Intel recently announced plans to cut its workforce by 15% to cut costs. The chipmaker’s Irish office recently asked employees of its Leixlip subsidiary to voluntarily submit their resignations. The amount of severance pay that Intel is ready to pay to employees with experience can reach €500 thousand.
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The voluntary redundancy proposal began circulating among staff in the Irish office last week. It is valid until August 23. According to the proposed conditions, those employees who have worked for the company for more than two years can count on an additional five weeks’ salary for each year of service. In addition, according to Irish law, each former employee can count on additional payments in the amount of two weeks’ salary (but not more than 600 euros per week) for each year of service.
Thus, in total, an employee with extensive experience who decides to write a resignation letter of his own free will can receive a severance pay of up to €500 thousand. A response to the application will be given on September 6. Those whose dismissal is approved will leave the company on September 30.
Intel’s Irish subsidiary currently employs approximately 4,900 people. If the chipmaker decides to cut its Irish office by 15%, around 730 people will lose their jobs. Intel will be forced to carry out forced layoffs if it does not recruit enough people willing to leave of their own free will. The company itself refused to specify how many people are planned to be cut directly in the Irish office.
In 2022, Intel asked up to 2,000 of its Irish employees to take three months of unpaid leave to cut costs. As a result, between October 2022 and the end of 2023, the company had to reduce its workforce by approximately five percent.
It is important to add that Intel recently moved large-scale production of some processors to Ireland. In its latest financial report, the company noted that this decision was a major factor in the decline in gross profit in the most recent quarter. At the same time, according to CFO David Zinsner, this reduced capital costs by $1 billion and will benefit Intel in the long term.