“Although Intel still faces cost challenges, we understand that small comforts play a significant role in our daily routines,” read an internal memo from Circuit, Intel’s internal messaging forum, seen by The Oregonian.
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Free coffee for staff was among the victims of Intel’s sweeping cost-cutting efforts as it tries to save $10 billion by 2025.
Christy Pambianchi, Intel’s chief people officer, reportedly told staff that the company would annually spend around $100 million on free food and drinks.
However, the free beverages are back, with the company telling staff in a memo: “We know this is a small step, but we hope it is a meaningful one in supporting our workplace culture.”
Staff at the semiconductor giant have faced a tough time of late as their employer is attempting to cut around 15% of its workforce to “resize and refocus” — which equates to around 17,000 jobs.
Intel’s Oregon office saw 1,300 of its workers laid off, with thousands more at sites in California, Texas, and Arizona. Intel is also trying to sell its European headquarters in Swindon, England, while staff in Ireland were offered the chance to take voluntary redundancy.
Despite reinstating the staff free beverages, The Oregonian reports that Intel has scaled back its staff sabbatical programme, grounded an air shuttle that few workers to other Western state sites, and failed to reinstate a free fruit programme.
But more worrying for staff than free fruit in the report is that Intel told employees at an all-staff meeting that further changes were coming that could affect their annual stock bonuses.
Intel surpassed expectations to report more positive financial results during its recent earnings call, but that didn’t stop it from posting significant losses thanks to $15.9 billion in impairment charges and $2.8 billion in restructuring charges.
Further unwanted news for Intel this week saw it replaced in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow 30 index) by rival Nvidia and suggestions the billions of dollars in federal funding it secured under the CHIPS Act could vanish following the election victory for Donald Trump.
Despite the ongoing gloom, there’s a glimmer of hope at Intel, with the company projecting improvements for Q4, forecasting a return to profitability — suggesting fruit is beginning to bear from its drastic cost-cutting, just not the free fruit for staff.
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