Jodie [Fisher] Will Likely Get 300,000 Thank You Notes’

By Michael Corkery, Wall Street Journal

If ever there was a case of schadenfreude, it is on display by the employees, past and present, of Hewlett-Packard.
As one of worker put it, “we had an office party this Monday at HP HQ,’’ to celebrate the resignation of CEO Mark Hurd amid an expense account scandal. In short, dozens of readers identifying themselves as H-P employees or ex-employees have left comments on Deal Journal cheering Hurd’s resignation.

Hurd may have been beloved by Wall Street (H-P’s stock tumbled 8% on Monday, but rose more than fourfold during his five-year tenure at the H-P helm) but he wasn’t loved by everybody inside the technology giant where he had implemented draconian cost cuts, including laying off thousands of people.
“Many HP employees were dancing in the hallways today, the witch is dead. Morale was at an all-time low at lunch last Friday,’’ wrote one employee. “Jodie will likely get about 300,000 thank you notes.”
While expressing delight in his resignation, many objected to the “golden parachute” that will cushion the fall from grace. Hurd, who ranks among the top paid CEO’s in the nation, will walk away with about $28 million in severance and stock options.“If any employee was found fiddling with their expenses they would be marched out of the building and tossed into the street. No compensation. Why then should Hurd get any compensation?” asked one Deal Journal commenter.
There were some who called out Hurd’s apparent hypocrisy: A CEO who was ruthless in his efforts to cut expenses was accused of falsifying his own expense reports.
A reader identifying himself as Joe the engineer from HP wrote: Hurd’s employees left in droves (including me). The rest would have left when the economy got better… those that he didn’t fire, anyway. I love watching all this happen to him, couldn’t have happened to a better guy. Thanks Mark for making me take all that ethics training - looks like YOU were the one who needed it.
Judging from the comments, much of the animosity appeared to come from EDS, the software company that H-P acquired in 2008.
An ex-EDS employee writes: “God he deserved it. The way we (EDS ) employees were treated after the merger, was just terrible. HP made their numbers basically through the EDS division and we got rewarded with a 20% pay cut. Mark also took a pay cut on his base salary - note base salary not on his bonuses! I am glad that he will be using his bonus money to pay his lawyers.”
Of course, it is unclear whether such comments are a representative sampling of the H-P morale or the venting of a few disgruntled workers. But it is clear that Hurd didn’t inspire much love from some corners of the company.