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.