http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3271871 By JOHN C. ROPER Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Hewlett-Packard will cut 14,500 jobs worldwide, including an unspecified number from its Houston campus. Most of the reductions will come from support staffs. "The job reductions are targeted at areas where our cost structure needs to be reduced, and more than half of the actions are targeted at support functions, such as information technology, human resources and finance," said HP's President and CEO Mark Hurd in a conference call this morning. While the company is hoping some employees will leave voluntarily, it expects the majority of the reductions to come through layoffs. Hurd, when asked by the Chronicle, declined to say how the Houston campus would be affected by the restructuring. He said details related to the job cuts, including which units would be hit most, would trickle out over the next year and a half. HP is one of Houston's largest employers, with 8,000 workers on its campus here. Most of the workers are part of HP 's technology solutions business, which includes data-storage products, manufacturing of ProLiant servers, a large research and development operation, call centers, customer support and sales and marketing. HP is the word's largest printer maker, but profits in that highly competitive area are thin. The Palo Alto-based company has struggled to compete with Dell in the personal computer business and is in a tight battle with IBM in the server arena. Overall, Hurd said the restructuring would save the company $1.9 billion annually, drive growth and increase performance. The cuts will effect nearly 10 percent of HP's 150,000 global work force and also call for folding its customer solutions group— which is responsible for sales to small and medium businesses— into three other units. HP also announced it will change its retirement programs. Starting in January, it will freeze pension and retiree medical prgram benefits for current employees who do not meet age and years of service requirements. Instead, it will increase its contribution to 401(k) retirement plans from 4 percent to 6 percent.
There's been a lot of talk about this around the office, as I'm interning here at HP for the summer. Everyone's been telling me that new recruits and interns like myself have nothing to worry about, it's just the older folks with fat contracts that are being let go. How does WFR like this affect the offers they grant to new recruits/interns that they'd be looking to hire? I'm pretty curious as I'm hoping to receive one by the end of my stay..
What department are you in? I interned at HP in TGS last summer in the Network Storage Solutions division had a great time and was told I'd be the first they'd call this summer. Unfortunately when I e-mailed my boss to ask about it as this summer drew closer he said they had no Requisitions for interns for this summer... Assuming it was because these cuts were coming, I had heard that TGS would be the area hardest hit. I guess that doesn't help you out much though, I'm still in school, you looking for full time after this summer?
I'm working for their Corporate Finance IT group, and it's the first time I've been at HP. But yeah, I still got one more year left at UT til I'll be lookin for full time. I was told that their retention rate for interns was pretty high, so I was hoping that'd mean an offer to return full time next fall after graduation.
5 years ago, I worked a for a company that contracted to Compaq. I was at Compaq's facility managing their web sites. I was told that our 12-year contract was secure and I didn't need to worry about losing my job. After working there for 9 months, and as the bubble was bursting, they dropped the contract, soon thereafter I lost my job.
Yes it is sizzling...and you know it, too. One data point from HP does not an economic picture make. HP is a troubled company.
At least GM tries to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes by doing that "Employee Discount" while they slam the hammer down on thousands of jobs..
Folks, don't be deceived by RMTex's rabble rousing techniques. If you're interested in a true economic picture, venture over to the D&D and look up some of the economic threads. There are actual real economic indicators posted in those, such as GDP growth and positive job creation stats.
Do you actually bother to read the article you linked? "Company posts loss, plans to slash up to 25,000 positions partly due to slumping film sales" "Kodak said it also plans to trim its traditional manufacturing assets, including plants, factories and other equipment, to about $1 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in January 2004. The company, which has been closing factories since its restructuring began, did not detail if more plants would be closed." Since digital cameras are replacing traditional film cameras, its only natural to shift the resources and re-focus. This is NOT bad news, its actually good news, this means the company is adepting to changes in market place, and it'd be better off in the long run. This has nothing to do with the economy, no matter how sizzling the economy is, people will move towards digital cameras.
Yep, Bush-era garbage. His economic policies are doing what he wants....making the rich richer and eliminating the middle class. What a leader! And I'm surprised you care about my post-count. Don't you have a life?
Coming from somebody who has 10,000 posts, I find this question to be somewhat ironic. Yes, I have a life. The fact that I happened to notice your post-count being at 10,000 does not prove otherwise.
I've only been here since 1999. You? Whoops....make that 1996 and the old ClutchCity.Com..... I need to find me a withered, wrinkled smiley.....
Thanks for the glimpse guys. It does piss me off that they hired a CEO recently who could make $70 million over 4 years. But, that's America for ya.
