Irish Examiner view: Intel's news could be worse, as it offers Irish staff voluntary leave

However, letting talent go may well give big tech firms recruitment and retention headaches in the longer term

40% of the workers at Intel's plant at Leixlip, Co Kildare have been invited to take voluntary unpaid leave. File picture: Billy Hgigins

After several weeks of hints and rumours the news that emerged from the Kildare plant of the Irish chip giant Intel — a bellwether for the country’s tech sector — could have been bleaker. No redundancies, for now, but an invitation for 40% of the plant’s workforce to take three months’ unpaid leave on a voluntary basis as a means of reducing costs.

Intel, which employs 5,000 people in the Republic, including thousands in manufacturing at its semiconductor fabrication plant in Leixlip, is by no means the first company to roll out a “voluntary time off” programme.

Other sections such as HR, finance, and IT within the multinational, which is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, are reported to be considering redundancies.

Intel is one of Ireland’s largest employers and has announced a cost-reduction programme of $10bn (€9.546bn) across its global operations to be achieved in the next three years. In March, it confirmed it would invest €12bn in expanding its Irish presence although a €17bn “mega-fab” semiconductor plant will be directed to Germany. 

The company said this week’s news will not affect its longer term projects.

It may be wondered whether as many employees will find voluntary time an attractive option in the teeth of a cost-of-living crisis and with the relatively recent dislocations of the pandemic still fresh in the memories. 

Employers have discovered that once the disciplines of maintaining regular contact with their workforce is broken, it can be quite another matter to tempt them back into the fold with the necessary alacrity that businesses require.

Ireland’s economic dependence on a relatively few tech giants has been the frequent subject of comment and, in recent weeks, Meta, Stripe, and Twitter have all managed to gather some unfavourable publicity for the manner in which they have managed their employees’ contracts. 

But tech still pays well — the average annual salary amounts to €74,000, 64% higher than the national average. While the skills are transportable, young graduates, particularly those who may be struggling to find a place on the property ladder, can be the most footloose members of the talent pool.

It is difficult to foresee what the jobs market will be like by next summer, but recruitment and retention could become a bigger problem. And letting talent go may well provide short-term gain but long-term pain.