Raleigh Company To Offer All Employees New Tesla Model 3 Cars

Lavish employee benefits for workers of Silicon Valley companies have been well documented, but a local biotechnology tools company might have them all beat.

Raleigh-based Practichem announced Thursday morning that it would lease a Tesla Model 3 for each and every employee, if and when Tesla releases the newest model.

No, that’s not a typo. Yes, Practichem CEO Nick DeMarco confirms the generous employee benefit. Practichem has 16 employees and hopes to grow to 25 in the near future.

To be sure, the newest model Tesla vehicles aren’t on the road yet. Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) announced Wednesday it would sell $1.4 billion in stock to speed production of the launch and disclosed it already had 373,000 pre-orders for the Model 3 sedan as of May 15.

With a price point starting at $35,000, according to Bloomberg, the sedan is a lower cost than other Tesla vehicles and DeMarco says Practichem will lease –­ not buy –­ the vehicles for employees.

In addition to using the perk as a way to attract and retain employees, DeMarco says he also hopes it will serve as a tool to encourage innovation. Practichem developed a machine called Arista Slice, which researchers use to run early experiments on disease-fighting proteins.

DeMarco wants employees to be as innovative in the biotechnology tools space as Elon Musk was in his various fields. If Practichem employees drive around each day in one of the most advanced cars, DeMarco hopes to set a company culture of innovation.

“Our vision shares similarities with Tesla Motors; both companies positively impact humanity with real change,” DeMarco said. “People driven to solve big issues share core values. Many of our employees have marveled at Tesla’s approach. Their compelling all-electric vehicles drive us to make real change in our field.”

Source: Triangle Business Journal, Jason deBruyn
Photo: Tesla Model 3 (Courtesy of Tesla Motors)