Here is a good example of what Microsoft is doing: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-email-details-new-policies-cull-low-performers-2025-4
A lot of tech companies are culling low performers at least once a year and Microsoft's new plan makes it a continuous year round process. This greatly reduces severance and keeps the entire workforce focused on staying relevant and competitive. Intel will still probably use some large layoffs to get the headcount to where it should be.
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Intels version of PIP is coming, and it is not a coincidence that the annual layoff season has been sceduled to kick off right after the annual review season.
Get used to it, because Intel has brought back Rank & Yank.
Those with IR are in most cases being terminated in this round. No package and they may not get unemployment either.
So yeah, performance (always, but especially in this environment) matters.
Likely there will be some who are not immediately terminated, and think they can continue to underperform and still get paid. Good luck with that.
@6ee Those who are unable to wriggle their way through PIP will progress to the woodchipper process, then promoted to customer.
PiP is designed to force people out without paying severance, and no doubt that is coming to Intel.
Then workers have the option to apply for the few contract work positions which the company will offer.
This is what all the other tech companies are doing and the current layoff may be the last time this old method is used.
@ky They are actually hiring right now, even as they layoff some of the same roles.
Always Be Lowering Cost.
Soon HR will provide impacted employees with VR goggles and universal basic income resources
@55a Everyone should be able to see how much tougher it is going to become, to remain employed at any tech company.
It already is extremely difficult to get in with any tech company for most people, then these various performance management efforts are there to kick most people back out.
Gonna be a harsh wake up call at Intel, which has been increasingly soft on employees over the past few decades.
PIP is coming, and that means the ability to remain employed is going to only exist for the highest performers.
Everyone else will have to keep reapplying for their job, with most being pushed out within 5 years of being hired.
This is by design. It is a feature, not a bug.
One might think that all those wasting company time would have gotten the message by now,
One would be wrong.
I don't believe OP will make it much longer.
Performance management has already begun, and will be continuous from now on.
They have to make room for all the AI assistants and humanoid robots the company wants to hire.
It will be just like Intel in the 1990s, but without all the people.
The cycle has been set for some time, as Intel tries to improve Engineering staff while shedding lower value employees.
Lay off 15k and hire 5k, rinse and repeat.
TINA: there is no alternative
5% used to be intel norm. But you also had to go through the CAP process and give them 3-6 months to right the ship. By then there would be another reorg and employee would move to new team.
@ch+1 This is happening right now, with performance based termination followed by ramped up hiring.
That's why in the 3rd year of layoffs the headcount has not gotten under 100k.
Considering all the changes yet to be done, this (15k to 20k annual layoffs, then hiring 5k) could become the norm for some years to come.
@cf+ It is continuous due to the manner in which this previously manual process has been automated.
So no more need for reviews to be limited to a few time per year.
Get used to it, because AI is increasingly directed at employees. Well, at the employees it does not directly replace.
What this means is that managers at any level in the org can at any time enable reductions in force which is targeted at low performers, so they exit without any packager (and may not be eligible for unemployment in some states).
That can happen even as they are hiring and the whole process is marketed as one that increases productivity and capability, because it does.
Done correctly, it enables a company to continuously weed out low performers, backfilling them with the best employees the company can attract.
No more waiting for an economic downturn and resorting to the ridiculous ISP and VSP process. The company can scale headcount up and down on a continuous basis by merely slowing hiring but continuing to shed low performers.
That's what all the mega cap tech companies have been doing for the past few years and it is working its way down to the smaller companies like Intel, where it should do wonders for the quality of the workforce.
it's all good
Continuous perf reviews = stupidity. Don’t let the insecure manager learn how to use them against you. Yes, the days of reading a printed Intel documentation or an actual book during work hours is long gone. If you aren’t able to stare at a screen for hours on end reading you are considered not working. And don’t forget to jiggle the mouse every so often. Oh, and don’t think about stopping for 20 minutes to contemplate an issue or topic. Just stay glued to that laptop recycling online information that came from… some other worker glued to his laptop recycling online information. Gee, it’s no wonder America is bleeding innovation and jobs.
@as… is your statement the new you heard it here first? I have seen this comment on a lot of posts.
Ya whoms should’ve taken the package
@b5 How did Ryan use it, as an object?
It’s about time. Far too long low performers have been tolerated, often times to the detriment of the team.
@b4+1jsehav45 HR nowadays has automated the policy compliance review process.
Aside from the usual keystroke logging and AI enabled cameras on premises and laptop, all of the tech companies have productivity monitoring software which measures how each worker spends their days and what system inputs they generate.
Needless to say, spending time on the internet is not considered productive. Neither is time spent outside of the facility or in the cafe.
The expectation is that a productive worker be at (or near) their assigned workstation and be producing (and/or managing data). That also involves badge RFID tracking whether in the fab or the office.
Used to be this sort of performance data was only accessed when there was reason to do so, but now it can be used at any time because the automation has reduced the cost.
So if LBT needs 30%, HR can provide a very detailed list in short order.
The ease of getting this data has other tech companies now doing essentially continuous performance reviews.
Rank & Yank has made a comeback and it isn't going away, maybe ever.
They’ll hire more Intel auditors in HR to comb thru employees histories searching for technical breaches of the code of conduct. No matter how small or “innocent” of breach. Then give you no day in court to defend yourself or explain an honest misunderstanding. The 1:1 goes on the calendar with no notice and then it’s time to turn in your laptop. This happens often and is never reported … the employee just disappears. Press repeat.
@aw Good use of whom. "Who" is used when the pronoun acts as the subject of a sentence (the one performing the action or being described). "Whom" is used when the pronoun is the object of a verb or a preposition (the one receiving the action).
Yawn... this is nothing new. They'll target the following people... older workers, white guys, East Asians (aka, non-Indian), and people whom managers don't like. What they'll prob do is actually force managers to put someone on a CAP vs using sleight of hand tricks such as people leaving the company throughout the year, cut vacant position(s), bury it within a recent reorg, or hire someone new to the team just to fire them. If any of this is surprising to anyone... I recommend you talk to a co-worker who's been around the block a few times.
I don't believe OP is a high performer.
Yes old tactic. Don’t take it lying down. If you should find yourself in this situation fight back.