For employees there are opportunities and there are risks, and these change because the industry HP is in changes on a dime.
I've been at HP (now HPE) almost three decades. It's not the company it once was. Sadly, that company would no longer be in business imho.
Nice companies competing on a global stage get "hard" get bought or go out of business.
@ HP is under the same pressures as any large company.
You nailed it! HPE would not be in business today if it was still run like the old days. This is the unfortunate truth that we have to face. Everyone wants lower cost products (walmart, best buy, etc) so we have all been enablers of this new business model.
I'll never forget what Hurd said as CEO. "we are a global company that happens to be based in the US." Loyalty to a nation...get real. It's loyalty to the almighty dollar.
I don't buy that explanation. HP was in business over 50 years without a layoff. It does require better management to suceed without layoffs though. It also means that the upper management needs to be in a pay scale that makes it realistic to afford keeping staff on instead of hire and fire. Bill and Dave were totally against this sort of management and I believe the losses in productivity, innovation and agility are directly attributable to the loss of "internal motivation" and loyalty to the company. I have seen it both ways and people that are allowed to feel vulnerable are way more creative and work harder than those beset by layoffs, in every situation.