The people reductions actions were announced last week after months of anticipation. There were reductions in IT, Digital Home, Digital Health, chipset and manufacturing divisions. At least that is what I know. Paul Otellini said that we are loosing ~2000 people this round. A big chunk of that number came from IT. In some ways the reductions made sense. However, what didn't make sense is the broad action for some groups. Some groups were totally eliminated, without saving the best and the brightest in the groups that did the heavy lifting and contributed to the success of Intel. It almost feels as if the blade swung and everything in its path has been separated from the mother ship.I am hoping that Intel's common sense prevails. I am guessing that the wholesale reductions had to be done, then new positions will be opened to retain the best and the brightest in the next few weeks.
I feel a sense of responsibility to some of the "heavy hitters" that are in redeployment. I want to do what I can, to help them find a position in Intel that matches their skills. We need those people. This will help the heavy-hitters and also benefit my company.
There is a feeling of anger and resentment among some of the folks that were impacted. This is expected. At the same time, I noticed that some of the people has a more philosophical approach - "Maybe it is time to move on. There might be some positions that will open in the next few weeks. This is just another phase in life that I didn't expect, but we will roll with the punches".
In my last posting, I ruminesced about a rumor I heard regarding senior managers being offered Early Separation Package (ESP). It turns out to be true. There has definitely been quite a bit of inequity in this round. Executives and senior managers received a special treatment that was not available to lower ranking people. They were offered separation packages that were much better than what was offered to the rank and file.
These people should have been let go with the same benefits as the rank and file. They are the people that made the decisions and continued to perpetrate the mistakes.They should have been let go without any special privileges. What risks did they take? How are they any different than you and I that worked hard and were forced to follow their directions?
It is some of the bloated middle management bullshit that is really hurting the company. I hope that the next round of cuts will cut deeply in the middle management and some of the senior managers (executives) will be let go. They should be let go. I am sure that it will impact some of the good managers, but that is a chance we should take.
Our board and CEO should send a "notice" to middle management: (not a message, but a notice)No more monkeying around and enough of this bullshit politics and actions of self-preservation. Return Intel to its roots. "Shape up and add value or get the hell out!! We will use 360 degree feedback and start cutting in October 2008." I am guessing that the cost savings and the employee morale will be much higher than cutting the rank and file and it will also have the added benefit of less FUD for the rank and file.
I guess somebody will always say "if you dont like it, then leave". We all know that when you care about something so deeply, it is hard to just get up and move on. It is not for the lack of options outside, but it is for the love of the company and the belief in what we do. That is what keeps me and most of my peers still at Intel. We LOVE the company and what we produce.
Oh! BTW after a few comments from my readers regarding bizoplia.com, I checked it out. Seems like a good concept and a great idea to help people looking for jobs. I will go to http://www.bizoplia.com/ and write about my experiences at Intel. If the concept catches on and all of our fellow workers in other companies take a couple of minutes and add their 2cents, it will be a fantastic, greatly useful database when people are looking for jobs. In this climate of globalization, who knows, it could be any of us that "has" to move to a different company. This is NOT a plug for bizoplia, but it is a plug for my vision of an "employee community". Somebody took the initiative to start it. Now it is upto us to build it for ourselves.
Go make it a great day!!
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3 comments:
i think that senior management is aware of the situation at hand but not sure how quickly/effectively they will act on the problems.
not sure if there will be real changes until the leadership at the top changes again (probably few years time).
when a team isn't performing to standards, the general manager and coaching staff get fired. maybe it's time to take that approach in some divisions of the company and remove some of the underperforming staffs and start with some new leadership.
checked out that bizoplia.com but there's not much out there - the surveys are cool but the forums are a bit of a ghost town. maybe once people start posting out there it will take off.
Being aware of the issues is one thing and taking action for a positive change is something else.
Management has its work cut-out to regain the confidence, trust and loyalty of the rank and file.
I put in 12 years at Intel before the problems in my group came to a head in 2004. There were all kinds of survey and direct feedback to those in charge. I and others worked diligently for change but finally couldn't survive with the indifference and left in 2005. One year later my manager left and two years after that his manager left. As you can see, change can be slow. My friends that stayed are still not very upbeat about working at Intel. Its hard to rebuild trust.
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