GameofThrones at intel here's what I heard from an level 10 mgr in HR...for ANY grade level, if you are past mid-point or median for that level and in previous 5 years, had NO promotion or NO exceeds, (so 5 satisfactories) then focal tool will trigger a level 4 stock. so you can get a successful rating in year 6, but will get level 4 stock, which will put a target on your back for next round of layoffs. Also, in groups where there are more people above the median salary than below, the HR tool that tracks this will REDUCE overall focal budget for that group forcing managers to push people into level 4 stock territory or issue IR's to balance larger raises to younger or below median employees which the focal tool automatically does. Get an IR and you have a target on your back. Don't forget promotions also come out of the focal budget, so if someone is promoted in your group, someone else HAS to PAY for it, with a lower rating whether they deserve it or not. SO the perfect storm is to have a hiring freeze for multiple years, so no one can change jobs - forcing you to stay in your level and extra 2-3 years, even a lateral moves won't save you from the focal algorithm, then shrink the focal budget, so NO ONE can get an exceeds or a promotion unless you force an IR on a satisfactory worker, which many managers really don't want to do, SO the focal tool DOES IT FOR THEM. Managers are forced to really pick favorites and politics at Intel trumps all else including competency. Game of Thrones explained. Heads are rolling.......
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@Hc6MKhV-1lgt has it right. add to that artificially lowering the focal budget to PURPOSELY trigger all those SSL4's No one I've talked to recalls anyone getting SSL4 with an satisfactory rating before last year it may have happened but was so rare and of no consequence bk even said it wasn't enforced
It wasn't till they manipulated the focal budgets that literally 1000 or more people got them in last two years. This was not a random event, it was carefully orchestrated
Makes you wonder if those who were supposed to be enforcing SSL4s in the past it got SSL4's themselves for non performance!
It is plausible to me that mgrs are blaming the focal tool or some nebulous HR policy as the villains in order to keep their teeth and their relationships with their reports at focal time.
It sounds like this:
You: how come i got a satisfactory rating but SL4, I've worked my assoff for the last 20 years and never got a SL4 before - what gives?
Mgr: Hey - its the tools fault you got a SL4 for busting your ass so don't hit me, I tried my best i really did, you were right on the cusp of an exceeds, but tool wouldn't let me do it, it will be your turn next year.
Meritocracy meets game of thrones
i heard a similar variation on post this from my mgr - but its not the focal tool that does the manipulation, its the HR focal budget generator. A group or grade levels overall focal budget is designed to enforce bell curve distribution of 10% exceeds, 80% satisfactory, and 10% IR or BE - and consequently stock levels are included into this calculation 10% SL2, 80% SL3, and 10% SL4. HR knows where every individual is in their pay quartile and adjusts the focal budget for it, This model is inherently biased against older higher payed employees if you follow it thru to its logical end. As the focal group ages and peg the median or last quartile, their focal budget get smaller. This is not exactly new news and the focal was designed this way. Its not a rumor.
You manager types on here. How the the tool work? Does a manager submit a SL and the tool accepts that? Can the SL be changed after submission or focal deadline? If so, who can change it - the manager, a GM, a VP, HR, CEO?
If an employee wanted more $ but less stock (Successful, SL4/5) , seems like they are screwed by this since the situation is not taken into consideration.
Also, if an employee switches groups in the 3rd Q, their previous group manager does the focal, correct? Seems like the prev manager would give a lower SL since the employee now does not have any future impact expectations with the prev group - screwed.
"Promotion is detached from stock level. You usually need EE or O to be promoted."
Which means you're getting SSL 1 or 2.
Promotion is detached from stock level. You usually need EE or O to be promoted.
OP's post seems very likely to me. Why? Because it's too well thought out and perfectly designed to just be a rumor that somebody made up. It's quite sophisticated actually and completely lawsuit proof.
Let's say manager wants to protect all their employees: Give everyone level 3 stock. But then, nobody will get promoted, since promotion probably requires level 1 or level 2 stock. So without promotions, people will stay in grade longer and eventually get fired for being in grade too long.
The managers were probably told not to buck the system.
I've always remembered a quote from the best manager I have ever had (who was not at Intel): "I'll start worrying about you after I'm done worrying about me"
I am sure the focal tool does not force managers to assign SL 4 based on time in grade. I have been grade 8 for 10 years and got SL 3 every year since they started these. Got SL 4 once back when it was no biggie and I changed teams and don't even remember the manager bringing it up.
Yes, I got the VSP this time again and no I am still not going to take it. If it turns to ISP, so be it but I will keep working and getting paid till we get there.
I was told the same exact thing. Don't worry. We just don't have enough stocks to go around and need to make sure the new employees are compensated as well. The managers lie and get away with it. I can't count how many times my manager lied to me. I had two job offers and when I ask them to do the PAN my manager said he does not have access to the system and will ask his manager and then his manager was not available and would not respond. That's when I knew something was up. This is before the announcement. They set us up way in advance. god I HATE Intel. So glad I don't work there anymore.
After reading these posts, it's incredibly amazing at the pure "quality" of the management. There is no excuse for the managers mentioned to not stand up for their employees. This is their job, and they are obvious failures at it. Truly shameful that Intel has such weak assmanagers that allow their own employees to be victims of such corrupt system.
@Hc6MKhV-1tyt: Did you get ERP or VSP/ISP? Looks like you should have been ERP-eligible...
I'd like to see what the two managers who responded below have to say about @tyt's post. There's proof right there. He was told by his manager that the focal tool assigned his lower stock level. Granted, his manager could probably override what the focal tool assigned, but I can see more and more managers using this as an excuse now.
Regardless of the method/algorithm used to determine focal status. It is wrong to walk people out the door for the first blemish on their focal record. I know 4 people who had more than 15 years each working for Intel and this year they got SSL4. Some were told 1 SSL4 wouldn't matter and that they wouldn't get it next year. They are no longer Intel employees. This was their first time for being dinged at focal. The really sad part is I know of 5 times as many people who are leaving Intel because of the way these people were treated. Intel will see negative changes in their bottom line because of this action for years to come in my opinion.
all i know is I got axed last week and I am white, 55+, 26 years at intel and NEVER had an IR or BE ever. I was told this at focal time: due to reduced focal budget i was getting lower stock levels with satisfactory rating and was told this was done thru the tool - maybe as a way for my manager to wiggle out of directly telling me- you are going to be marked for deletion...its the tools fault, I couldn't do anything. this is the best explanation I have heard of the process. No other explanation I;ve read makes any better sense. And I know for a fact that your stock level can be adjusted in the tool up or down because I asked for and got more stock about 5 years back and less base pay bump with a satisfactory rating
If you really want to be accurate, it's being a wh--e Managers and employees alike. The pimps are at the top of the organization.
Being a manager at Intel is worse than being a pimp.
"The algorithm is sloppy"
"The algorithm is sloppy"
The whole INTEL is sloppy. Garbage relations... HR is bad. Management is worst. BK and MR are disaster. Low Level Management is completely useless.
Game of Drones.
Didn't mean to offend if it was you that wrote this "sloppy algorithm". People need to know it for what it is. BTW, it should be clear by now that this is not a manager in cohorts with HR. They are not my friend or yours.
""The algorithm is sloppy"
Plausible deniability.
Parallel construction.
How convenient."
Well, it's up to you. Do you always believe second hand information because it supports your agenda, or do you have the intellectual capacity to reason that the information from someone who has used the focal tool for 20 years may hold more truth. Your choice.
"The algorithm is sloppy"
Plausible deniability.
Parallel construction.
How convenient.
I'm also a manager and can confirm the OP's post is absolutely false. It's not just "some level of inaccuracy" but utterly incorrectly in every way.
The OP wildly exaggerated the capability of the focal tool. It does not auto-assign level 4 stock. It can auto-assign an SSL5 for an IR put into the system, and it can constrain Grades 3-6 to SSL3 for a satisfactory rating, but there is ample edit (over-ride) capability in the tool for managers to finesse allocation of pay and stock. This is due to the auto-calcs never add up to the focal budget. Managers have to edit to correct for this lack of sophistication, which in my opinion as a manager, should not be messed with. The algorithm is sloppy, but for this reason - - to allow managers to apply their own allocations where the tool has come up short. I would hope that HR does NOT try to remove the capability to edit as it would turn the whole process into a push of the button, removing the discretion that needs to be used in the process.
Yup, saved the text already. Also, go away HR shills.
I am a manager and the post content is completely false. The tool doesn't force any SSL level.
Fear mongering does not help the situation.
JoeSixPacks: Thank You for an excellent post. Now, people, this initial post is worth a $1 million USD.
Please, to whom it might be of a concern, save the text (NOT link to it) since this will be very soon deleted. I guess Joe, you revealed INTEL deep secrets, and they go mad, and probably after you. I can imagine that 100+ INTEL managers and HR will read this post over and over. Their spies all all over this place! ;-)
Please, please, watch your back! Good Luck to you, hope you did it from public WiFi (I guess, U R enough smart).
Once again, thank you for Great Courage for posting this excerpt!
Great post..thank you..i was a victim of this pathetic system last year. Still it is like a nightmare to me that is hard for the Intel management or hr reps to comprehend. I am still making up mu lost sleeps and broken health due to my on call process eng jobs at Intel. Worst place to work. I have no complain about my current workplace..love it.
This one post is worth all the time spent on this website
Thanks for sharing JoeSixPack
100% correct l got isp'd Monday after 15 min with hr rep explaining the pkg and mgr saying with a very very sad face "sorry for your loss"...then I was walked till the exit.
Over 20 years with the company and 50+
JoeSixPack - thanks. It all makes sense now. Removing BE and replacing it with level 4 stock is a clever way to force a distribution. Now HR can control allocation of stocks through the tool with very little control to managers. BK and Richard Taylor you are pathetic slimeballs.
also, I hope you posted this via some free wifi (eg: starbucks) out there (and masked your mac address) and not from your phone or home PC.
Thank you HR whistleblower. Thank YOU.
this has not been published anywhere and will probably be denied by management...but makes sense of all the crapola that has been happening over the last several ISP's -senior people getting fired without ever receiving an IR or BE in their career.........
Awesome! If this is correct we now know more about the process than 97% of the managers using it.