Despite reassurances last month from directors, Intel Ireland announced that it will make between 200 and 300 people redundant. They came out in the press last month and bare-faced said that this wouldn’t happen. I wonder how long it takes a behemoth like Intel to decide to lay people off and which ones to select? A month? Two months? More? You can make up your own mind if Intel management lied or not.
I’ve been made redundant 3 times since 1996. I’ve learned to smell when it’s coming. I’ve even managed to avoid it by moving on before the axe started swinging. In 2001 I was even being talked to about a promotion and a pay rise while the same managers were putting me on a list to cut. I’ve learned that:
- If business is down
- If budgets disappear
- If phrases like “tightening belts” are said
… all start happening then it’s time to get the CV/resume updated and out there. Even if you’ve been in a company 10 or 20 years you shouldn’t bank on a redundancy package that’ll pay of your mortgage. Those days are long gone. Expect the statutory compensation package if you’re not a banker resigning because of a scandal.
Why do managers lie? They need you to keep working so that the business can keep money coming in. They’ll already have prepared your P45 (pink slip for tax) and reassure you.
That leads me on to the next point. You might be thinking “they can’t get rid of me because I’m do critical stuff and the business needs me”. I’m sorry to say, everyone is replaceable. Business people do not value IT in general (not always true but usually true). I’ve been that critical employee. I designed and managed a network for an international finance company. I knew it inside and out. No one else came close. We used bleeding edge technology to leverage automation, e.g. 3 of us managed ran 170+ servers. The directors decided to swing the axe and all senior IT people went, to be replaced by some foreign contractors. The other 2 in my team went a couple of months later. Those contractors were to move everything abroad but 3 years later nothing has happened. They hadn’t a clue. In fact, I know that despite many efforts the business never really got to grips with the level of tech that we had deployed. They spent a fortune on contractors and consultants. They would have been better to keep us on and run things. It’s not like we didn’t do an ace job. We did and we were ahead of the business in offering solutions to anticipate the changes of strategy.
The lesson here? Non-IT people often see IT as an annoying cost centre, a plaything for geeks or worse, a step above the receptionist. They often don’t appreciate that we build the foundations that can at least facilitate the business and if done right can make the business more efficient and competitive.
Did Intel do any of these? I’m not saying that at all. Like I’ve already said: you can make up your own mind. Am I cynical? Am I paranoid? Funny story … a buddy who I’ve worked with and been made redundant with twice before once said I was paranoid. The first time, I had already cleared my desk and packed my bag before we were given the news. The second time, I’d already figured it out 2 weeks before hand. He doesn’t think that anymore.
GWB got it wrong so here’s the right version: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Wow, nice insights Aidan…….the disgusting part is the directors that let your team go, probably got a raise:^(
~tb
Tim, there was a major power shift and a number of politically active senior managers became directors. They swung axes all over … a few years later the company had to be bailed out _twice__ by the government where the company HQ was.