HP hits UK workers with canteen, car, pension cuts

Hewlett-Packard and EDS employees in the UK who are currently bracing themselves for pay cuts can now expect to see food subsidies axed, a pension scheme shake-up and changes to their car allowances. HP told workers yesterday in a memo seen by The Register that prices in the company’s canteens would be jacked up, fewer meal …

[Anonymous Coward]

Will Penne All'arrabiata still be on the menu?

I'm guessing it'll be a popular choice.

Bill Gates is a Sith Lord, right?

[Tim Spence]

What they really meant

"It admitted some workers would temporarily suffer a second drop in pay to help HP execs steer the services outfit through tough economic conditions."

...and what they really mean...

"It admitted some workers would temporarily suffer a second drop in pay to help HP execs keep their remuneration healthy through tough economic conditions."

[John]

EDS... subsidised canteen

They removed the subsidy in the EDS canteens in 2004, and the prices went down as a result!!!! only in EDS.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Gutless UK Management

Hurd cuts everything that he can find and the gutless brown nosed UK & European management try everything to protect their own jobs by yet again screwing the people who actually do the work.

If you want to maintain your current pension level then you have to pay an extra 3% of your salary, so what Hurd and the rest of the greedy pigs are actually wanting is a least an 8% drop in take home pay if you agree to the 5% salary cut.

Word around HP UK is that they will not be getting people agreeing to the cut and lets hope Gill and the the rest of the Hurd cronies get their bonuses cut as a result.

Boy am I glad I got out of that Victorian management style company. How long before Hurd reaches the end of the road where there is nothing left to cut just like he did at NCR?

[Anonymous Coward]

Get out

Get out as soon as you can, take any package on offer.

If enough people leave it will kill their business.

Have a blue flu.

When I was with IBM (via Manpower), we got screwed and lied to. I tried to organise people to have a blue flu, but no-one wanted to take a chance. I decided to look after myself only, I quit, found a new job that paid £10k more.

The company has no concern for you, so why are you showing it loyalty, don't be a sheep.

Flames, because companies like this deserve to burn.

[Joe K]

Hilarity

Yeah, so with less wages the poor sods will happily pay much more for canteen food (and less of it)? Do they not realise that everyone will just bring in their own food instead? Madness.

Maybe thats the plan, they hope they can get people to sit at their desks with sandwiches, thus work more. Don't fall for it!

[Anonymous Coward]

Safety in numbers

Why organise unoffcicial action? Join the union (www.unitetheunion.com) and give yourself support and a voice against this cynical, reckless management.

And support the petition at http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/greedypaycuts/

[Stevie]

Bah

They have canteens?

[Anonymous Coward]

One line springs to mind...............

(on the wall of our design office)

"I work for money

If you want loyalty, get a dog........."

Gentlemen/Ladies get your coats................

[Anonymous Coward]

HP Struggling?

How come HP are suddenly struggling? Cartridges for my printer have risen from £14 a year ago to over £21 now, you can't honestly state they are struggling can you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Pensions

They forgot to mention that bonuses, Shift allowance and overtime will no longer figure in the final salary pension calculations. This will hit the worst paid the hardest.

Hurd wants you to leave it is the only explanation for this treatment. Even in the current climate the amount of people leaving of their own accord is growing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hypocritical comments

So if you protest against pay/benefit cuts when things go bad, that means that you guys will also refuse bonuses and raises when the company is doing great?

You can't have it both ways...

Wake up and smell the, err, roses :)

If you have leaks on a ship, the first priority is to keep the boat afloat, not to make sure everybody has a blanket, a hat and a lounge chair...

[blackworx]

Surely

...they could just cut down on their global packaging consumption? Presumably that would free up a few mil.

[Anonymous Coward]

AC @ 21:11

Even when the company was going great, bonuses were almost unheard of for a large number of employees and you were lucky if you got a raise in line with the rate of inflation - ex-HP bod.

[Anonymous Coward]

@AC re Hypocritical comments

"So if you protest against pay/benefit cuts when things go bad, that means that you guys will also refuse bonuses and raises when the company is doing great?"

What bonuses and raises?

Over the four years I was a Manpower drone for IBM we were promised raises, but "there is no more money in the pot", or "you are top of the list" etc.

And HP is not a sinking ship. They still turn a good profit, so stop being so short term. If the company needs to cut back, then cut ALL bonuses, including management. Cut dividends to shareholders, they took a risk when buying shares, yes the share price will fall, but if the company is run properly over the long term it will rise.

[CaptainBeaky]

Sinking Ship my backside

"Hypocritical comments

By Anonymous Coward Posted Wednesday 18th March 2009 21:11 GMT

Flame

So if you protest against pay/benefit cuts when things go bad, that means that you guys will also refuse bonuses and raises when the company is doing great?

You can't have it both ways...

Wake up and smell the, err, roses :)

If you have leaks on a ship, the first priority is to keep the boat afloat, not to make sure everybody has a blanket, a hat and a lounge chair..."

Maybe it's the $1.9Bn of bullion (Profit) that was posted, mainly by EDS, in Q1 that is weighing the boat down

Get real. Hurd is suing the recession as an excuse. If HP/EDS were genuinely in danger of going under I'd take a cut but I won't do it to keep Hurd's pockets lined with cash

[Anonymous Coward]

Bonuses?

Do you really think the benefits will be re-instated? Of course they won't it's an excuse to cut costs.

As for bonuses staff are supposed to get performance related pay but even if you have exceptional reviews bonuses and pay rises are like rocking horse doo-doo.

I know as part of the salary reductions they have touted more performance related pay and bonuses but for EDS staff they have currently canned the performance review process...

[Anonymous Coward]

What many people still don't understand...

What many people still don't understand is that Hurd simply does not care how badly he damages the company. He has a history of going into companies, raping them for his own benefit, and moving on. It doesn't matter to him if companies he has used recover or not. He has made himself even more wealthy, and to creatures like him, that really is all that matters.

[Martin]

its all fair?

And hey, the CEO has offered himself up to take a 20% pay cut to his base salary so thats all fair and good isn't it? Also his senior staff will take a 10% pay cut.

Err no, not when you see this.

“Mark Hurd (CEO) made $42.5m in fiscal 2008. HP gave him $25.4m in cash last year, including a $1.45m salary and $23.9m bonus money, according to compensation figures contained in the company’s proxy,” said one employee.

“He gets $42,514,524, of which ‘only’ $1.45m is his base salary. He offers to cut 20 per cent of his base pay. Well, that still leaves him with $41,354,524 plus his stock options. In fact, his pay cut of 20 per cent is really only one per cent.”

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Hypocritical comments

You obviously dont work for HP. If you did you would be aware of the extreme anger around this proposed cut.

For the past 3/4 years HP has been growing at a staggering rate now becoming the number 1 IT vendor in the world, this is because of several reasons:

- HP has used its engineering know how to develop decent products the market wants and have bought by the shed load.

- Aggressive aquisiton allowing us instant access into lucrative markets where we have applied economies of scale and point 1 to bring costs down and generate high margin on the products.

- Hurd has aggressivly pursued cost savings to maximise profts and ensure a excellent source of cash for point 2, also used to rationalise engineering to focus develpment and product range only on profitable endevours leverage technologies accross multiple products and so on and so forth.

Now Hurd is effective at cost rationalisation no one questions that. Unfortunately like he did at NCR, he contsantily pushes till the boat doesnt just start leaking it implodes in a rather impressive fireball!

The cracks have been appearing for a while now, most employees have not had a pay rise for several years, the justification has been that HP is moving towards a bonus scheme; your business area does well, so do you. Slight problem with this no one south of senior management has actually seen a bones that reflects their BU performance for quite some time, there is always a way for them to wriggle out. Your BU is doing well, for the purposes of the bonus its gets lumped in with an underperforming one.

Now they turn round to us and say that because of an "under performing" economy they want us all to take 5%. Yet they have stated that when the economy returns to normal they will not be giving any financial uplift (either bonus or base salary).

Do you think that is fair or indeed hypocritical of us?

[Anonymous Coward]

HP Way?

What ever has happened to the inspired and enlightened HP Way that puts people first?

HP is now being a bit brutally financially engineered and in time this will impact their overall performance and quality in my view.

Can only imagine how this will impact employee morale and the constant fear such 'leadership' moves engender.

Meanwhile in the Hurd executive suite and top teams they are richly rewarding themselves with great multiples of greed.

My view of HP has changed greatly for the worse.

Yes times are tough but there are enlightened ways to do things rather than just the easy options.

HP employees and contractors be strong. This approach is just not nice or good longterm business sense.

[Anonymous Coward]

HPs Original Brains

Left with Agilent. Now they inflate volume (but not profit) with PCs and get most of their profit off ink. I was a bit amazed they decided to milk the poor sods who bought HP printers, that is sure to boost future sales. Wait, that's next quarter, we don't care about that....

A company that develops a schism between the "management" and "workers" (as if the whole lot aren't all aren't just employees of the OWNERS) has already failed management 101. Unfortunately, that is most companies....

Mines the one with the HP41CX in the pocket, from the glorious old days.