As Chief People Officer, Seif is responsible for overseeing and executing the human resource strategy in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the company, specifically in the areas of succession planning, talent development, change management, learning programs and compensation. Seif joined Analog Devices (ADI) in 2006. Previously, she was Vice President and General Counsel of RSA Security, a leading provider of network security and data encryption products headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. Edited excerpts:

What does the future of IT Talent look like in 2022? What do you think are the biggest challenges for the semiconductor industry to attract and retain employees?  

Engineering and technical talent will continue to experience a “seller’s market” through 2022. These folks will have many choices as to where they work. In our industry, in addition to our large and amazing pool of electrical engineers, increasingly we require software, algorithm, cloud and even machine learning expertise to create the solutions our customers need. All of those skills are in high demand by all companies—even companies that we would have previously thought of as “lower tech” are requiring talent that can engineer increasingly complex offerings.   

How is hybrid work playing out? Can the hybrid model be a path to better work-life balance?

As the pandemic enters its third year, employees and employers are coming to a consensus that flexibility for employees is a “must-have” to attract and retain the best talent. Our company believes that in order to maintain our innovative and collegial culture at ADI, we have to be together at times while preserving employees’ right to work from anywhere for a portion of the week. We expect that employees will use their time in the office for meetings and collaborative activities, using the time away from the office to focus on projects and work that can be handled individually.

How are you elevating employee experience (EX) at ADI? How do you measure the effectiveness of your EX initiatives?  

Throughout our history, ADI has valued learning and collaboration, and this “people first” approach makes us a real destination for people who want to work on really hard problems for our customers. As we integrate with Maxim (ADI acquired rival Maxim Integrated in 2021), we are building a new culture that not only leverages the great aspects of both companies but also seeks to make us more agile and responsive to customers. To accomplish this big feat, we are designing the new combined organisation to have fewer layers and wider spans of control. We are moving decision rights further down in our organisation so that employees can resolve customer and project issues quickly without being slowed down by organisational impediments.

We have increased the frequency of communications from leaders, with opportunities for Q&A. We created ADI Ignite, a crowd-sourced innovation experience that allows employees to connect with like-minded colleagues, subject matter experts and mentors in order to engage in meaningful conversations on the topics that matter most to employees.

Overall, we measure employee engagement from two lenses: eSat (employee satisfaction), which asks “How happy are you working at ADI?”, and eNPS (employee net promoter score), which asks, “How likely are you to recommend ADI as a place to work?” We conduct surveys and roundtables in order to track employee responses to these questions.

How are organisations dealing with mass resignations? How do you see the pattern in the US versus other countries such as India?  

Despite warnings about “the great resignation”, ADI has generally been hiring at a rate that exceeds our attrition. However, the talent markets for the skills we are looking for around the world are hotter than ever and so ADI must continue to offer a stellar experience for employees in order to ensure that we can attract and attain the talent we need to grow.

India is an important region for ADI, due to the spectacular talent pool located all around the country. As a result of our just-completed acquisition with Maxim Integrated, we have expanded our footprint in India with more employees at more sites.