ritics of Intel’s reorganization say the company relied too heavily on an outside
consulting firm, which reportedly was Boston-based Bain & Co. And the degree to
which Bain’s benchmark figures were treated as gospel in chopping people and programs
led employees to jokingly call the company’s consultants the "TaliBain," critics
say.
Richard Taylor, Intel vice president and co-leader of the
firm’s human resources department, declined to comment on whether Intel hired Bain
for the restructuring. But he rejects the idea that a consultant’s benchmarking
numbers determined the restructuring decisions. Taylor, who was the leader of one
of the five teams behind Intel’s overall restructuring, said company executives
were careful to focus on overall efficiency, effectiveness and strategies in crafting
the changes.
A Bain representative did not return calls seeking comment.
Intel over the past 20 months has revamped operations and
shrunk itself. Done in the face of falling revenue and market share, the overhaul
aims to make Intel more agile and to save the company billions of dollars. Intel
announced 10,500 job cuts from the 102,500 employees it had in mid-2006. And thanks
to attrition and other activities, including the sale of business units, the company
said its headcount would likely get down to 86,000 by the end of 2007.
Intel’s HR costs have been trimmed by nearly 40 percent. Taylor
describes the number of HR jobs cut as "significant," but declined to specify the
number. He says Intel’s department went from being among the top one-third in expenses
per employee to the middle of the pack, according to industry benchmarks.
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