After working at Intel for over 34 years, I decided to take the VSP offered this last April and also retire. I consider myself lucky to have done so.
Over the years, I have watched the Intel HR management quality deteriorate. Ever since Richard Taylor became Intel's HR chief, Intel has become so layoff trigger-happy any time the profit margins sag a small amount +/- a few percentage points. They do so much measuring and data collecting of employee performance and have created so many metrics of performance, they now consider employees just machines to turn on and off and have forgotten that their employees are, in essence, a living organism. And that living organism can only thrive when there is stability, fairness, and respect. Intel has lost the respect of its employees. Nobody trusts HR or the upper management anymore.