Intel starts reductions next week

I am a long-time veteran of Intel Corporation. I have been here during the struggling years and the boom years of the technology industry. I remember the watches and the bubble memory. I have been at Intel when our senior management always told us “treat Intel like it is your company”. They used to tell us “Before you take a decision, ask yourself, what would I do if this is my own company? Will it help the company? Is it the right thing for the company?” We don’t hear that anymore. Some of my colleagues remember this. As a matter of fact one of my friends asked this question of the senior managers and didn’t get an answer. I guess the question doesn’t deserve an answer from my leaders….. Andy Grove would have been shocked that such a question is even being asked…

In the last couple of years I have seen the morale in the company decline like never before. The re-organization activities and cost cutting activities are impacting the productivity in the company. We are still beating the competition and winning in the market. We are loosing some too. Makes me wonder if the morale was higher than it is now, we could leap so far ahead that the competition cannot even hope to touch us. How do we improve the morale?

I work in the IT department where the employee morale now is at an all-time low. One of the highlights of my day is to read our internal blog by Jeff. He keeps a good spirit and puts a comical spin on the happenings at Intel. He pokes fun and at the same time has ideas for improvement. Most of us don’t have the gal or the skill to express ourselves in a comical fashion like Jeff.

Next week is going to be ugly in IT at Intel. After being told in July about the impending layoffs that are referred to by some catchy euphemism, we are finally going to hear from our management. Skills assessment of the individuals has been performed by managers without any input from the individual people. Some people will be let go due to the cancellation of the projects (irrespective of their performance) and some will be let go due to a lack of skill (perceived or real). Next week is going to be confusing – people that want to stay will be let go and those that want to leave might end up staying because they didn’t get the re-deployment (layoff) package. As far as I know, Intel does a darn good job during layoffs, the packages are better than at other companies. Employees will be given an option to separate immediately in two weeks or can stay for a certain length of time on the payroll and look for another job in the company (hence the term re-deployment). I have been at companies where they shut the doors on payday and that was the first time employees heard for sure that the company closed its doors. I heard that in one of the companies people were invited into two different conference rooms after the X’Mas luncheon. People in one of the rooms were let go that day. Intel is good in that respect…. employees do get a couple of weeks to decide if they want to stick around and find another opportunity or separate from the company. Whether they intend to separate or stay in the redeployment pool, Intel provides ample support structure through outside vendors and facilities for employees to conduct their job search, work on interviewing skills, resume’ writing skills, mentoring on starting a business etc., This was not setup by the current leadership. This has been set by prior leaders at Intel.

At Intel we are always told that we own our own employability and the company does a pretty darn good job of helping people develop the skills needed for their career growth (of course within reason).

Personally, I am exhausted. I have been through quite a few of redeployment rounds and have made it through every one of them. Even when I was redeployed, I managed to find another position due to my network and due to my skills and past accomplishments. I have always been rated successful or exceeding expectations at every evaluation here. I love the company and what we do. It is the current management that I am finding it difficult to deal with. There is an oft used phrase – “people don’t leave their job, they leave their manager”. I am starting to believe that it could be true. If Intel offered voluntary separation, and if the package was sweet enough, there would be a huge attrition in the workforce. Intel would not have to do these redeployments. Of course, it is quite possible that some good employees will also leave. It is a constant debate on what is better – redeployment or voluntary separation. Do we want to keep the people that would leave if offered a reasonable package? or do we want to layoff the folks that we don’t think we need? Or do we layoff the people working on a particular project just because the project is cancelled? What about the management that started the project in the first place? Shouldn’t they be shown the door with the phrase “so soup for you!!” :D)

In addition to all the bad news, I am hearing rumors that the senior managers are getting voluntary separation packages. I am a bit miffed at this. The senior managers made these screwed up decisions and instead of walking them out, we are actually rewarding them by offering them sweet separation packages!! Where is the equity and penalty for poor leadership?

Today I heard that the voluntary separation package to employees in Ireland is 2 years – WOW!! Goodness gracious – 2 years? That is unheard of… if it is true, it is extremely generous, but focused at one country. It could be due to the tax breaks Intel received when establishing our presence there and also to appease the labor laws. I don’t know. All I know is that it is very generous.

I am sad to see so many empty cubicles. So many familiar faces around the company have disappeared in the last couple of years. Now starting next week, we are going to see more empty offices; more people disappear from the fabric of Intel.

Will I be let go next week? Will any of my friends be let go next week? Will any of the highly skilled people be let go next week, just because their project is cancelled? Will the people that we consider “dead-wood”, be let go? We don’t know. Time will tell.

At this point some of us have developed a sort of apathy to the events. Most of us at Intel love our company. It is the middle and senior managers that keep constantly screwing up. Can we have a re-incranation of Andy Grove? I would love to have him back at the helm. I would happily give the 125% that he asked of us when Intel was in trouble in my earlier years at the company. The loyalty to Intel from a majority of the employees is unlike that I have seen at any other company. I love Intel.
I will start updating my resume today. I have to wake up and realize that the environment is going to be like this for the next couple of years. Unless we bring a new management team all the way from Paul Ottellini’s “yes men” to most of the middle managers, things are going to be tough. I started calling my network of people and am poking around the bushes to see if there is anything out there that I might like and put my skills to good use. Job satisfaction is important, but you also have to think about supporting a family.

Somebody said that it is it time to unionize at Intel? No! I don’t believe in unions. I would not join any union. I think that the time for unions has come and gone. We don’t need contracts and pre-negotiated stuff. We want to negotiate our compensation based on our individual skills, not on a blanket basis.

Did I reveal anything that is confidential about my company? I don’t think so.

Intel employees - what are your thoughts?

What we need is an employee community where we can help each other. Can somebody tell me what it is like to work at other companies? What is it like to work at HP or IBM or State? We heard what it is like to work at Google. Hmmm! Still the question remains - Will I fit the google culture?

I am tired…. Good night!!