Every time, I think about this, it sounds so insane to me that this company is at a spot that they have to cut the base pay and 401k for their employees.
Irrespective of the ups and downs so far in the company over many decades, I always felt proud to be working at Intel. For some reason, this latest event has put a dent into that feeling.
I just feel sad.
A lot cheaper to make all these cuts than hand out 7000 more packages eh?
Intel only cares bout its own future, not the future of its employees. 401K match reduction and the pay cuts are clear messages of that. There is no ambiguity in this at all. I hope this will be a wake up call for those who have an emotional attachment to their workplace. (This is true for ALL companies by the way; not just Intel)
@1ffd, that's what I'm talking about. I did the same and took my talent somewhere else where my work will actually have impact. What I don't get is the portion of people at Intel that continue to complain about their work here knowing they're not bringing value to the company. If you're on the Titanic and you see the ship about to hit an iceberg but decide not to call it out or jump ship, do you really have the right to complain after the ship hits the iceberg?
"You need to stand up to management when you think your time is not being spent to help Intel's competitiveness. If that doesn't work, escalate to 2nd level management. If that still doesn't work, quit."
I've argued with Intel fellows about the direction of products that don't have a customer. The problem is that they and the VPs are getting paid for little to no work on "strategy" and "architecture" that they are loathe to scrap directionless projects until it is too late. I've seen some well respected Fellows and Sr Principal Engineers quit in the past few years even though they basically are "tenured" because some of them are frustrated with the bureaucracy and quagmire that is Intel. I quit a couple of years back and am very happy that I did. Of course, selling all my Intel shares and buying up AMD and NVDA made me very happy too.
Unpopular opinion, but all employees played a hand in this. How many people disagree with their managers yet continue to spend a lot of time working on tasks or projects that you know provide no value? How many of you attend meetings that are complete waste of time? How long do you think Intel can continue to waste employee time like this and still be able to compete with its competitors? You need to stand up to management when you think your time is not being spent to help Intel's competitiveness. If that doesn't work, escalate to 2nd level management. If that still doesn't work, quit. Your quitting is your way of telling Intel that something needs to change.
@zjc+1l0Mdemx You do realize that was when Intel pivoted during the hard times 80s under Andy was from the memory business where scale and hard work was required to win to the monopolistic x86 where the only competition was bumbling AMD.
Samsung actually made and continues to make decent money in memory.
Today IDM is an outdated dream back to the last decade that doesn’t work today. IFS is a wet dream fantasy as Intel has NO ecosystem nor any competitive angle to be competitive in the next five years.
More pain and layoffs are a certainty
@axn+1l0Mdemx, the move to 5% 401k matching resulted in a decrease in what I used to receive as a lower grade via the profit sharing they used to contribute to retirement. Five percent is not what I would consider spoiling.
I was thankful for the profit sharing and the 5% match. 2.5% is a pretty steep cut IMHO with long term imapcts.
I understand it reduces costs, still more impactful to lower paid employees and those near retirement.
FYI, Intel did the same thing (5% pay cut for grades 7 and up and reduced retirement contributions) in the late 80's and the following 12 years were easily some of Intel's' best years.
@kiw Where will the next gravy train be, Reality?
I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but tech workers are grossly overpaid, and have been for a long time. Looks like the good times are coming to an end, ladies and gentlemen. Say goodbye to your lavish homes and apartments, expensive cars and wardrobes, country club memberships, first-class airline tickets to luxury vacation resorts, private school tuition for your kids, grooming spa days for your pets, Starbucks three times a day. It's over for your average tech worker. Dust off those Ramen noodle recipes from your college days. Here's a helpful tip: Store-brand groceries are cheaper than the name brands, and usually taste just as good!
Saved 7000 jobs
Hopefully Intel didn't remove all the cry rooms.
It's a bloody shame, especially because the writing was all over the wall... certainly you would have known if you had studied at the feet of ASG...
Intel spoiled workers with 5% 401 contribution and too much salary.
Didn’t have to. Chose to.
This was a wake up call! The alarm has been going off for a while and you can no longer keep hitting snooze.
You do realize that this was done to prevent or at least prolong the inevitable of mass layoffs. I also think that it was yet another management mistake. The layoffs will have to happen eventually, the company just has too many employees. The problem with this action is that it will erode the morale and dedication of the people they will want and need to keep. These slow actions of a constant trickle flow of job cuts, pay cuts, and bad financial results can't be sustained by the workforce. Rip the band-aid off and get it over with. In Q2'22 they said the bottom would be in Q3. They may have been right but it might be Q3'24.
CPUs are commodity items now. There are a lot of viable options so a few new whizzy features every year or so aren't enough to win sales. The fact that companies, like Apple, Amazon, and Google to name a few, are designing their own chips is testimony that Intel doesn't really listen to its customers. They got tired of being told what they need by Intel to the point that they took on the cost of developing their own products. This is what is truly sad...
Cry me a river
Yup it’s sad.