HP reveals global job cut plans that will affect 4,000 to 6,000 employees

Hewlett Packard Inc. revealed this week that it would have to lay off thousands of employees over the next three years. The tech company said that these job cuts will affect 4,000 to 6,000 people in its offices and facilities worldwide.

While this is not good news, it was reported that Hewlett Packard’s shares increased as much as one percent in extended trading after the upcoming layoff was announced, according to CNBC. The company employs about 51,000 workers as of October 2021 so the cuts appear to be just a small part of its total workforce.

With this decision, HP has become the latest firm in the tech sector to announce plans to reduce the number of staff. Mostly, companies made the hard decision of letting go of employees due to the current state of the economies around the world. They faced challenges because of the rising costs and other financial issues, with some still being related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove many businesses into bankruptcy.

In fact, Microsoft, Google, and Meta are big names, but they, too, have started terminating thousands of employees due to the same reasons. In Hewlett Packard’s case, it is laying off some people as the sales of computers have slowed down and continue to decline. This situation started after the consumers’ buying spree for computers at the height of the pandemic since they were forced to stay at home.

“HP Inc. announced the fiscal year 2023 Future Ready Transformation plan, driving significant structural cost savings through digital transformation, portfolio optimization, and operational efficiency,” HP said in a press release for its fiscal 2022 full year and fourth quarter results report where it also announced an increase in dividend and its transformation plans.

Hewlett Packard further stated, “The company estimates that it will incur approximately $1.0 billion in labor and non-labor costs related to restructuring and other charges, with approximately $0.6 billion in fiscal 2023, and the rest split approximately equally between fiscal 2024 and 2025 and we expect to reduce gross global headcount by approximately 4,000-6,000 employees. These actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal 2025.”

Photo by: Mika Baumeister/Unsplash