André Thierig, manufacturing director of Tesla’s factory on the outskirts of Berlin, said it was common practice for the company to visit the homes of employees.

The Berlin-Brandenburg gigafactory employs some 12,000 workers and is the company’s only site in Europe.

Thierig says checking in on sick employees was simply to “appeal to the employees’ work ethic”.

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, Thierig and HR director Erik Demmler had been met with doors slammed in their faces and threats of police intervention during their home visits.

Speaking with German press agency DPA, Thierig said: “We wanted to appeal to the work ethic of the workforce”.

Staff calling in sick at the Berlin gigafactory reached 17 per cent in August, compared to an average rate of sick leave in Germany’s car manufacturing industry of just over 5 per cent.

Last year, Thierig said: “We will not tolerate some people bending their backs for others who just don’t feel like coming to work. There is no room in his factory for people who don’t get out of bed in the morning.”

Executives have noted that sick leave is also higher on Fridays.

“That is not an indicator of bad working conditions because the working conditions are the same on all working days and across all shifts,” Mr Thierig said. “It suggests that the German social system is being exploited to some extent.”

Responding to a tweet highlighting Tesla’s high rates of absence, Elon Musk wrote: “This sounds crazy. Looking into it.”

Tesla has offered bonuses to staff who reached “gold status” by turning up to work more than 95pc of the time.

As for those who frequently call in sick, executives have labelled those employees as “dishonourable” and “exploiting” the system.