Intel: Our finances are in the toilet, we're laying off 15K, but the free coffee is back!
- Reference: 1731111910
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/11/09/intel_free_coffee/
- Source link:
Intel is on an spending-slashing crusade at the moment, with [1]a plan to bin about 15,000 staff to help right its financials. Just last month, it [2]laid off 2,000 staff (1,300 of them from its Hillsboro, Oregon site) and announced big cuts in staff perks earlier in the year.
Among the cost-cutting measures, the much-cherished sabbatical that Intel staffers could get after four years has now been eliminated, and while staff will still get one every seven years, its duration has been halved to just a month off, The Oregonian [3]reports .
[4]
Stock rewards have been reduced, there are no more free personal trainers at the gym for staff, there's no more fresh fruit in the office (unless you bring it yourself), the Intel air shuttle flying between Oregon, California, and Arizona has been shuttered, and the x86 titan said it would no longer have free tea and coffee in the office.
[5]
[6]
“Until we get into a better financial health position, we need to be suspending those,” Intel's chief people officer Christy Pambianchi told staff at the start of this week, adding that the chipmaker was spending about $100 million annually on free and discounted food and beverages. But Intel has now rescinded the ban on free tea and coffee in the office, since it seems that was a step too far.
“Although Intel still faces cost challenges, we understand that small comforts play a significant role in our daily routines,” Intel wrote on its internal messaging forum, called Circuit. “We know this is a small step, but we hope it is a meaningful one in supporting our workplace culture.”
[7]Intel losses hit $16.6B in Q3 and Wall Street is … loving it?
[8]Intel to shed at least 15% of staff, will outsource more to TSMC, slash $10B in costs
[9]Intel lets go of 2,000 staff at Oregon R&D site, offices in Texas, Arizona, California
So it seems you can take a tech worker's stock options, sabbatical, and gym time, but taking away their caffeine is unthinkable for Intel workers. Or perhaps this is just a cheap way to make it seem like Intel is giving something back.
But this is a wider issue across the tech industry. As the explosive early growth of the sector slows and shareholders get antsy, benefits in the sector are reduced. Some are still feeling flush enough to provide free food and drink, and the need for economies is making such perks increasingly untenable.
[10]
But coffee is a line that can't be crossed, it seems. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/01/intel_q3_2024/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/16/intel_layoffs/
[3] https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2024/11/intel-brings-back-workers-free-coffee-seeking-to-stem-declining-morale.html
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zy7sex54Ytz0ztFCF7UCIQAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zy7sex54Ytz0ztFCF7UCIQAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zy7sex54Ytz0ztFCF7UCIQAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/01/intel_q3_2024/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/01/intel_to_ax_headcount/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/16/intel_layoffs/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zy7sex54Ytz0ztFCF7UCIQAAAA4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Is it decent?
My experience with free tea and coffee in the office is it's useful for cleaning engine blocks, but not much else, and you certainly wouldn't drink the stuff.
Is that not the norm?
Re: Is it decent?
NetApp has these machines the size of dorm fridges, one per floor / break room. It has two hoppers on top (for regular & decaf espresso beans) and the inside is a fridge that holds two gallons of milk. The thing will make you a real cappuccino, fresh, to order, anytime.
Also each one takes 20+ minutes of maintenance per day.
Re: Is it decent?
Nope. The coffee onsite at Hillsboro - HF and JF campuses - was always rather good, in my personal experience.
Mind you, the height of pettiness I saw during my career was how coffee onsite at the UK site was free for full-time employees - but green-badges (ie contractors) had to pay 10-50p for a cup, and use an identical machine next to the free one. Talk about coffee apartheid. And yes, I’m aware that this was more to do with HMRC tax rules for contractors, rather than Intel’s own doing.
Intel and other tech companies could always significantly cut back on executive bonuses, eliminate dividends and ban stock buybacks. That ought to save some money
The Need for Caffeine
The remaining staffers need the caffeine ... since they will be staying up late doing both their own jobs and the jobs of the departed 15k.
Re: The Need for Caffeine
Pfft. I was doing the work of any three other members of my team when I was there - weeks at a time of 3AM conference calls with other geos, mad scrambles at the last minute to get projects ready for execs who’d not bothered to plan properly, oh, and the perennial fun of having to do all the tear-down and packing up after a tradeshow finished, as the besuited Very Important(TM) salesweasels vanished off to the bar/airport. And did I mention that my reward for those weeks of late conference calls was to watch a useless colleague sweep up all the plaudits for it because he was chums with the division manager, as I was shortly thereafter laid off? Bitter, me? Naaah… :-/
You’re right, and I can only imagine how much worse it is now for those remaining.
Actually I don’t have to imagine; my sources on the inside tell me that morale is absolutely in the proverbial shitter and those who are still there are living day-to-day in fear of more layoffs :(
Great company to work for despite everything, but let’s just say that some of my coworkers were a reminder that it’s not just cream that floats to the top.
Given their recent technical woes
I'm not sure i'd be drinking the coffee
Also this is an American company doing lay-offs, I'd want somebody from HR to take a sip first
Caffeine is the key here
Drinks with caffeine (coffee, certain teas, guarana, certian fizzy drinks and energy drinks) are not only a perk, but by their very nature (with moderation) make workers "slightly" more productive.
A company would be dumb not to offer them...
Having said that, there is a huge difference between a free brewed coffee in a Mr. coffee with cow milk and a free "cafe espresso abarth with soy milk, extra foam, pumpkin spice and cinnamon", if you know what I mean...