Took the ERP last year!

A good read across the board, at least from the perspective that it reminds me why it was a good choice (of mine) to take the ERP last year. I love what over 25 years at Intel has provided for me, I'm sad that I don't see that as a possibility for most of the people that remain - especially since the biggest thing I miss daily is the interaction with some great individuals and teams.

I do however take exception to some of the comments by managers saying that they had no choice in complying with HR/Sr Mgmt regarding forced distribution. Is it the worst thing ever? Yes, no question. Is there no way around it? Yes, there most certainly is. You can stand up for your people when warranted and judge them fairly so they have the opportunity to grow and keep pace.

Will this potentially rile your manager (and their manager/etc all), will it potentially put you in their distribution crosshairs?

Of course, but as a manager that's your role and your choice - if you're not up to it, go back to an IC role. After 15 years managing I'm comfortable with never having to deliver (or receive) a "message" that was not deserved, and even at that I can count them on one hand and have a finger left over.

From my perspective, I was much more qualified to do an open-door and argue my case for NOT meeting distribution than a valued member of my team that had met expectations and been successful all year.

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@cfy, of course they have a choice, it's a matter of how hard they want to press it and how the individual in question stacks up against the others in their own group and/or the next level of their peers. They also need to be credible, just saying "I won't do it" without a case comparing accomplishments against that person's peer group will most certainly fail.

@OP - I wish you were my manager. Do FLMs have choice in complying with the forced distribution? Don’t think so. It is asking too much for them to stand up for their people. For many FLMs, their main job is to cover themselves. The choice they have unfortunately is to pick someone in the team that they can handle better (easier), normally those who are quiet by nature. The real slackers with low performance won’t be touched if they are loud and tough.

@pnc, it's also probably the reason for the arbitrary decisions and criteria post-focal to "justify" targeting individuals with successful for ACT. After last year's new "guidelines" I realized it was time for me to get out. The ERP package was great, but it was not the tipping point, it was keeping managers in the dark that bothered me most. BK/HR may not value integrity and trust like Intel used to, but to me it was a cornerstone to my own belief system.

But I'm still grateful for my years at Intel and loving the Encore experience.

You are honorable. Most of them are not. The way the system works is, senior managers and directors get to keep all of their direct reports, while forcing the distributions on their lowest level employees. If anyone cares to remember Titanic, the passenger class were denied life rafts, while the first classers had "priority". Intel will become a textbook case on how a great company could be ruined by witless management.

Thread regarding Intel Corp. layoffs

Took the ERP last year!

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