HP Christmas cheer includes more than a shaft

HP WORKERS MAY be getting the shaft for Christmas, but luckily, the giving doesn't end there. The shades of the stupidity started under Carly are now bubbling back up.

When we posted the heart-felt holiday cheer of Ann Livermore, little did we know the employees would rally around her. There are literally dozens of letters flying around HP now to discuss it. Not only that, other divisions are getting into the action as well, with the generosity flowing like few times in the past.

It seems the Spirit of Carly is coming back to fester at HP. As much as we hate to say it, it looks like the New HP is the same as the last New HP, they are just better at PR. The more things change...

Anyway, with that in mind, we present to you three of the best letters, one appears to be a memo, but we can't verify the origin. All are as we saw them with only names removed and formatting/readability changes.

The first one is a letter that we are told is making it's way around HP right now. It appears to be an honest, heartfelt letter to the bosses over the Livermore bonus letter, and it is quite the eye-opener. The emails were scrubbed before being seen by the INQUIRER, only the name at the bottom was removed. You have to love any company that shows such genuine concern for long-term employees.

[Begin Letter]

From: xxxxxx

Sent: 01 December 2008 14:26
To: Hurd, Mark
Cc: xxxxxx, Ann Livermore
Subject: RE: Operational Efficiencies

Mark,

I'm sorry but I really feel the need to speak out after yet another demoralising message from HP, made even worse by the smiling face attached to it!

This comes hard on the heels of a message from Steve Gill about cancelling Christmas events…….the name Scrooge springs to mind.

In the scheme of things how much money will that save, compared to the effect of demoralising the work force even further? It's very short sighted in my opinion.

Our commitment and support as employees (of this once proud people company) would be a lot greater if HP stopped reducing our benefits year on year and gave us a pay rise now and then to reflect the good work done by its employees, rather than the 'thanks for your efforts and continued support' we get, when helping make this company millions of dollars in profits, which we see none of these days!

Working as one motivated team pushing the company forward, when all we get is continual demoralising news week on week is very difficult, especially when it is not reflected in the company's year on year performance. Receiving continuous messages telling us how well the company are doing and the profits being made, I, and others, find it extremely insulting to then be told the sort of information contained in Ann and Steve's emails.

HP is continually chipping away at all the employee benefits built up over the years by Bill and Dave and for what?

More market share!

Another cent on the share price!

Quite frankly when will we have enough market share? Is there an optimum number that will suffice or will HP not be satisfied until it has 100%? How many more companies does HP have to take over making thousands of hard working employees redundant in the pursuit of market share? Not to mention outsourcing to third world countries on the pretence it's all in a good cause and not merely for monetary gain!

Bill & Dave would be mortified to know that HP has finally become 'A Selfish Capitalist'….

I used to look forward to coming to work every single day and would love every challenge that was thrown at me with relish and perform to my best ability for this company. I used to jump out of bed to get to work and would work my butt off; putting in whatever hours it took to get the job done. Can I still say the same holds true today? NO!

Why, you might ask did I use to be this way and what has changed?

Simply because we had great respect for Bill and Dave and what they had built as a company and we were proud to say we worked for HP and treasured our jobs within this once great organisation. It was our family!

That has all but been torn down, with remnants remaining here and there, which are also being gradually eroded. When asked about working for HP in the past I used to sing its praises and people used to be in awe of anyone who was lucky enough to work for HP. Nowadays, my response is, 'It used to be a great company to work for, but' and I find myself going through a continually growing list of reasons why it's not that great to work for anymore. And this message from Ann just reinforces that continuous demoralising theme L

Where would HP be without its hard working loyal people?

Regards

[End Letter]

If that isn't enough to let you know how things are going on inside, it's difficult to know what is. But fear not, some divisions at HP seem to be going out of their way to make up for the uncaring 'souls' in the ivory tower. Take for instance the largess of HP Financial Services in this unverified memo.

[Begin Letter]

To all HP Financial Services colleagues worldwide:

Congratulations on delivering another strong year! Against a backdrop of unprecedented changes within both the global economic environment and our own business, HP Financial Services made impressive gains in the past 12 months, with growth in volume, revenue and operating profit.

...

As a gesture of my appreciation for everything you did to make us successful in FY08, I'm happy to announce that we'll be relaxing our usual dress code in all HPFS locations from December 1-5 to include jeans. We worked hard together to deliver strong results -- let's celebrate together with Jeans Week!

...

Thank you, as always, for your achievements and continued focus on our business and our customers in FY08. You've laid a great foundation for the year ahead -- now it's our task to make the most of every opportunity to continue growing the business.

Regards-

[End Letter]

If that doesn't make you shed a tear of joy, what will? Sheesh, jeans for a week, what more can you ask for, multiple Gulfstreams and gold plated fixtures in the execu-crapper at the HP Aerodrome?

Ok, bad example, they did that, and it went over as well as Carly didn't expect.

That said, we are sure that HP executives will be jetting around on their private luxury airliners without a care in the world. HP employees at least can travel. Coach. For another 27 days. Then nothing. But at least they have their perks. For 58 days. See, we told you that HP was caring for the workers, they aren't shafting them any more until after the holidays. At least the pay cuts aren't direct this time. We wonder if Hurd and Livermore will get huge bonuses for making the "tough decisions" like Carly did.

[Begin Letter]

Oh, boy, do we get the shaft!!!! I have been with HP for 13 years, and this company has steadily gone downhill in its treatment of employees. A few years ago, I lost my company car. Last month the edict came out from Ann Livermore: No travel in FY2009. Say what? No travel of any kind? Yes - that's right.

As of Feb 1, teleworkers (employees whose field offices were closed and forced to work from home offices) are having their phone and internet reimbursements cancelled. That's another $1600 annual pay cut for me.

As far as nothing else being available, if that's what Ann Livermore thinks, she is in for a rude awakening. The rank and file have had it.

[End Letter]

If you are in awe at the irony here, rest assured it gets even funnier. At the INQ, if we call HP PR, we always seem to get an answering machine. We dutifully leave a message with name, phone number, and reason for calling. HP central PR has never once called us back. Ever. In 5+ years.

When the Livermore Christmas cheer memo went up, they called us asking how to get it taken down. I guess they do know where we are and how to reach us after all. Does this mean relations are thawing in the depths of winter? Is the INQ about to receive a flood of returned calls dating from 2003? Stay tuned, there are bound to be a few more juicy ones floating in the aether.

This shining story of HP goodwill, holiday cheer, and competence is dedicated to Terry. RIP. µ