Intel is officially RTO

[Daniel Nenni]

It is called leadership.

LBT detailed the RTO policy in an internal memo to Intel employees dated April 24, 2025, titled "Our Path Forward." This came shortly after Intel's Q1 2025 earnings report. Tan emphasized that Intel's cost structure was "well above competitive benchmarks" and that excessive remote/hybrid work had contributed to layers of bureaucracy with teams at "eight or more layers deep" and wasted too much time on administrative tasks.

LinkedIn
Yuliya Vasudev
It was our official return to the office this week at Intel Corporation and it was exciting to see everyone back - the energy was everywhere: hallway catch-ups, quick brainstorms at desks and bouncing ideas in person, spontaneous teamwork, sense of community - things you can’t replicate on screen.

The office was so alive it was even hard to find parking! And although some would say - it is limiting our flexibility - I truly believe this is a critical step in bringing back focus at Intel, with the goal of regaining its leadership position on the market.

The best part of the week for me was getting to meet our CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. Hearing his vision in person was inspiring and it reaffirmed my belief in the important role we play in shaping the future of technology. I’m excited to be part of this journey and to see Intel continue to succeed.

 

[hist78]

It is called leadership.

LBT detailed the RTO policy in an internal memo to Intel employees dated April 24, 2025, titled "Our Path Forward." This came shortly after Intel's Q1 2025 earnings report. Tan emphasized that Intel's cost structure was "well above competitive benchmarks" and that excessive remote/hybrid work had contributed to layers of bureaucracy with teams at "eight or more layers deep" and wasted too much time on administrative tasks.

LinkedIn
Yuliya Vasudev
It was our official return to the office this week at Intel Corporation and it was exciting to see everyone back - the energy was everywhere: hallway catch-ups, quick brainstorms at desks and bouncing ideas in person, spontaneous teamwork, sense of community - things you can’t replicate on screen.

The office was so alive it was even hard to find parking! And although some would say - it is limiting our flexibility - I truly believe this is a critical step in bringing back focus at Intel, with the goal of regaining its leadership position on the market.

The best part of the week for me was getting to meet our CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. Hearing his vision in person was inspiring and it reaffirmed my belief in the important role we play in shaping the future of technology. I’m excited to be part of this journey and to see Intel continue to succeed.

@Daniel Nenni

You probably know more about the job market and the supply-and-demand situation for salespeople in semiconductor companies. I looked at the LinkedIn profile of the poster your post is based on, and she seems to have limited experience in the semiconductor industry itself, aside from working 2 years and 11 months at the motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte. Is it really that difficult to find a salesperson with direct semiconductor industry experience?

Yuliya Vasudev - Intel Corporation | LinkedIn

As a Strategic Account Manager at Intel, I manage a sales pipeline of over $200M and… · Experience: Intel Corporation · Education: Stanford University Graduate School of Business · Location: Santa Clara · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Yuliya Vasudev’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional...

www.linkedin.com

 

[Daniel Nenni]

@Daniel Nenni

You probably know more about the job market and the supply-and-demand situation for salespeople in semiconductor companies. I looked at the LinkedIn profile of the poster your post is based on, and she seems to have limited experience in the semiconductor industry itself, aside from working 2 years and 11 months at the motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte. Is it really that difficult to find a salesperson with direct semiconductor industry experience?

Yuliya Vasudev - Intel Corporation | LinkedIn

As a Strategic Account Manager at Intel, I manage a sales pipeline of over $200M and… · Experience: Intel Corporation · Education: Stanford University Graduate School of Business · Location: Santa Clara · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Yuliya Vasudev’s profile on LinkedIn, a professional...

www.linkedin.com

I believe she is in support versus sales. In my experience there are two kinds of semiconductor sales people: Hunters versus Farmers and they are two very different skill sets. Hunters generally make more money so that is what you want to be. My guess is that Intel is full of farmers given the dominant position they were in. They may need more hunters now.

 

[hist78]

I believe she is in support versus sales. In my experience there are two kinds of semiconductor sales people: Hunters versus Farmers and they are two very different skill sets. Hunters generally make more money so that is what you want to be. My guess is that Intel is full of farmers given the dominant position they were in. They may need more hunters now.

Farmers?

 

[Daniel Nenni]

Farmers?

Also called account managers for existing accounts. They milk cows versus rustling new cows. Some inexperienced sales people try and milk bulls which only makes the bulls mad.

 

[lispwright]

It is called leadership.

Also called death to productivity for a lot of people who have to concentrate and think hard about their work. Which is a thing when you're pushing the state of the art in fabrication (albeit a lot of that is hands on with expensive machines) and trying to compete in design with a company like AMD that's doing very well in CPUs.

It was our official return to the office this week at Intel Corporation and it was exciting to see everyone back - the energy was everywhere: hallway catch-ups, quick brainstorms at desks and bouncing ideas in person, spontaneous teamwork, sense of community - things you can’t replicate on screen.

Do you know how hard it is to concentrate when a good salesman is on the phone near you? I'm talking about a hunter, the sort who makes compelling pitches that are necessarily hard to ignore. People I like working with in small doses, my father was one.

In this context, for a lot of people RTO is just another way to shed employees without formal layoffs or regard for the quality of the work they're doing. Not going to give Intel the huge boost in quality they desperately need in domains like design and software to make their stuff usable. There's already been lots of formal layoffs of people who provide all sorts of Linux kernel support.

 

[bilau]

I might be giving out my age...

Way back when, there was an outside contractor doing technical writing for my team. He had a freshy (original) Apple Mac that he would cover with a big sign " Personal Property, Don't Touch!" when he was away. (Of course, we still would insert our floppies and type reports on it because it was indeed so much better!)

I asked him why he didn't just work at home? He said he wanted to be right next to us to better fill in the details and that he would be distracted at home!!