<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Friday, March 29, 2024
March 29, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Intel plans sharp focus to fix management problems

Chipmaker is Oregon’s largest private employer

By Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian
Published: January 31, 2017, 4:36pm

PORTLAND — Intel said it’s planning a major new training program to fix management problems following the biggest job cuts in the company’s history.

“It was painful and hard to see fellow employees leave,” chief executive Brian Krzanich told Intel workers in a companywide meeting that followed last week’s quarterly earnings announcement. That’s according to a summary of the Thursday meeting provided to employees. The Oregonian/OregonLive obtained a copy.

Intel initially said it would cut 12,000 jobs in last year’s restructuring, but subsequent financial filings put the total at 15,000.

The cutbacks, known internally as “Accelerating Change and Transformation,” were effective, Krzanich told employees. He said they met the company’s goals for moving Intel away from its dependence on the PC market and toward fast-growing opportunities in data centers, the Internet of Things and memory chips.

Asked to give the restructuring a letter grade, though, Krzanich said it was a “C.”

The meeting summary didn’t specify why Krzanich was displeased. He told employees he takes responsibility for “the fact that we had to do it.” Last year, Krzanich said he felt the cutbacks had been too “harsh and quick.”

After job cuts during both 2015 and 2016, Intel employees complained the criteria for determining layoff eligibility had changed without notice. Krzanich said last summer that the company planned to revamp its exacting annual review process, called Focal.

On Thursday, Krzanich told employees that the Focal overhaul is off the table — at least for now. Instead, he said, Intel will focus on unspecified management problems first, then reconsider whether to make any changes in Focal.

The chipmaker plans a new “Managing at Intel” program for all 13,000 of the company’s managers, according to Krzanich. He didn’t say what the program will involve, but said details are coming soon.

Intel is getting a new human resources chief as company vice president Richard Taylor retires. His successor is Leslie Culbertson, a longtime Hillsboro executive who had been Intel’s director of finance.

The chipmaker is Oregon’s largest private employer, with 19,500 people working in Hillsboro before last year’s job cuts began.

On Thursday, Krzanich acknowledged a lasting hangover from last year’s restructuring but hailed Intel’s strong fourth-quarter financial results as an indication the company is moving forward.

“We’re still recovering as an organization, but I think we’re making pretty good progress,” he said.

Loading...