I heard that fully remote engineers without an office nearby will face layoffs. Seems unfair as I took the position knowing that I would be allowed to work remotely.
Management says that our CEO is tightening the return-to-office rule, and there will be no exceptions for engineers.
@bx+1j You are correct and those with little time at the company see this weird, abnormal work environment as somehow the new norm. It is not.
The company at times has lured employees into work settings that did not prove lasting. This includes remote work, global teams, being matrixed, being a dot report to several managers, and any other scheme that doesn't involve a worker having regular in-person conversations with 1 manager.
Every time the company needs to retrench it has eliminated these arrangements, often pushing people out of the company as a result.
If the business were more stable then maybe it would not be a big deal and I'm sure there are other companies where these disconnected work arrangements are ok.
Anyone who for whatever reason thinks they want to last more than about 7 years at Intel should avoid these alternate work arrangements like the plague. They will get you terminated.
This is not the first time Intel has remote workers to either move near a significant Intel site or get out. Been here twice before for the last 20+ years. The last time, they did not even count field offices for sales as a Intel site unless you were already in sales at that site. Many people left and all of that was with no severance. It was a move at your own expense, get out or get fired. I see this happening again for sure, but maybe not right away.
They will be kept on. Intels decision to close many of it smaller sites, especially in Europe, has forced many roles to remote only. Strategically they have to maintain those employees to keep their presence in markets
RTO is underway... but I would worry a lot more about whether you can keep your job at all, given the company prospects.
Talking about RTO all the time is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
@bd Cute story bro. Come back when America hasn’t dominated the global order for the past 100 years. Kicking @ss on a non-stop basis is harder than stealing and copying from the competition. The bear is taking a brief nap, and then it’s back to kicking the world’s sh1t in.
Spread too thin in a failing company, but more successful companies are completing more with less? Laxy americans!
Working out of the office is quickly becoming the norm across all industries. Good luck finding another all remote job. I am sure management has considered and is probably even counting on employees leaving over the policy changes. You are more replaceable than you think. Intel's workforce needs a chance to stabilize but it makes sense to get to the right number of people first. They can come back and fill in gaps where necessary and this will probably be with contract workers. The work environment is rapidly changing and it is not in favor of the workers.
I personally know multiple fully remote engineers who are exceptional at what they do—they deliver consistently, regardless of location or the often overwhelming personal situations that led them to go fully remote (many have significant family burdens). If we're being honest, many roles at Intel could be fully remote. There's a strange obsession here with requiring presence in the fab for jobs that gain little from it.
One of Intel’s biggest problems is that engineers are spread too thin. Equipment engineers absolutely need to be in the fab, working hands-on with technicians. But process-related work? That can be done from anywhere by people with the right expertise—Micron has proven this. Much of what we do is process-related, especially on a stable, mature line. Integration, yield, and most of metro and Q&R could easily be done remotely. The only real benefit to being onsite is face-to-face interaction, and given how little accountability exists in Intel’s culture, I understand the push for RTO.
If Intel eliminates fully remote roles, it will only accelerate the brain drain—just like what happened with the ERP and voluntary exit packages six months ago. We lost some of our best talent. Admittedly, some of the more difficult and entrenched people left too, which was a relief. I’m glad to see moves toward flattening the org and cutting through the bureaucracy, but it’s going to be a rough transition. There will be collateral damage as we try to keep this massive ship from sinking—a ship that’s been taking on water for decades. I truly wish LBT success in changing the culture. We’ve been talking about these same issues for six years, but he’s the first to be so direct and unflinching about Intel’s problems. You can only fix what you’re willing to clearly identify, and LBT seems to have a solid vision and a clear view of what needs to change.
@a1 I agree.
There are too many engineers that are classified as fully remote. It's very difficult and inefficient.
I sometimes think some people fall asleep during our online meetings, as some come and ask a question that has been answered earlier. It happens way too often.
I only heard Hock Tan did that to VMware employees.
I remember before Covid, one of my team members wanted to move back to his hometown to be close to his family, where does not have Intel office. My manager struggled quite a while because that guy is a decent engineer but had to ask him to quit because there was no remote exception at that time.
Fake post
You can’t do engineering remotely