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Former SpaceX worker reveals 7 outrageous perks Elon Musk gives employees

  • SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is a notorious workaholic, and his employees often work long hours.
  • Musk encourages employees with free food and an in-house massage therapist.
  • Musk has also rented out an entire movie theater for employees to see "The Martian."


Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, is a notorious workaholic.

During high periods of stress, he's been known to sleep on the floor of his factory so he can work nearly around the clock, and he hates having his time wasted with unnecessary meetings.

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But many people still want to work for him at SpaceX.

Part of that might be related to the perks Musk offers his employees. Josh Boehm, who worked at SpaceX, recently shared on Quora how Musk encouraged employees to put up with long hours when he was an employee there.

The office perks start out relatively simple — Musk provides free dinners, coffee, and froyo.

Reuters/Noah Berger

Despite requiring a lot from employees, Musk takes the time to send encouraging emails and deliver speeches to employees.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk works at his desk in 2008. OnInnovation/Flickr

The next perk, an in-house massage therapist, is a little more lavish and probably helps with the stress of working long hours.

Shutterstock

Celebrity spottings are another perk. "I saw Jennifer Aniston having lunch with Elon at the table across from me, ran into Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the bathroom, and had other people like Will Smith and Morgan Freeman come through the factory while I was working," Boehm wrote.

Getty Images/Jason Merritt

Well-known people, like the actor George Takei and Jeremy Edberg, an early employee of Reddit, give private talks to employees.

Valerie Macon/ Getty Images

Musk has taken employees to screenings of "Gravity" and "The Martian" — something Boehm says "is a lot more fun when SpaceX buys out all the tickets and you watch with a bunch of smart-asses who are actually rocket scientists!"

Aidan Monaghan/20th Century Fox

But the biggest perk is the culture of SpaceX itself and the opportunity to work in a rocket factory. Employees would gather "outside of mission control for the launches, which is an amazing experience to be a part of when you've all been working your butts off for that moment," Boehm said.

SpaceX/Wiki Commons

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Jenniffer Sheldon

Update: 2024-03-28