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Layoff status. Chances of returning. HPInc, HPE. Advice and reference info from members of the independent HP Alumni Association. (Updated Feb 26, 2020.) Use the HPAA's Career Checkup -- hard-earned advice from members on evaluating your career situation -- wherever you work. This is based on company policies, statements to investors, extensive online discussions, and private communications with members. 1. Current layoff status for each successor company. 2. Why this is happening. 3. Advice from alumni to current employees and those being laid off 4. Returning to HPInc or HPE. 5. Comments from members who have left.
1. Current layoff
status for each successor company
HPInc: "HP Inc. to cut
as much as 16% of workforce amid reorganization... ...will cut 7,000 to
9,000 positions through firings and voluntary early retirement."
"...the company said it would make changes to its printing unit to focus
on providing more services. HP will raise prices for printers that can
be used with non-HP ink cartridges, so that the hardware is more
profitable. Currently, printers are sold cheaply and the unit’s
operating profit margin is padded by the ink supplies."
San Jose Mercury 10/4/19
HPE: "HP Next" restructuring: Reducing number of workforce
locations, number of manufacturing locations, and number of markets
served. Selling Corporate HQ. Down to 25,000 employees. 2. Why this is happening The IT industry is changing. Two macro trends: Traditional IT products and services have become commodities -- resulting in brutal price competition and offshoring. Standardized, automated cloud-based IT is displacing labor-intensive, customized data-center-based IT -- reducing employment across the industry. Links Investor pressure for short-term results. The successor companies are under the same cost-cutting pressure as the old companies. Investors are being promised that layoffs will continue. Examples: Morgan Stanley stock analyst pinning down HPE CFO on layoff savings (Link). Goldman Sachs analyst pressing DXC CEO on offshoring percentage (Link).
Moving to short-term employment. Company needs are changing. New technologies and business models require different employee skills. Companies need to make room so that the next generation of employees can advance. Jobs are being moved to lower-cost countries. Increased use of contract employees. Many functions are simply no longer needed. "...how do you keep up with this next generation of IT and how do you bring people into this company for whom it isn't something they have to learn, it is what they know." "...we need to return to a labor pyramid that really looks like a triangle where you have a lot of early career people who bring a lot of knowledge who you're training to move up through your organization, and then people fall out either from a performance perspective or whatever..." (Link) DXC: "We are bringing more and more people in at lower levels of the organization." New center in New Orleans will work with local colleges "developing a next-generation IT workforce." (Link) HPE: "110,000 people left this organization, and it was in some way is like the tide going out. You could see where there were real opportunities to improve... Decreasing the layers in our customer-facing organization... Reducing the number of markets that we operate in... shift roles from high cost countries to low cost countries. (Link) 3. How to evaluate your situation Use the HPAA's Career Checkup -- hard-earned advice from members on evaluating your career situation -- wherever you work.
4. Returning to HPInc or HPE in the US
This policy details section is
probably out of date. We have no recent member reports on this issue.
[Feb 26, 2020]
Chances are slim for former employees who want to return to
any of the successor companies (HPInc, HPE, DXC, or Micro Focus) --
especially in the US and other high-labor-cost countries.
HPInc US formal policy: "It is important for HP to protect the
investments made in workforce reductions and to keep its commitment to
current employees to invest in their careers by creating opportunities
for growth and promotion. As a result, under current HP Policy,
former employees who left the company, in May 2012 or later,
through a workforce reduction program are ineligible for rehire or to be
engaged as an agency contractor." (Links)
HPE US formal policy: "After this 60-day period, you are
ineligible for rehire... Additionally, former employees who left under a
severance agreement or enhanced early retirement, workforce reduction or
similar circumstances (e.g., MSA or ETA) are not eligible to return to
HPE as an agency contractor."
Informal policy:
"...how do you keep up with this next generation of IT and how do you
bring people into this company for whom it isn't something they have to
learn, it is what they know. ...we put in place an informal rule... when
you are replacing someone, really think about the new style of IT
skills."
"...we need to return to a labor pyramid that really looks
like a triangle where you have a lot of early career people
who bring a lot of knowledge who you're training to move up
through your organization, and then people fall out either
from a performance perspective or whatever..."
--former HP and HPE CEO Meg Whitman to stock analysts.
"...eventually you will wear out. Not many people can last
for twenty or thirty years, which is why we need to attract
young people."
--Antonio Neri, now CEO of HPE, quoted in the book "Becoming
Hewlett-Packard"
"Employees were selected for the reduction in force because
the job they were performing will no longer continue, their
skill set was not applicable to the Company’s or
organization’s operations going forward, and/or other
employees were viewed as better qualified because of past
performance and competency evaluation, which may include
skills, abilities, knowledge and experience."
--from the legally-required Attachment A provided to those
40 or over
The current formal and informal rehire policies do not
contradict any previous version of the Waiver and General
Release that you signed in order to be paid severance or a
retirement incentive. Read your actual agreement. You agreed
not to apply for employment for a certain time period
-- and you acknowledged that you are not entitled to
future employment. The company didn't commit to anything.
Sample Waivers
Returning via an agency or contractor no longer works --
they are now required to submit SSNs.
Eight former employees -- from CA, DC, IL, TX, WA, and VA;
some of whom did not sign the Waiver and General Release
Agreement required to receive severance -- have filed a
class action suit accusing HPInc and HPE of age
discrimination in layoffs. (Employment suits generally move
slowly. The class action filed in 2006 concerning EDS/HP
overtime was settled after nine years, 79 depositions, and
1.5 million pages of documents -- paying an average of $950
each to 2,700 people in 2015.) Details:
HPInc
and HPE Employment Lawsuits
DXC: DXC is a separate company. No member reports about returning have been received.
Micro Focus: Micro Focus is a
separate company. No member reports about returning have been received.
Advice from alumni to those considering returning.
Based on extensive online discussions and private
communications with HPAA members...
- Returning may have long-term career consequences. It can
postpone learning new skills or technology, starting over at
another company, or changing careers. "You don't want to
appear to be only employable by HP." "I could've spent that
time working my way up in a new company."
- If you are approached about -- or apply for -- a direct or
agency-contract position at an HP-related company, be very
clear about your employment history. A recruiter or manager
may not know about any formal or informal rehire
restrictions -- or may be overly-confident about getting
approval. Many report losing critical time and wasting
valuable energy on discussions that ended abruptly without
explanation. If you did not
leave under a restructuring program, make that very clear.
- Working through an agency is very different from direct
employment. For legal reasons, you are treated differently
-- for example, not included in staff meetings or
celebrations. People's attitude toward you is different.
Easy to get into a situation where, due to the agency's
undisclosed markup, you are expected to work at a higher
level than you are being paid for. When comparing
alternatives, be sure to factor in the reduced benefits.
- It is a different company now. The managers who supported
you may no longer have political power or may have left. The
current work environment can tend to reduce teamwork and
freedom. And you can always be laid off again in the next
cycle. "Do I value myself and my family so little that I'd
be willing to put our fortunes back in that position a
second time?"
5. Comments from alumni who have left:
- "Learn new technologies and remember HP as kind of like college -- it
was fun while it lasted."
- "Making less but I now get to spend more of my time doing the part of
the work that I love."
- "I wish I had recognized much earlier the futility of my job and what
it was doing to me. On the way home after an exhausting day, I bought
groceries. I realized that the guy bagging groceries at the store had
done more for civilization that day than I had."
- "Found out I was grossly underpaid."
- "Having HP on my résumé helps to open doors with other firms."
- "Now I work for a 200-employee company and can get decisions made
same-day."
- "In retrospect being WFR'd was a blessing. It forced me to get out,
rethink who I am and what is important. I certainly would not have
started my own business without the shove."
- "I wish I would have known that I had greater skills at adapting to my
life after HP, resilience in dealing with the transition, and
competencies that were valued by others."
- You may find "the companionship you thought you'd miss, the dreams you
thought you'd dropped, and the enthusiasm you thought you left back in
your youth."
Comments to
operations@hpalumni.org will be kept in confidence. See also: - Know someone leaving HPInc or HPE? Send them this link to our "ASAP Checklist" -- advice from alumni on urgent things to do before losing access to internal systems and in the following weeks. https://www.hpalumni.org/asap (HPAA membership not required.)
- Links, advice, and reference info from
HPAA members about
job searching and career issues.
- "Job Searching for the
Mature Worker" -- HPAA video with pragmatic, actionable advice. (Not
the usual motivational fluff.) |
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