Another example of inside innovation was the creation of IVY. IVY is Intel’s 24-hour, seven-days-a-week virtual HR support agent that provides personalized service and easy access to answers to employees’ most common questions. IVY also helps employees navigate easily to additional online support information and services. To the best of our knowledge, Intel HR is the first HR organization to deploy a virtual agent for use with its internal customer base. IVY has a much lower “cost per contact” rate than other support channels and has received positive feedback from employees as usage volume grows.
Intel human resources’ talent delivery organization has also developed a new, innovative, tablet-based application for quickly capturing job candidate information and résumés. The app allows candidates at a job fair or college-recruiting event to upload their information quickly and makes it immediately accessible to hiring managers and staffing consultants across the company.
The app also provides a better user experience for job candidates and faster access to the top talent for our hiring managers. This Recruit app has been used by 21,000 job candidates, with a satisfaction rate of more than 93 percent.
Outside Innovation
As Intel human resources’ internal operations become more and more reliable and efficient, the organization is able to drive innovation in the products and services we deliver to Intel employees. This type of innovation adds value to our employees, supports their work-life balance, builds a stronger corporate community and helps to grow our employer brand to attract new talent to Intel.
Intel’s Compensation and Benefits team analyzed the retirement savings levels and related behaviors of our employees and found that most employees were not diversified appropriately and were not saving enough to meet their personal financial goals. The team developed a comprehensive program to better educate and support employees. The first steps of the program were to default all retirement program participants into target date investment funds based on the employees’ ages and then to default all employees who were not saving anything into a minimum 3 percent savings rate, increasing 1 percent per year to a maximum of 10 percent. The HR team then took several significant steps to expand the retirement support for employees and to improve their long-term financial situation:
- The program delivered personalized savings and retirement forecast statements for approximately 42,000 employees to educate them on their personal situation and outlook.
- Intel human resources provided employees with a dedicated help desk call center where they could get support for the retirement program and for moving their money into the new investment options.
- Intel employees also had access to a special retirement financial advisory service. This service provided a very detailed assessment of an employee’s current savings patterns and forecasts and suggested specific savings adjustments to hit individual retirement goals.
By the end of this initiative, 91 percent of employees were enrolled in the retirement savings program, 70 percent had the proper asset allocation (versus the previous 35 percent), and $2.4 billion in retirement funds were moved and adjusted. This is a great example of how offering an innovative service can provide a lifetime of value.
Also in the compensation and benefits arena, Intel human resources has been driving innovation in the health benefits we provide employees, with the goal of increasing personalized care while managing costs for employees and the company. Intel has led the industry over the past decade by adopting consumer-driven health plans, a nationally recognized biometric-based wellness program and on-site primary care at most major U.S. locations. These programs kept Intel’s cost increases below industry trends, but, with costs beginning to trend up again, Intel began to look for an opportunity to improve the overall care delivery model, including how we pay for care.
Intel extended its leadership in 2013 through a partnership with Presbyterian Healthcare Services in New Mexico to pilot a new model that included primary care through specialists and hospitalization for employees and their families. The new partnership and model are based on the patient-centered medical home concept and are driven by goals and incentives to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right setting and at the right cost. The service levels include personalized services supported by “navigation nurses” who help to coordinate personalized service plans with local specialists. Employee feedback and adoption have been very good. Intel has learned a lot through this innovative approach and is looking to expand it to other Intel locations.
Career development is another area of high interest to Intel’s employees. As the company grows and changes, its employees are looking for ways to broaden their skills through experiential learning, build personal networks and add value. To respond to these needs, Intel human resources created the Development Opportunity Tool (DOT). DOT is an internal job-rotation board where managers and project managers can post temporary, part time opportunities that are available across Intel. These part-time assignments can range from one week to six months. The DOT system has been very popular with employees wanting to grow their skills and with managers wanting to fill short-term resource needs for critical positions. The system has had more than 55,000 employee visits and more than 6,000 postings of rotation opportunities. Analysis of our organizational health survey shows that DOT has had a positive impact on employees’ satisfaction as well.
One of Intel’s most visible and popular innovations has been our Great Place to Work program. The program’s goals were to improve the work-life balance of our employees and to extend the benefits and positive experiences to family and friends. The Great Place to Work program includes a range of positive, fun, healthful services and activities for employees, such as free fruit in the cafés, community service events, fun runs, tickets to movies and sporting events and shopping discounts. On average, each Intel employee participates in one of these services or activities each quarter. The Great Place to Work program has a positive impact on our employees and their families and on corporate spirit and teamwork, and it helps to attract the best talent to Intel.