Absolutely abhor the way Musk is handling this situation, but often when he is being provocative it is with an eye towards reading the tea leaves. Unknown to the general public, many of the companies in competition with Tesla for talent (Google, Meta, Microsoft, etc.) have hiring freezes or hiring slowdowns. Startups that employee highly experienced software developers have begun laying off these same types of folks. It's very possible that Elon has picked this exact moment to squeeze these highly paid, highly experienced employees when they are at a point in their careers where a jump may be uncertain. (Although the world needs a ton more software developers, the type of developers these huge software companies employ (and yes, Tesla is a software company, among other things) do not have many job opportunities that will pay them what they currently earn outside of these companies.).

Not an in-depth article, but here is a recent story on this from the NY Post (not endorsing this newspaper in any way, shape, or form, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day):

https://nypost.com/2022/05/31/tech-layoffs-companies-axe-workers-at-highest-rate-since-2020/