Approach
AMD was founded on the central belief of putting people first. The AMD workforce is our greatest asset and the ultimate source of our competitive advantage. Our company's strength depends on recruiting, nurturing, and retaining the best talent. With a culture formed around the values of respect for people, integrity, and responsibility, we maintain high standards in our human resource policies and practices and remain steadfastly committed to the health, safety and well-being of our workforce.
Policies and Practice
Creating an environment for innovation means fostering creativity and experimentation. Innovation happens when people feel free and open to think, act, and solve problems in new and different ways. We live our Corporate Values by embracing diversity, by encouraging a healthy employee balance of work and family life, and by supporting employees' mental and physical health, all with an unwavering commitment to basic human rights.
Despite our best efforts, AMD has faced challenging business conditions for the past two years that led to a series of workforce restructuring activities during 2008 and into 2009. The combination of revenue shortfalls and an uncertain economic environment required us to take a close look at our cost structure which resulted in staff reductions. We reduced AMD's total workforce by 10 percent starting in mid-April 2008 and continuing into the third quarter of 2008. In November 2008, following a hard look at every program and activity across the company to ensure we were focused on only those activities that would yield the fastest path to profitability, we announced a further headcount reduction of approximately 500 employees across various regions and organizations. Following a similar review in January 2009, we reduced the AMD "product company" global headcount by approximately 1,000 positions during the first quarter of 2009, including some by attrition and a previously communicated divestiture.
AMD offered eligible employees severance packages in line with industry standards and current regional employment regulations, and made every reasonable effort to reduce the hardships on impacted employees, such as providing continued health care coverage for a prescribed period of time (depending on regional practices) and career transition services.
Talent Management
At AMD, our talent management activities support both the complex and dynamic nature of the semiconductor industry and the culture of AMD. We cannot execute on our business strategies without managing the flow of strategic talent to ensure that we have the right people with the right skills and capabilities in the right roles at the right time.
Identifying talent needs and skills has become a regular part of AMD's business strategy discussions. We manage our talent pipeline through regular meetings with AMD's senior executives and the human resource leaders for the business units to better identify and mitigate risk areas in our talent pipeline.
Diversity
Just as AMD's technology represents an ideal combination of different design principles, AMD's workforce is comprised of minds drawn from all over the world. Honoring our employees as individuals is the cornerstone of our culture. We respect differences and diversity as qualities that enhance our efforts as a team.
AMD believes that diversity and cultural differences are qualities that enhance creativity and innovation. We seek talent from all over the globe and all walks of life to create a workplace where the sharing of diverse experiences, backgrounds, cultures, and points-of-view creates a better experience for our employees and better products for our customers.
In compliance with applicable laws and regulations, employee policies and processes are created and implemented to promote equal opportunity without regard to race, religion, age, ancestry, color, mental or physical disability, medical condition, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, family leave care status, political affiliation/status, third party affiliation, or national origin.
Compensation & Benefits
The nature of the semiconductor industry requires that the company maintain a talent pipeline by attracting and retaining a well-trained, highly-skilled, and highly educated workforce. To remain competitive, AMD constantly monitors the wage structure of the semiconductor and related technology industries at operating locations. AMD is committed to paying competitive wages and providing benefits that help foster employee health and financial security. Employee compensation is established in accordance with local laws and often adjusted for talent in high demand.
Eligible employees worldwide share in the company's success through a range of compensation programs. Global compensation programs include equity and bonus plans.
The company's competitive portfolio of employee benefits includes country-specific program offerings such as comprehensive coverage for health and dental care, retirement savings programs, holiday and vacation time, life and disability insurance, and a variety of work/life balance programs including family care leave, sick childcare assistance, and alternative work plans. Our employee benefits programs meet and often exceed that which is required by law.
AMD also promotes a learning environment through educational programs such as tuition assistance, and numerous internal employee and management development classes. AMD's employees also benefit from various types of employee assistance programs to help resolve personal and professional issues.
Employee Performance Management
AMD's Global Performance Management System creates a work environment that encourages and supports high performance individuals and teams. Through the performance management process, we communicate desired results to our employees, monitor progress, provide feedback and reward results. This process continuously improves organizational performance by raising performance standards, raising competency, and eliminating poor performance.
Employee Education & Training
Attracting and retaining a highly skilled and motivated workforce is critical to AMD's success. Providing opportunities for personal and professional development enhances the company's appeal in the competition for experienced workers and retention of valuable employees. AMD is committed to development programs, whether in prosperous or uncertain times.
AMD provides a wide array of technical, management, and leadership training programs for employees to enhance their knowledge and further contribute to the company's success. Learning and development initiatives are linked to specific business strategies and goals. Employees also have access to a variety of e-learning opportunities through internally and externally developed courses, including:
- GlobeSmart®, a Web-based tool that provides easy access to an extensive knowledge base on how to conduct business effectively with people from other countries.
- Skillsoft®, the largest e-learning vendor in the world offering thousands of e-learning courses, e-books, and executive summaries.
- Live, as well as on-demand, digital video presentations by some of the most renowned authorities in the fields of leadership and management such as Steven Covey, Jack Welch, Tom Peters, Marcus Buckingham, Peter Senge, Marshal Goldsmith, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and many others.
The company provides a variety of programs for employee enrichment and development including:
- Executive Assessment to determine knowledge and skills development needed for VP and above
- Executive Coaching to build on strengths and address development needs and specific organizational issues
- Mentoring to enhance the development of new or less-experienced employees
- First-line Supervisor Development to educate new managers about legal, safety and environmental policies, and company products and markets
Management/leadership development is provided through the AMD Leadership Pipeline programs and processes:
- License to Lead for newly promoted managers
- Experienced Manager Academy for top talent experienced managers
- Advanced Leadership Development Program to accelerate our high potential talent to more senior levels of management
- Directors Leadership Academy to enhance the leadership skills and business acumen of all directors at AMD
- MTS Leadership Program to help AMD technical professionals increase their effectiveness as technical leaders and provide the core skills necessary for their position
In 2007/2008 the leadership of the company articulated a new competency model, centered on the enduring AMD values. The model defined roles, such as growing organizational capabilities, leading the organization and executing, as well as competencies and behaviors required for success at each management level, such as cultivating performance excellence, constructing scalable processes and operations, managing performance, problem solving/analysis and communication. The model also builds a common language for performance, clarifies expected behavioral requirements across various roles and functions, and creates a common foundation for all people processes.
Human Rights
AMD respects the rights of employees to associate freely. Our labor practices and policies are intended to attract, motivate, and retain talent. AMD strictly forbids child labor and forced/compulsory labor practices, which is consistent with our fundamental belief in honoring peoples' rights as individuals. Furthermore, AMD believes that cultural self-determination is an inalienable individual right to freely determine political status, and to pursue social, economic, and cultural development.
Our position on key human rights issues such as harassment, discrimination, working hours, forced/compulsory labor, child labor, compensation and freedom of association are addressed in AMD's Worldwide Standards of Business Conduct (WWSBC). The WWSBC apply to all employees and all employees receive a copy of and training on the standards. AMD's WWSBC are also aligned with the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) Code of Conduct and the Institute of Supply Management's Principles for Social Responsibility.
AMD believes that open communication and direct engagement between workers and management are some of the most effective ways to resolve workplace issues. We support open communication through a variety of meetings between employees and management and through an open-door policy, without fear of reprisal, intimidation or harassment.