, listen and better understand the complete individuals that work beside you. I speak for the entire leadership team at Tesla, not just HR, to say we see you and are here to support, listen and share. As always, thank you for all you do to help make Tesla a success and a place where you can bring your whole self to work.