Intel is officially RTO

[seraphim]

The thing that annoys me about these RTO initiatives is that they treat people like children who are misbehaving. OR like cogs in machine that needs to be oiled. I am not sure which is worse. "Respect for people" has never been a core Intel value.

I retired from Intel in 2022 after 18 years. I was an RTE / program manager in IT.

I worked from home 4 days out of 5 for most of my career there. So did many others in similar roles.

The COVID remote work push was a non-event for people like me.

We had already learned to be effective working remotely. For roles like mine, we regularly collaborated in virtual meetings with participants from all over the globe -- so going into the office just meant we were sitting in a noisy cube or even noisier shared open workspace while trying to coordinate 10-15 back-to-back virtual meetings every day.

It was far easier to do this from home.

I still went in 1-2 days a week for F2F meetings with my manager or local team members or just to work in the cafeteria and generate some serendipitous water cooler conversations -- there is definitely value in that.

 

[benb]

I watched a TLDR on Youtube on how the Netherlands went to a 4 day work week in some unionized jobs in the 1980s, to help mitigate a recession. Instead of layoffs they went to 4 days of work, 4 days of pay. Today the Netherlands has a high percent of the population working part time. Basically for 2 people, 1.5 full time jobs. They have far higher workforce participation rate than the US, in part because of more parttime work.

Possibly, WFH could be implemented as part time work in return for less pay in the US. I think a lot of people would like that. Not the less pay part, but being honest about it and not having the threat of it being taken away. I think you'd need a way to get healthcare though.

 

[Daniel Nenni]

The one day a week in the office for coordination I'll absolutely spot you, although that cuts you off from a big talent pool. For problem solvers, including introverts, we really do in a sense work close to 24x7. Many of us don't turn off our minds much or often, not even when sleeping, see the benzene structural ring solution that came in a dream. Many, many other examples, shower solutions are a notable category.

I have worked 7 days a week for most of my career and still do but I am not an introvert, I am success driven. Every morning when I wake up I think about providing for my family. Money does buy happiness as well as security. If you look at the great leaders of our industry they do the same, their minds never stop thinking about success. For me it is staying relevant because that is my business. SemiWiki now has more than 1.5M active users. Last year it was 1M. I'm not exactly sure how we will get to 2M but I'm working on it 24/7.

The other leadership idiom I follow is lead by example. This is also my parenting mantra. Inspire people to work hard by working hard and being successful.

If you look at Jensen Huang, Hock Tan, Lisa Su, CC Wei, and Lip-Bu Tan you will see the same. They work 7 days a week. Success of the company is first but success of the stakeholders is a close second.

 

[cliff]

Employers should allow their workers to work from home. It clears room at the office for their replacements.

 

[cheesehead]

Today the Netherlands has a high percent of the population working part time. Basically for 2 people, 1.5 full time jobs.

To be fair though, I doubt this is a direct consequence of those 4 days workweek.
Rather I would argue the Netherlands are a very progressive country, which has allowed/pushed their female population to work as well. By creating part time jobs, this set up allows combining work and family.

If you look at the numbers, you will notice the female employment rate isn´t exceptionally high. When you look at the part time share though, the numbers are very clear (74% in 2020 vs 30% average in EU): https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/edn-20200306-1