Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

HP to cut 25-30k jobs

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 319 posts

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#141

Post by alphadevx »

notNow wrote: post #121
alphadevx wrote: post #99

HP should have done something meaningful in the profitable consumer electronics space with Palm, rather than gutting it. That was an opportunity for some market growth squandered, where else is their growth going to come from? I have lots of sympathy for those losing their jobs, but none whatsoever for the senior management team or board.

but none whatsoever for the senior management team or board. Who happen to keep their jobs no matter what happens to the company.

Yeah they're keeping their jobs, but all they are doing is managing decline, nothing to take any pride in.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#142

Post by dovereconomics »

emp_zealoth wrote: post #63
joshmn wrote: post #8

My father is a field-service engineer for HP in Midwest (based out of Minneapolis, but he has calls all over from Fargo, ND to Mpls, MN to Madison, WI). He is _the_ go-to for their biggest, most senior, most mission-critical clients. He put together UMN's Alpha setup, is the only guy that USPS will call for help, MNSCU, Best Buy, UHG... basically, anyone with an HP setup (server or printer) that's a Fortune 1000 (and…

Wow. Rant incoming. Im just aghast how shitty your country is. I can understand living in fear of mortgages and the like, jak with at will nonsense and the like ( gags ) But your employer having a gun to your beloved's head - that what it basically is - is just rotten. I genuinely wish that any libertarians here (in Poland) move to USA or, Friedmans beloved, Chile. I hope they get to experience shit like that. I gues…

But... ,in a libertarian country, HP wouldn't exist in the first place.

Crony capitalism still is not capitalism.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#143

Post by sixbrx »

adventured wrote: post #109
nickthemagicman wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It bothers me when people suggest unrealistic possibilities to people being layed off like starting their own businesses. There's 10% unemployment. Is that really a legit solution? Capitalism is built on the idea of everyone 'working' and 'having a job' and theres lots of people like his dad who really want work, and are loyal and hardworking. But there's not enough jobs to go around and the amount keeps decreasing d…

Not enough jobs to go around? I disagree. There are ~5.8 million job openings as of the end of July. The highest level maybe in 15 years [1]. The unemployed worker per job opening ratio is also at the lowest in 15 years [2]. The U6 unemployment rate for people that have some college is 5.x%; the unemployment rate for people with a four year degree is 2.x%. There have been eight million full-time jobs added in just fo…

I remember reading somewhere that it's a bit different for the over 50 crowd, even for PhD's.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#144

Post by rayiner »

joshmn wrote: post #30
jfoutz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your dad needs to think about the next best 5 guys, and how to pick them up for cheap when the layoffs happen. At his age striking out on his own will seem absolutely terrifying. Work on him for a few months. He must have built up some serious contacts over the years. His pitch is straightforward. HP can't actually support their products anymore, they don't have the staff. He knows the hardware inside and out. Sell s…

This sounds like a great idea, but I don't know if he's such an entrepreneur or risk-taker. Some people are, some people aren't. It's a natural thing. I'm not sure of the papers he's signed (non-competes...), or the contracts that HP has with their customers (there must be some), but... he could definitely "get the band together" and pull off such a feat. Again, I think this goes back to the contracts he had. He's on…

As long as he can get the legal stuff square (non-competes, etc) it's not that risky. You're not trying to start a unicorn tech company, just convert a few contacts into customers to replace your old income and hopefully make more than you did before. My dad did this last year, at 60, and it's been going pretty good. Having a big network is a huge plus.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#145

Post by Ensorceled »

MC7447a wrote: post #82
emp_zealoth wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. Rant incoming. Im just aghast how shitty your country is. I can understand living in fear of mortgages and the like, jak with at will nonsense and the like ( gags ) But your employer having a gun to your beloved's head - that what it basically is - is just rotten. I genuinely wish that any libertarians here (in Poland) move to USA or, Friedmans beloved, Chile. I hope they get to experience shit like that. I gues…

You don't have to pay your mortgage if you get laid off in Poland?

They said they understood the mortgage part, it's the health care they don't understand.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#147

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

weavie wrote: post #77
kazagistar wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is probably a non compete exactly for this situation.

Maybe, but if you get laid off all bets are off really. Maybe it is different in the US, but in the UK I've known of cases of people who have been laid off who then went on the form competing companies. There may have been some law suits flying around behind the scenes, but in the end these companies settled and were successful.

My understanding is that being laid off is a "termination of contract" - therefore making any noncompete terms in said contract null and void.

Not to mention that "restrictive covenants" such as a noncompete won't fly in this sort of situation. Then again, my experience is with UK employment law so please don't take this as legal advice.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#148

Post by mercer »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #81
wpietri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing the math on this, they apparently believe that each one of those people is costing the company $108k per year, net. Given that HP's revenue per employee is ~$350k, I find those numbers simply unbelievable. And let's suppose for a second that HP is somehow right. How did they just notice that 10% of their employees are doing something totally worthless? On top of the 55,000 employees that they laid off in 2012?…

And let's suppose for a second that HP is somehow right. How did they just notice that 10% of their employees are doing something totally worthless? The keyword to search for in the economic literature is "labor hoarding". In short, companies tend to (by default) keep employees until well after they are no longer useful. Then some sort of a shock causes the company to shed the deadwood all at once. This is management…

Could you argue that in a broader sense this exact same thing happens not just on the company level, but on the level of entire economies? I recall reading a few articles on how recessions/depressions often have a way of shaking up industries to align (or rather, catch up) with new innovations/developments.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#149

Post by JoeAltmaier »

scholia wrote: post #146
Altay- wrote: post #136

The most shocking part of this story is that HP still employs 300,000+ people...

IBM has a smaller turnover and employs even more....

IBM blacklists anyone who ever quits. Its emotional blackmail - "You'll never work in this industry again!" They're experts at giving the impression of career growth while underpaying.

Re: HP to cut 25-30k jobs

#150

Post by Spooky23 »

elorant wrote: post #80
joshmn wrote: post #8

My father is a field-service engineer for HP in Midwest (based out of Minneapolis, but he has calls all over from Fargo, ND to Mpls, MN to Madison, WI). He is _the_ go-to for their biggest, most senior, most mission-critical clients. He put together UMN's Alpha setup, is the only guy that USPS will call for help, MNSCU, Best Buy, UHG... basically, anyone with an HP setup (server or printer) that's a Fortune 1000 (and…

Posts like this remind me how shitty the business model of most Fortune 500 companies is. They lay off people just to increase profits regardless of productivity goals. For most management councils out there everything is about numbers. Perhaps we ought to do something as a community to stop such practices. Like boycott the shit out of companies that adopt them.

HP is particularly dumb in this area. My personal acquaintance with this was with their strict "up and out" policy that was in effect several years ago. A decade ago I had a secondary responsibility of supporting a legacy DEC terminal environment.

The crew supporting it were HP badged guys not making alot of money, but being billed at some wacky rate. Never heard from HP hq until some VP of something flew in to tell me the whole crew was being laid off due to not getting promoted. (Keep in mid they were easily clearing $2M a year in profit)

Long story short, they all left, started a little consultancy and were able to win a bid at half the billing rate that 3x their take home.

Post reply on HN