In what one employee, who asked his/her name be withheld, has called “Black Monday,” a round of job cuts is taking place at Hewlett-Packard’s Boise-based Imaging and Printing Group today, part of the company’s global reorganization of the division.
While HP officials wouldn’t comment on specific numbers or areas in which positions will be eliminated, the Idaho Business Review and its news partner KTVB both received confirmation from several employees – one a 31-year veteran of the company – that their jobs had been cut. HP employs over 3,000 workers at its Boise facility.
HP spokesman Scott Stalla issued this statement:
"As part of the HP Imaging and Printing Group's (IPG) continued Print 2.0 transformation, the business announced plans in June 2008 to realign and streamline its organization by reducing the number of its global business units from five to three customer solutions-oriented businesses. The realignment of IPG's business entails shifting resources from slower growing businesses to new business opportunities. In some cases, parts of IPG's business will experience reductions while investments will be made in high growth segments of the business. These decisions will be made at the level of the global business unit and are not specific to HP sites. Consistent with its transformation, IPG will continue to proactively manage the challenges of the current market and consider changes that will position the business to win today and in the future."
Idaho Department of Labor spokesman Bob Fick said the state had not received notification from the company of any layoffs, but added that didn’t “mean anything.” The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires companies laying off 500 or more employees to give 60 days’ notice or pay a fine equivalent to the affected workers’ salaries during the 60-day period.
Other sources within HP, who also requested their names be withheld due to their current employment at the Boise campus, confirmed that cuts were taking place but said the impact would be “minimal.” Those sources added that laid off workers will have six weeks to find another job within the company or look elsewhere.
The reorganization of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group was made public in June, when statements were issued that the company would reduce its five IPG groups to three. Layoffs began last week at HP’s facilities in Corvallis, Ore. and Vancouver, Wash., where about 300 positions were eliminated.
Employees who are willing to go on the record or confirm information are encouraged to write to zach.hagadone@idahobusiness.net or call 639-3529.
|
7 Comments
|
I'm not one of the affected, but my wife is and several friends are affected. In Boise (& the USA) this is a WFR (work force reduction) but at the same time much of the printer business (as other companies have done) sent many jobs to China and India, and I'm sure this plays into the equation. Sorry name withheld for fear of retribution. Comment By anonymous
Monday, August 25, 2008 @ 5:43 PM
The repeated references to anonymity makes me want to ask - 'has HP acted vindictively toward any employee since Carly?'. I know the 'HP Way' has been retired, but are HP staff truly afraid to speak publicly? Comment By Joe Nobody
Monday, August 25, 2008 @ 10:42 PM
Joe Nobody... Not only has the HP Way been 'retired', but the company, sadly enough, is a shadow of its former self. Those of us that have been part of IPG have known for years that the business model was broken, and that continued record-breaking performance the past few years have been a house of cards. I joined HP many years ago because of the people and because the culture and environment truly set it apart from every other large corporation I had been associated with. I left HP a few months ago (of my own accord) because it had become 'just another corporate giant'. It's truly ironic that HP has paid folks like Geoffrey Moore (Crossing the Chasm) and Clayton Christiansen (Innovator's Dilemma) so much over the years, and yet failed to adopt even their most basic philosophies and principles in guiding their business decisions. How does that saying go? -- "you can lead a horse to water, but..." Perhaps IPG will, like PSG (the personal computer business) before it, rise from the ashes a much stronger business. But I'm very certain that regardless of its future success, HP will never return its culture to what Bill and Dave firmly established and used to truly differentiate HP for so many years. HP will continue to attempt to differentiate itself through technology... not understanding that solid technology & products was only a small part of what, in the not too distant past, made HP GREAT! My heart goes out to the many HP and IPG employees who will be impacted. My heart goes out to VJ -- who has tried to shield IPG through both the Carly and the Mark days (and who, no doubt, will also soon be heading to pastures beyond HP). For those that are impacted in this round, all I can tell you is to keep your chin up. Believe it or not, life is much better on the outside. I truly did not realize how 'dark' things had become at HP until I left. Comment By Former HPer
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 @ 12:27 AM
Loose lips sink severance packages. Comment By anon2
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 @ 12:51 AM
They're not afraid. They're terrified. Comment By anon2
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 @ 12:53 AM
It has been like watching a very good friend die a slow and tortuous death. The problem with the outsourcing that has gone on, is that although 'they' can get 3 Singpore/China jobs for the price of one US job, the ROI is only 1/3 (and I'm being generous) of the original US job output. The western US culture that created HP and subsequently Silicon Valley, is very different than the culture that takes every movement and refines it. So it 'should' be obvious that you cannot just 'move' western processes to eastern cultures and think everything is going to be fine, only cheaper. I don't have an MBA, but I understand this reality very well. Which is the issue: let the Engineers run the company, and let the bean counters monitor the finance: not visa versa. We see what that causes now don't we. Why? Because engineers, by virtue of their knack for engineering, usually have a keen ability for systemic issues. It comes with the territory. Bill and Dave were engineers. Everybody since, is not. When Carly asked everybody to stop calling it "Hewlett-Packard" and start calling it "the new HP", was the beginning of the end. It was a very telling shift in the paradigm of the upper echelons. Comment By gone to a better place
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 @ 8:53 PM
'gone to a better place' Out of state, no doubt? Comment By Bill
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 4:24 PM
|
|
|
CONTACT US at 208.336.3768
SUBSCRIBE
