Jan 7, 2008 3:03 PM GMT Yes, from the Street side, HP looks like it's doing great things, although I find it interesting that BW didn't mention how poorly the server/storage side has been doing. Meanwhile we employees have our benefits reduced to paper-thin, our merit raises eliminated, and our morale is in the toilet. I know many people who have been with the company for 10-20 years, who now say "this isn't the company it used to be - I'll be out of here in six months." There is no consideration for the employee anymore. And regarding the comment about Mark Hurd building up the sales force? HA! He hired a sales VP from Oracle, where the model is "burn 'em out, push 'em out." There was a hiring binge in Jan./Feb. 07 where tons of salespeople were hired. Then in October, hundreds were laid off, mostly folks who'd been there awhile, i.e., with larger base salaries, and they're being replaced with new people with no experience. Way to take care of your employees AND your long term customers, Mark. Ali
Jan 7, 2008 2:49 PM GMT Nonintuitively, I think Hurd is actually capitalizing on the much-maligned merger with Compaq that Fiorina envisioned and executed so effectively. You could say that he was lucky to get the company just as the benefits from that merger were kicking in. There is no doubt that his focus on operational efficiently has maximized this benefit. However, how many consecutive years of bottomline growth can you get from cost-cutting? It still remains to be seen whether he has the ability to grow HP sustainably by utilizing its core competence; its history of nurturing engineering talent.
Jan 4, 2008 8:12 AM GMT Mark Hurd is unethical. He is doing things people of conscience would not do. There comes a point when you have to acknowledge he is so indifferent to his fellow man and come to the conclusion he is a rotten person. When you screw people on raises and bonuses for hard work it says that you don't appreciate other peoples' efforts. What is sad is he is getting rich off the people he screws out of a few thousand bucks a year.
Employee who got nothing where mngmnt took all
Jan 3, 2008 4:36 PM GMT Yes, I agree with Bob and LongTermHP who reacted earlier. The employees doing the work are the victims and I cannot think this success will last when the workforce is de-motivated.
Ted
Jan 3, 2008 5:35 AM GMT Jerry, Bill and Dave are not back in town. While HP's stock, profits and marketshare continue to grow, the employees see less and less. Most have not seen a raise in over 24 months, and managers now control the distribution of a company bonus. Each manager gives a big bonus to his/her buddy while top-ranked staff see nothing. It's really sad how things get portrayed outside the company - but at the end of the day it only matters if Wall Street likes what it sees.
Jan 2, 2008 5:54 PM GMT The success of HP has been excellent since Hurd took over, but it is not without its casualties, namely the employees. HP had a history of innovative and flexible policies that engendered fierce loyalty among an incredibly hard working workforce. And while HP was never the top paying company, the sense of community and the overall benefits were second to none. Now, as Hurd claims to want to be the best IT company on the planet, he is benchmarking the salaries and benefits against other companies to the degree that HP will have the most mediocre workforce in the industry. It's no wonder more than 50% of employees on a recent survey said they would leave HP if they had a comparable job waiting for them. Once the operations have been cut to the bone, and employees are over-worked, underpaid and under-appreciated, what happens then? Or, should we all just be glad we have a job? When the stellar results are not there and Wall Street and BusinessWeek turns against you, what then?
Jan 14, 2008 1:42 AM GMT Hurd did it by cheating hardworking folks out of their Christmas bonus....thanks BW for worshipping Scrooge!
Jan 8, 2008 6:42 AM GMT Worked for HP under Carly and Hurd. Carly failed at making a smooth trasition with the Compaq merger but was beefing up the customer services and support side. These groups were receiving dismal ratings from customers so she was hiring more qualified engineers, consultants and support people. Customer ratings and return business was improving before she left. She lacked on the product side though. Hurd's strategy is to beef up sales and purchase or partner other companies' products and sell as HP. Once sold he doesn't care. He's done well with this but maybe the #s are exaggerated due to the cost cutting. He's letting all the Tech consultants, support engineers and services people walk due to his HR strategies. The company is moving towards operating with an overstock of managers, a bloated sales force and no one to implement and support the products or services it sells. Stock price short term success, no long term strength. Hurd will cash out and be long gone. Be prepared.
Jan 8, 2008 2:14 AM GMT Read the HP employee reviews at http://www.proletar.com/By-Employees/HP.html and judge for yourself.
LeRoy
Jan 7, 2008 10:10 PM GMT From the outside Mark looks like a superstar, but wait till annalists look at how the cost cutting and profit increase is taking place. For a company that touts IT leadership, our IT department's personnel has been cut by 75%. Engineers are forced to repair their own desktop computers. We tell other businesses to put an inkjet on every desk, Made us remove them all because they cost too much to operate. We move our overseas cost to the US to show how profitable our overseas business is. This doesn't even count our 1% pay raise after we make record profits. When will some savvy annalist dig into the HP numbers to see that what is being shown is just smoke and mirrors, HP is doing great now, on paper. Wait 2 years; see where we are then
US employee testimony ( I have to cut, I do not want this bog to be closed by Corp) :
HP just cut our severance packages yet again. Last time they did it they talked about coming in line with "industry standards". This time, no reason. We get 1% or zero raises. Hiring freezes. They only hire consultants and not real employees. They are moving everything they can to China and India. Goodbye American innovation. Give it all to the Indians and Chinese. ... This company and this CEO disrespects us at every turn. ...
Morale is at an all time low. Most would leave if they could. Many interview and look around in case something better comes along. I know that I do.
Even when numbers are good and you division does well and you work hard, you expect to get laid off. The cuts are constant and you never have ANY sort of feeling that you belong, that this is "your" company. They treat us like we are all temp workers and let's face it they will eventually WFR all of us so that they can just hire temps and contractors and not pay any benefits. That's the new model.
Pensions? Gone. Stock options? They don't seem to be giving them to anyone but people like Hurd. There is only an incentive to work enough to not get fired and to look for something better outside HP.
There are no water coolers you have to bring in your own bottled water to drink. They took away the flavored teas. No dairy for coffee or tea. They still offer coffee and tea but with that non dairy garbage. Why bother?
They are selling off all their real estate and renting in small buildings and even then it's not enough. They are always squeezing more and more. They invest thousands in moving an office to a smaller one only to try to close that too.
Internal service is terrible. ... You get what you pay for, Hurd. So much lost productivity in frustration and red tape, all to save a few dimes. ... He is in the board room and not in the trenches doing REAL WORK. He's just an accountant.
Business Week names Mark Hurd Business Person of the year !
Marilyn
RépondreSupprimerJan 7, 2008 3:03 PM GMT
Yes, from the Street side, HP looks like it's doing great things, although I find it interesting that BW didn't mention how poorly the server/storage side has been doing. Meanwhile we employees have our benefits reduced to paper-thin, our merit raises eliminated, and our morale is in the toilet. I know many people who have been with the company for 10-20 years, who now say "this isn't the company it used to be - I'll be out of here in six months." There is no consideration for the employee anymore. And regarding the comment about Mark Hurd building up the sales force? HA! He hired a sales VP from Oracle, where the model is "burn 'em out, push 'em out." There was a hiring binge in Jan./Feb. 07 where tons of salespeople were hired. Then in October, hundreds were laid off, mostly folks who'd been there awhile, i.e., with larger base salaries, and they're being replaced with new people with no experience. Way to take care of your employees AND your long term customers, Mark.
Ali
Jan 7, 2008 2:49 PM GMT
Nonintuitively, I think Hurd is actually capitalizing on the much-maligned merger with Compaq that Fiorina envisioned and executed so effectively. You could say that he was lucky to get the company just as the benefits from that merger were kicking in. There is no doubt that his focus on operational efficiently has maximized this benefit. However, how many consecutive years of bottomline growth can you get from cost-cutting? It still remains to be seen whether he has the ability to grow HP sustainably by utilizing its core competence; its history of nurturing engineering talent.
HPEmployee
RépondreSupprimerJan 4, 2008 8:12 AM GMT
Mark Hurd is unethical. He is doing things people of conscience would not do. There comes a point when you have to acknowledge he is so indifferent to his fellow man and come to the conclusion he is a rotten person. When you screw people on raises and bonuses for hard work it says that you don't appreciate other peoples' efforts. What is sad is he is getting rich off the people he screws out of a few thousand bucks a year.
Employee who got nothing where mngmnt took all
Jan 3, 2008 4:36 PM GMT
Yes, I agree with Bob and LongTermHP who reacted earlier. The employees doing the work are the victims and I cannot think this success will last when the workforce is de-motivated.
Ted
Jan 3, 2008 5:35 AM GMT
Jerry, Bill and Dave are not back in town. While HP's stock, profits and marketshare continue to grow, the employees see less and less. Most have not seen a raise in over 24 months, and managers now control the distribution of a company bonus. Each manager gives a big bonus to his/her buddy while top-ranked staff see nothing. It's really sad how things get portrayed outside the company - but at the end of the day it only matters if Wall Street likes what it sees.
LongTermHP
RépondreSupprimerJan 2, 2008 5:54 PM GMT
The success of HP has been excellent since Hurd took over, but it is not without its casualties, namely the employees. HP had a history of innovative and flexible policies that engendered fierce loyalty among an incredibly hard working workforce. And while HP was never the top paying company, the sense of community and the overall benefits were second to none. Now, as Hurd claims to want to be the best IT company on the planet, he is benchmarking the salaries and benefits against other companies to the degree that HP will have the most mediocre workforce in the industry. It's no wonder more than 50% of employees on a recent survey said they would leave HP if they had a comparable job waiting for them. Once the operations have been cut to the bone, and employees are over-worked, underpaid and under-appreciated, what happens then? Or, should we all just be glad we have a job? When the stellar results are not there and Wall Street and BusinessWeek turns against you, what then?
Jan 14, 2008 1:42 AM GMT
RépondreSupprimerHurd did it by cheating hardworking folks out of their Christmas bonus....thanks BW for worshipping Scrooge!
Jan 8, 2008 6:42 AM GMT
Worked for HP under Carly and Hurd. Carly failed at making a smooth trasition with the Compaq merger but was beefing up the customer services and support side. These groups were receiving dismal ratings from customers so she was hiring more qualified engineers, consultants and support people. Customer ratings and return business was improving before she left. She lacked on the product side though. Hurd's strategy is to beef up sales and purchase or partner other companies' products and sell as HP. Once sold he doesn't care. He's done well with this but maybe the #s are exaggerated due to the cost cutting. He's letting all the Tech consultants, support engineers and services people walk due to his HR strategies. The company is moving towards operating with an overstock of managers, a bloated sales force and no one to implement and support the products or services it sells. Stock price short term success, no long term strength. Hurd will cash out and be long gone. Be prepared.
Jan 8, 2008 2:14 AM GMT
RépondreSupprimerRead the HP employee reviews at http://www.proletar.com/By-Employees/HP.html and judge for yourself.
LeRoy
Jan 7, 2008 10:10 PM GMT
From the outside Mark looks like a superstar, but wait till annalists look at how the cost cutting and profit increase is taking place. For a company that touts IT leadership, our IT department's personnel has been cut by 75%. Engineers are forced to repair their own desktop computers. We tell other businesses to put an inkjet on every desk, Made us remove them all because they cost too much to operate. We move our overseas cost to the US to show how profitable our overseas business is. This doesn't even count our 1% pay raise after we make record profits. When will some savvy annalist dig into the HP numbers to see that what is being shown is just smoke and mirrors, HP is doing great now, on paper. Wait 2 years; see where we are then
US employee testimony ( I have to cut, I do not want this bog to be closed by Corp) :
RépondreSupprimerHP just cut our severance packages yet again. Last time they did it they talked about coming in line with "industry standards". This time, no reason. We get 1% or zero raises. Hiring freezes. They only hire consultants and not real employees. They are moving everything they can to China and India. Goodbye American innovation. Give it all to the Indians and Chinese.
...
This company and this CEO disrespects us at every turn.
...
Morale is at an all time low. Most would leave if they could. Many interview and look around in case something better comes along. I know that I do.
Even when numbers are good and you division does well and you work hard, you expect to get laid off. The cuts are constant and you never have ANY sort of feeling that you belong, that this is "your" company. They treat us like we are all temp workers and let's face it they will eventually WFR all of us so that they can just hire temps and contractors and not pay any benefits. That's the new model.
Pensions? Gone. Stock options? They don't seem to be giving them to anyone but people like Hurd. There is only an incentive to work enough to not get fired and to look for something better outside HP.
There are no water coolers you have to bring in your own bottled water to drink. They took away the flavored teas. No dairy for coffee or tea. They still offer coffee and tea but with that non dairy garbage. Why bother?
They are selling off all their real estate and renting in small buildings and even then it's not enough. They are always squeezing more and more. They invest thousands in moving an office to a smaller one only to try to close that too.
Internal service is terrible.
...
You get what you pay for, Hurd. So much lost productivity in frustration and red tape, all to save a few dimes.
...
He is in the board room and not in the trenches doing REAL WORK. He's just an accountant.
Oh, even our employee discounts suck.
...
There is no HPWAY. It's over and done.
...