HP will lay off up to 6,000 employees over the next three years

[midian182]

What just happened? HP Inc. has announced it is joining the slew of tech companies that have drastically reduced their headcount. The hardware giant said it would cut up to 6,000 jobs, or around 12% of its global workforce, by the end of fiscal 2025 as demand for laptops and PCs wanes.

This year has seen HP's net revenue fall 0.8% ($63 billion) compared to 2021, while notebook sales were down 23% to $6.4 billion. The company's fiscal fourth-quarter revenue was down 11% to $14.8 billion, while profit was 85 cents per share, both of which beat analysts' estimates.

HP forecasted a lower-than-expected profit for the first fiscal quarter, based on a predicted 10% decline in computer sales. It estimates that labor and non-labor costs related to restructuring and other charges will cost it around one billion dollars over the next three years.

HP expects to reduce its 61,000-strong global workforce by between 4,000 and 6,000 people before the end of 2025. "These are the toughest decisions we have to make because it involves our colleagues," said CEO Enrique Lores.

The combination of post-lockdown market softening and economic uncertainty has seen demand for consumer electronics crash this year. Phones, tablets, Chromebooks, and gaming monitors are just some of the industries that have been impacted. PC makers are also feeling the effects—IDC's latest figures show HP Inc. experienced the largest shipment decline of all top-five manufacturers in Q3 (-27.8%).

HP said it would invest in new business lines, including subscription services. It plans to expand its ink cartridge subscription service to products such as paper and computers, said Lores.

It's not a good time to be a worker at a big tech company. Meta laid off 11,000 people recently, and the situation at Twitter lurches between tragedy and comedy. We've also seen layoffs at Lyft, Microsoft, Snap, Tesla, Robinhood, and several others this year. In the case of Elon Musk's companies, the lack of prior notice resulted in lawsuits against the firms. With the economy showing little sign of recovery, expect to see more stories like this in the coming months.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96747-hp-lay-off-up-6000-employees-over-next.html

 

[Uncle Al]

As has occurred many, many times in the past, the tech companies go through their culling processes, lasts for a few months, then they slowly start re-hiring again. Unfortunately the laws do not protect the workers other than give then advanced notice of this happening. If companies were required to pay a minimum of one years severance, companies would think long and hard about such an action .....

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I'm a software engineer at a big company that has had layoffs.
Often the way severance works is you'll get paid out based on your time of service. So if you worked there for 6 years you might get 6 months of severance. That's pretty sweet considering a software engineer can get a job interview pretty much whenever they want, and probably land a decent job in a month or two. And having a company like HP or Meta or Twitter on your resume means all you probably have to do to find a new job is go back through your LinkedIn notifications and look at the offers. Offers for jobs that are also now remote and don't even require re-locating.

A law that would require 1 year minimum would also mean no one would pay over that. Also, the govt most likely isn't going to pass a law to force a company without money to pay people who are otherwise pretty well off.

 

[waclark]

I've worked for HP twice in my career. The second time was a big mistake. Meg Whitman was at the helm and the rumor is that she wanted to break up the company and sell the pieces. Hence the split between HP and HPE. HP management was all "look at Dell, they have so much debt they will fail" and yet within 6 months of returning to HPE they started the layoffs. It took them 2 years before they got around to me, but every 6 months, more layoffs.

Rumor was that Meg had political aspirations which evaporated when Hillary lost to Trump. She tried to sell the PC business to Dell and they declined. She was a total disaster for the company and they are still suffering from the damage she did. Bill and Dave are rolling in their graves over the way the company has evolved. When I worked for them back in the 80s, they were more employee centric. Instead of layoffs they made everyone take a 10% pay cut, that included managers. After about 18 months, the company was on good financial ground and everyone's pay was restored. Now, they just lay people off willy-nilly. It's sad to see, but it won't be long and HP will join the ranks of companies that no longer exist. Looking at you Digitial, Sun, Compaq, Sequent and more.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

The great resignation has now become the great layoff.

 

[waclark]

As has occurred many, many times in the past, the tech companies go through their culling processes, lasts for a few months, then they slowly start re-hiring again. Unfortunately the laws do not protect the workers other than give then advanced notice of this happening. If companies were required to pay a minimum of one years severance, companies would think long and hard about such an action .....

When I was at HP last, it went on for over 2 years. Every 6 months they laid people off. Then the Board had the good sense to fire Meg Whitman and it stopped.

 

[someOtherGuy]

If companies were required to pay a minimum of one years severance, companies would think long and hard about such an action .....

If companies were required to pay a minimum of one years severance they would think long and hard before HIRING people. This is the kind of thinking that makes 1st world economies incapable to compete with China & Co.

 

[waclark]

If companies were required to pay a minimum of one years severance they would think long and hard before HIRING people. This is the kind of thinking that makes 1st world economies incapable to compete with China & Co.

Exactly. Imagine if you wanted to cancel your Netflix subscription but had to pay a full year before being allowed to do so. Or, let's flip this around and say as an employee you have to give one year's notice before quitting? Would that be a fair trade in exchange for a 1 year severance if you get laid off? I doubt anyone would agree to that. Why is it that people think companies owe employees anything when employees are not obligated to the company in any way?