Note from the editor: Lucy, a new CG (College Graduate), moved from Illinois just 3 weeks ago to work at Intel in Oregon. After interning last summer (remember her from her blog posts?), she still thinks the rain is just a myth the locals tell to keep this place a secret. She is currently in the HR Pathways Program, rotating through 3 different disciplines in HR before settling into a more permanent placement. Her first rotation is on the Oregon Great Place to Work team where she has the responsibility to make sure people are taking time away from their computers! Intel’s GPTW Program team is dedicated to providing Intel employees and their families with a wide-variety of exciting events and experiences throughout the year. It’s the team’s goal to help make a difference for all employees by creating a positive working environment that promotes strong relationships, camaraderie, and connections across Intel. Here’s a guest blog post from her on a recent event her team put on.
People from all around the world come to work at Intel. There are 204 countries competing in the 2012 London Olympics*. I’d bet that nearly all, if not all, of these countries representing at the Olympics are also represented at Intel. Oregon’s Great Place to Work Team hosted a series of events to get our employees excited about the upcoming summer games. What better way to bring people together than through sports and a little friendly competition?
In order to kick off the events, our very own make shift torch was passed from each campus. Oregon has a huge community of active runners, so it was easy to find people interested in kicking off the summer games. It was their responsibility to encourage enthusiasm on their campus. Runners travelled up to 4 miles in between 2 cops and an ambulance to deliver the torch. Employees waited anxiously for the arrival of the torch, cheering on the runners as they entered each building.
Employees were also given a chance to compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals. A simple parking lot was transformed into an arena where employees raced, jumped, and ate their way to victory. Yes, these Parking Lot Games had their very own hotdog and pie eating contests. Our employees were not able to beat Joey Chestnut’s world record of eating 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, but our winner devoured 6 in just 2 minutes. The contestants did not know what they were getting themselves into.
Around the parking lot each volunteer had their stopwatch ready to track each competitor’s time for each event. Top 3 men’s and women’s winners would be recognized at our very own closing ceremony. But get this, Sheila Taormina, the first woman Olympic athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 3 different sports, will be on site to hand out the awards. Intel brings outside speakers inside Intel from a mix of businesses and walks-of-life to challenge and motivate employees outside of their routine responsibilities. Sheila will present on how to establish the keys to success and how to manage performance pressures.
Intel isn’t made up of just computers and code; it is the employees who bring everything to life. It is an exciting time when we get to celebrate the diversity of our employees and the 2012 London Olympics was a great way to bring out everyone’s competitive side. Intel’s GPTW team is always looking for ways to engage employees outside their cubes, sometimes all it takes is some Parking Lot Games.
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