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Re: Re: 15,000 jobs lost! Sorry, I will cut and paste: x - close Recent Stories By Andrew McIntosh and Jack Sirard HP reportedly to cut jobs Analysts expect 15,000 will be slashed, but Roseville site may not suffer losses. By Andrew McIntosh and Jack Sirard -- Bee Staff Writers Published 2:15 am PDT Saturday, July 16, 2005 Get weekday updates of Sacramento Bee headlines and breaking news. Sign up here. Hewlett-Packard Co. will announce massive job cuts involving as many as 15,000 employees as early as next week, investment analysts said Friday. The news pushed the company's stock to a 52-week high of $24.99 on Wall Street but also sent waves of worry through the 4,000 workers at HP's Roseville complex. COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL REMOVED BY MODERATOR
Please pardon this detour. Having read the article, and knowing a couple of people who have been downsized from the "high tech" industry, it makes me wonder about all the people who post on this forum seeking IT, CS or some other manner of computer-oriented degree. Might there actually be jobs for these people once they've earned their degrees? Where is all this heading? Just curious. Jack
I was kinda thinking that myself Good point Jack! Would it possibly be a good idea for someone to pursue course work in another area as well? In other words, something to fall back on? I have always been able to mold myself into different careers because my studies have been so varied, I have been able to make myself into what an employer wants. I had to do this(change careers) over 12 years ago when a lot of Insurance companies left California due to many natural disasters that occured. just my two cents! Abner
Is this indicative of the industry in decline, or simply HP's inefficiency relative to its competitors? (I don't watch the tech industry anymore, so that's an honest question, not a leading one.) -=Steve=-
I had to drive around all of the News vans on Page Mill last Friday. It was the big story of the day. Is HP heavy? The only thing HP is heavy with is managers who don't understand high tech. Carly managed to drive a once great company into the ground (and then cry when she failed to make dollar one - claiming she was fired because she was a women. No Carly, you were fired because you are a weasel). I think this layoff proves that the new CEO (along with his overpriced CIO from Dell) are again raping a company for all it is worth. I propose a new pay scheme for executive managment at all all publically owned corporations. You receive only $1 per year in base compensation. You receive points for every operation that makes money. If you are forced to layoff, then you lose points (if you mess with your core people, then you will NEVER make money - they will no longer care about you). Under your management, if the company makes money, you make money. If the company makes a lot of money, so do you. If after 2 years you are unable to bring the company around, then you are fired. No parachute, nota! I bet you would find a lot of risk takers willing to take the job. People really need to start reading up on Meg Whitman, Gordon Moore, and the like and quit trying to follow the assholes of the industry like Carly.
I worked under Mark Hurd for many years. Long before he became head of all of NCR. He was an excellent manager/businessman. I would guess that he's doing the same thing that he did at NCR. Compare overall numbers of HP with successful companies, e.g., ratios of management vs. non-management, ratios of overhead vs. non overhead, ratios of R&D vs. revenue. He runs a very tight ship but, he never forgets that the numbers mean real people with real lives and families. If a corporation is not making a profit then it is sick. Somtimes when the patient is sick, it is necessary to go through unpleasant operations to make the patient well again. It will be sad for the people laid off but if things aren't made right then the whole corporation is in danger with many more employees as well as customers being in danger eventually.
I am sure he is a great manager - but he isn't hurting and certainly bringing over an overpriced buddy from Dell isn't going to make anything better. Let me explain technology 101 - your core business is engineering. A good design engineer is worth 1000 Harvard MBA's who couldn't design a budget let alone a server or laser printer. Once you have alienated your engineers and technicians (as HP has done), then they don't care anymore. They come to work, do nearly the minimum to get by. Are they excited about the technology anymore? No - they just care about getting by like the rest of the workers. Most engineers, unlike other types of workers, work long hours because they enjoy the technology and the thrill of making something unique. When you take away their pride or reason to advance, (again, what HP has done and is apparently doing again), then all you have is the typical 9-5er who doesn't give a shit. Bottom line: If you don't show you care, then your employees won't either. If Mark Hurd really cared, then he would forgo his perks (like John Chambers did when Cisco was in trouble) until he is able to turn the company around. It is easy to lay someone off if you don't have to take it in the shorts yourself.
The difference is that HP went after Mark Hurd and begged him to straighten out their mess. He was hired to do a job and he's going to do it. It is meaningless to try to make up "rules" for different situations that are never going to be applied to the HP and Mark Hurd situation. Take care, Bill P.S. I've been a software engineer for 30 years. I think that I know as well as you how it works. Perhaps even better because I accept the fact that engineering is just one piece of a successful company, even a high tech company like NCR or HP.
Having been a manager, and a project manager right now, I would say that your statement is incorrect. I do know how to motivate people that are not directly under my supervision. (and how the pieces fit together) Laying off masses never works - and it sets the stage for how your workers will perceive you. After Carly's games with the Compaq merger, no one outside her inner circle cared at all - and that is why Carly failed. I am going to go out on a limb -- I don't think Huff has a chance in hell of turing around things. In fact, I believe he will fail. But, of course, only time will tell. (I know quite a bit about NCR -- my uncle was head of an office for 30 years. NCR's problems happened because of their buyout by AT&T. After AT&T went away, things got better)
