Have some free coffee: Intel tries to boost employees' morale after planning 15,000 layoffs

The chipmaker brought back its free coffee and tea service for its employees to boost morale that has been taking a sharp decline following the numerous changes and cost cutting initiatives across the company.

Intel brought back the free coffee and tea service that it had scrapped from its offices last year to boost declining morale among its employees following the changes it made to the company to slash $10 billion from its annual budget.

According to report in the Oregonian, employees at the chipmakers have stated in private that their morale has been devastated by the companies' poor financial performance and the cutbacks that it caused in order to regain profitability.

“Although Intel still faces cost challenges, we understand that small comforts play a significant role in our daily routines,” Intel wrote on its internal messaging forum Circuit, Oregonian reported. “We know this is a small step, but we hope it is a meaningful one in supporting our workplace culture.”

While the coffee and tea service has been resumed, the free fruit service has not been brought back.

Back in August, Intel had said that it would slash more than 15,000 jobs, around 15 per cent of its workforce to aid a turnaround plan, as the company tries to recover after a series of stumbles.

The Oregonian reported that Intel had already laid off 1,300 Oregon workers last month and more than 1,000 others at sites in California, Arizona and Texas.

Many other changes were also made such as permanently shutting the air shuttle service between its offices in Oregon and other western states, and reducing the time given and the threshold to qualify for a sabbatical.

It was during an all-company meet last week, when Intel announced more changes to come, that employees asked about restoring the coffee programme, which was promptly dismissed by the executives.

Christy Pambianchi, Intel’s chief people officer, told employees that they had been spending $100 million annually on free and discounted food and beverages, which they couldn’t afford to keep doing.

But by Wednesday, the chipmaker made a U-turn on its decision and restored that service.

Intel has been struggling for a long time now, given its poor decisions and missed opportunities over the past two decades, with it having passed up the opportunity to manufacture chips not only for Apple but also for OpenAI.