Mark Hurd’s tenure as HP’s CEO continues to raise a passionate response. It’s almost one year since I wrote my original post about HP under Mark Hurd called HP Pay Cuts – an unfair act of economic opportunism and greed so with that, and approximately 1300 comments later, I think its fitting to round out the conversation with a look at HP’s SEC filing for 2009.
I have no intention of continuing to write about HP or Mark Hurd from this point on, all I’ve wanted to say has been said in previous articles, and I want to write about more interesting subjects. The HP, Mark Hurd situation is not an isolated issue, it’s symptomatic of a bigger problem with Corporations in general, and it will take a lot more than a few blogs from me to make any difference.
Lets have a look at the salient points of the SEC filing.
- Mark Hurd, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President (the guy that makes the decisions, approves them and, supposedly, keeps them honest, all rolled into one), earned total compensation of $32, 332, 527 in 2009. When you look at it further it’s interesting to note this includes over $400,000 for 401k company matching, personal use of HP’s corporate jet, and security. Update: Also check out
- Catherine Lesjak, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, earned total compensation of $7,585,775, including over $200,000 in 401k matching, security, and personal use of the HP Corporate Jet.
- Ann Livermore, Executive Vice President, HP Enterprise Business, took home $13,424,406 in including around $184,000 in 401k matching, security and personal use of the corporate jet.
- R. Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President, Personal Systems Group, $12,538,329 in his personal coffers including about $248,000 in 401k matching, relocation expenses, personal use of the company jet, and security.
- Vyomesh I. Joshi, Executive Vice President, Imaging and Printing Group, a package of $11,644,691 including $183,000 odd of 401k matching, security services and use of the corporate jet.
Update: Mark Hurd also cashed in aproximately $11m in share options during 2009, check out Yahoo Finance HPQ Insider Transactions for the specifics. (thanks to a comenter on this post).
There we have it, Mark Hurd and four other people in HP took home $75,525,728 in 2009. Admittedly it was significantly less than the previous year, but if you consider the circumstances, and what they stooped to to “earn” it, it’s still questionable, which ever way you slice and dice it.
I invite you to read the SEC filing, it makes interesting reading in terms of the executive compensation in HP’s peer group of companies, and the “performance” based compensation scheme.
When I look at it I can’t see any real top line “performance” at all, just, in my opinion, a company that’s exploiting it’s employees, compromising Customer service through its best shoring program, and that has sold out on it’s corporate values, all for the sake of putting shareholders first.
I think it’s only a matter of time before people more significant than me start asking Mark Hurd hard questions about real growth, rather than the illusion caused by acquiring and consuming other companies. In the meantime we, as consumers and/or employees can vote with the two most tangible things we have, our labor, and our chequebooks.
Secured by
More than a year on from your comments things are worse at HP. Similar executive suite pay, perk and bene packages are ravaging cash flow. Moreover, as new executives arrive from parts unknown they take a look at what’s available to grab up, scam or grift and attach on to it.
This is a company in grave, _grave_, _GRAVE_ decline. The company, board and management ranks have lost their center on keeping the company and its businesses upright and are grabbing giftbags as they race to the exits.
Sorry Bill.
Sorry Dave.
Many, many of us are really just sorry we allowed your ideal to be sold out, whored out and enslaved to pigs.
Yeah, it’s sad really isn’t it. When you delve into the nature of corporate America, things like the origins of the global financial crisis, and the fundamental bribery and corruption passed off to the public as democracy in that country, then it’s not that surprising.
Randy Mott’s gone and not a minute too soon.
I can’t wait to see how many of his ass licking cronies join him under his next rock. The damage in HP is deep, so deep that I think the company will be in real trouble. Apotheker will get the blame, but the real blame for the demise of HP will be the likes of Mark
Hurd, Randy Mott, Gary Budzinski and others.
This is a stock I’d avoid and a company I wouldn’t recommend joining.
Here is what HP employees should do:
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/careers/3294613/hp-workers-at-dwp-to-carry-out-industrial-action/
Form a union to protect your interests and refuse to train your Indian replacements.
I hear Leo is emulating Dark Turd by laying off thousands of more HP employees. Will the layoffs never end?
http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/ten-catastrophes-all-time-worst-tech-industry-executive-decisions/6291907?tag=nl.e101
Looks like HP made it three times on the above list of worst all time tech executive decisions. Lew Platt/Carly Fiorin/Mark Hurd, hand your head in shame.
HP is really the best company and it is rocking.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/324/693/The_10_Greediest_People_of_2010_-_Blankfein_Makes_The_List.html
Hurd makes it to number 3 on the above list.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2010/12/21/hurd_sec/
It looks like Hurd might be in more hot water. Apparently Jodie Fisher claims that Hurd told her of the impending EDS takeover. SEC is investigating that one. It would be nice if something actually sticks to Hurd. He has been the teflon man with regard to other scandals (such as the bugging of the HP board of directors).
Well after all the ballyhoo that HP was giving employees raises this year, my raise amounted to a whopping 140.00 for next year. Minus taxes, I think there is enough money to go to Village Inn and get half a tank of gas. Woo Hoo.
First of all, I would like to state that I have been rated as a ‘key’ contributor for the past 5 years here at HP.
Leo promised me to return the 5% they took away 2 years ago, and that will start in Feb (2nd quarter of the current year). However when a got my review, they said a 5% raise… That relates to a 4.75% return, and with the .15% from 4 years ago, I have worked here for a net loss if .1% ( YES .1% loss ) less the costs of inflation and raising insurance contributions.
I agree with the statement earlier about where your head would have to be, and “mentoring” is a joke as there is no formal program and nobody willing to take on the extra work that may impact my position here at HP.
This may be partially due to HP not accepting my degree, as the school it was issues by is not not in existance.
Oh Well… I heard that 85% of all employees in teh work force will be looking for jobs as soon as the economy turnes, so I am in good company
I hate to throw a spanner in the works but I get concerned when I hear that people are siting and waiting for the economy to improve. (Assuming you are in the USA)
When I hear that coming from people in the US, I get the sense that you’re buying into the illusion, created by the corporate owned news media and corporate owned government (both parties) that all the problems that beset the economy and caused the GFC have been resolved when in fact they haven’t. The very same people and organizations that caused the problem are continuing business as usual. In fact the US have just today handed the keys to congress back to the very party responsible for causing the deregulation mess the resulted in the situation you are in now. It can only get worse.
Thinking that the USA will somehow miraculously get back to the halcyon days of manufacturing supremacy completely ignores the fact that the basis of that supremacy was the rest of the world was completely destroyed during WW2 – handing the US a major advantage that lasted for 50-60 years. That advantage has well and truly gone and been surpassed by superior technology, significantly better efficiency, lower cost, and governments that invest in their people and infrastructure rather than wage pointless and expensive wars in countries they have no business occupying. How can it get better for you in the US?
The way I see it is that unless you change the very nature of your government, eliminate private funding for election campaigns replacing it with public funding only, and actually replace the personnel themselves, you are screwed.
Additionally, if you are sitting in the stands rather then playing on the political court you will simply be ignored – get involved.
For more interesting reading on this subject read Matt Taibbi’s book “Griftopia” to get a better sense of what I’m talking about.
EDS was always regarded as all front and no substance when it came to employees. It promised much: raises, training, promotions etc. but in fact, unless you had your head up your bosses (I deliberately dont use the word ‘leader’) ass you would not receive any of these. Whenever I put someone forward for a raise, the question I was asked was “If we dont give them one, will they quit?”, another was ‘Can we defer this?’. Another myth was the salary ranges attached to job performance. If you were below the range, the range was only for guidance; if you were above the range or toward the top, the range became cast in bedrock. One year you didnt receive a raise but were promised a good bonus, when this didnt arrive, you were informed that next year you would get a good raise, then this process would repeat. Truth is that if you networked, groomed a mentor etc. you could do ok, but it wasnt a meritocracy. You had to shmoozle your way up the ladder. It was an organization encompassing fear, lying, bullying but almost never rewarding.
Most employees actually detest the management. They are forced into social situations outside of work, but really this is forced. Once customers get past the initial selling of the I T Services, they quickly find out that promising and delivering are two seperate entities. But that the contracts will protect EDS in all but the most outrageous of breaches. Frankly, I cant fathom why a decent company would do any business with EDS. The employees of EDS also find out that as a result of having EDS on their resumes, their options become limited in terms of moving on. Unless you are desperate for a job/paycheque, dont get sucked in.
Damian, Maybe you can add a new post about how HP is ripping off its employees in healthcare benefits. HP is considered self-insured, so even though the offer benefits from big names in health insurance, like Aetna and Blue Cross, those are only “contracts” with those companies to manage the claims. These companies are not actually who covers the employees. Ultimately, it is HP who pays the bill–and we know they will do everything they can to save a penny. One of the latest healthcare reforms that took effect on September 23, was that dependent children must be covered regardless of their student status up to age 26, and the policyholder can’t be charged more for the age of the dependent. However, HP is waiting until open enrollment to have this take effect. So essentially if an employee’s child graduates or takes a break in their education they are dropped by HP immediately and have to take COBRA benefits instead until open enrollment. This has to be saving HP millions of dollars in healthcare expenses. Just another stab in the back for the people employed at HP. If they question at all if your child is a student they will demand proof. The also monitor ALL calls to the HR Benefits line–so that someone can’t even say they want that option turned off. Is this even legal? They listen in regardless of your preference. And you have to say who you are or the call won’t go through, so no anonymous calls with simple questions. Arghh…. I hate HP!
HP’s latest gib is to offer us deals on equipment, the prices are not too much different to what you would find in any good IT retailer anyway, also offering their e-awards system to managers which is way behind par – The employees don’t care, we want money and pay increases not effing product. Product doesn’t pay the grocery bills, Money does!
The amount of emails we have had over the last few months about the billions of dollars in business they have won and yet we see nothing
In the UK we also have discounts from other companies like Costco, Panasonic, etc. If you look on the internet all these ‘HP discounts’ can be equalled if not bettered. The execs think we are all idiots.
Ah, VoW…it may be a voice but management only hear what they want to hear, then emphasise the positives and ‘cherry pick’ the easy stuff from the rest so they can say ‘we listened, here’s how we responded’ whilst resolutely ignoring the elephant in the room.
How to improve morale at HP? Start with a pay rise for the rank and file…it wouldn’t have to be much; even 2% would help. Perhaps a couple of the senior exec could forgo a bonus this year to fund it.
I came across this web site:
http://hpphenom.blogspot.com/2010/08/holy-mackeral.html
which claims that the latest VOW (Voice of the Workforce) survey done last April shows that 2/3 of HP’s workforce would leave in an instant if they could find a job with comparable salary/benefits.
I was let go a few years ago and I recall always ticking off yes when it came to that question. I forget what percentage of people back then would leave HP for the same salary/benefits but I know it was quite high.
Most decent companies would be aghast at such an incredibly high number, but not HP. How can any company go anywhere with such a massive morale problem? I recall talking to fellow HP employees in two different countries and everyone of them told me that they wished the high tech industry would pick up so they could leave HP.
We all know that the “HP Way” has been dead for some time but know HP has lost its way. I have no idea how anyone could possible do anything to improve morale at HP (perhaps HP employees could organize themselves and form a union to protect their interests).
I’d say extremely naive. When you consider that nothing, no decision, ever stopped Mark Hurd from reducing the workforce, or moving it offshore.
What ideas?
“..these decisions make the difference at the end of the month and prevent you to reduce the work force of the company”.
Extremely short sighted. Great business man? His ideas will keep HP in the top Fortune 100 ? Are you serious ?
Everything CH says is true. Any old EDSer could write almost the same story. I left EDS in 2000 for the other 3-letter company, I Been Moved, for what I thought were greener pastures. After seven years with NO raises or bonuses I had enough and came back to EDS, who gleefully took me back. It’s been another four years of NO raises or bonuses, despite being a technical leader, the go-to person to get the work done. And in the end a wonderful 5 percent decrease in pay just to pay the likes of the Dark Turd who did nothing to increase business(not counting buying EDS), but to simply cut people and salaries to show a profit while skimming off the top and riding the backs of all the people in the trenches. All this while HP is in the midst of cutting 9,000 more people and building new datacenters off shore. While the costs may be cheaper, the service provided will tank due to the lack of experience. Ross Perot started EDS with $1,000. If we get enough people together with a spare $10.00, perhaps we could build a new EDS… but then, who has a spare $10.00 today?
this is the Gary Budzinski video i find online. Where he talks about monitor who does and who does not take pay cut outside USA. I think this is against the law, no? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmK8qfd4lSs
My experience with EDS tells me that very few senior managers could stand by their expense statements if an independent review were conducted over the past year. With frozen salaries, the expense system has been used to top up salaries for many years. What I find hypocritical is that the likes of Hurd and Dick Brown can be the hypocrites they are, have the awful reputations they have, destroy morale and customer confidence as they both have, and yet receive huge payoffs when they are asked to leave. If an employee was caught stealing from expenses, they sure wouldnt be getting generous hand shakes to leave. A real poke in the eye for employees.
This is great news. It is also further proof of the ridiculous concept of pay for performance. We all have seen instance after instance of execs that fail (let alone lie and steal!) get paid. It is a bit ridiculous. Is it a big surprise that Hurd screwed employees over in his tenure? He betrayed his wife and kids and probably could care less. He is entitled you know…
I foolishly (in hindsight) left a job at a University for EDS in early 2001. I had dollar signs in my eyes and figured I had to give the “corporate” world a try. Shortly after I arrived the pay increase freezes started. I recall sitting in a meeting with my manager and receiving my perpetual “meets expectations” rating. I asked her what I needed to do to be rated higher. I feigned interest while she gave me some canned BS answer. I then told her that as far as I was concerned I would always be “meets expectations”. I said that I have good skills and already work as much as I was going to work. She looked kind of surprised and just said 'OK'. BTW, she was a terrible manager. She managed through fear and intimidation mostly. If someone had a good idea they automatically owned it. There was no consideration to their current workload or if it fit their skills. I and others stopped raising our hands when they had a good idea and a full plate. This management technique is a sure way to stifle creativity and it did. We all thought things were bad at EDS compensation wise from 2001-2008. The takeover of EDS in 2008 by HP made the EDS days seem like utopia. The pay/benefit/workforce cuts were/are constant. The one I found most amusing was the freezing of the EDS retirement benefit. It was replaced with a more generous 401k match that was highly touted by management. The 401k policy was promptly changed only a few months later to not be a guaranteed amount. It is dependent on company performance. This also allows them to not pay out until the end of the quarter once a decision is made on performance. I figured the next step would be to make regular pay variable based on company performance. I/We did get the 5% cut and others got much more of a cut due to a re-classification to HP job bands. I know of an individual whose pay was severely cut because they went from a tech band to a non-tech band. A few months later they were moved to a technical position because it was in the best interest of the project. Of course, no pay increase for doing a technical job. The erosion of benefits will continue I'm sure.
Good news is that I was able to work with some great people over the years. The manager I had most of those years is a great person and manager. The better news is that I am now back at work at the University I left in 2001. My “old job” opened up and I interviewed well and was re-hired. I make much less but EVRYTHING ELSE is much better. From the benefits to actually working with people face to face it is much more pleasant. I know I will not be let go so the CEO can make his numbers this quarter and get a bigger bonus. If I get let go, it will be because there is just not the money to pay my salary after all options are exhausted. I can live a lot easier with that reality. Funny, I goto work at 6:00-6:30 and leave after 5:00 generally these days. Putting more time in at work than I have in years. FOR LESS MONEY! I guess I should thank EDS and especially HP. You've reinforced what is really important to me. Making a living and enjoying it. Feeling like I'm contributing to the community and not just execs bonuses.
Later and thanks to listening to my disjointed thoughts.
Are you the whore who slept with him? Give me a break! “…a great business man….” How can you justify his compensation package while at the same time laying off thousands of employees? Jackass!
I agree with Jim. Mark Hurd should be facing criminal prosecution at request of HP's board and top management, not receiving any money for severance from HP. If the HP board has a conflict of interest in prosecution, then my question is “why?” HP shareholders (which I am one) are disgusted. Bottom line this company and board needs to shape up and quit pandering to executives like Mark Hurd who break the law (covering up, watering down, and dismissing their transgressions).
Hurd should be prosecuted. He stole from the company and stockholders.
He should be shot.
There's a big difference between 'cutting costs' and shutting down buildings, making people work from home, pay for their own Internet, telephone, paper,pencils.
Also, there was NO 'intelligence' on the cost cutting, merely a %.
We cut,cut ,cut until our CUSTOMERS tell us – we're tired of this – you need
to hire some more people…or we're walking
I understand your point, but my opinion is that if you look around you'll find that the world is in quite a mess because of “execs” doing their “job” and that it would be a sign of a maturing civilisation if some philanthropy, especially towards employees and communities, was added to the job description.
DS: I beg to differ. I think you're confusing between running a business and philanthropy. The way a “founder” of a business (and their motivations) looks at business is way different from the way “execs” look at it. Execs are hired to raise the company valuation and carve a growth trajectory – thats it! It is their “job” to cut costs, drive efficiencies and all of these changes are governed by the body of laws/rules created within, like the SBC. The BoD is the governing body – if all is going well. If CEO's action is found to be incorrect, IMHO, the BoD is at fault too. The need to reduce salaries is one such measure. It is naive to think that Mark would have sat down and arrived at all that takes place in HP, as a policy.
I do not concur with you on the high HP stock price of early 2000's, since that is the only time, before Mark, when HP price has been close to what you're talking about. We all know it was the “boom” time and I would not credit it to any single person being responsible for it. Again, in my opinion, a naive thought.
Lastly, being a business owner and being HP are two starkly different things.
C'mon Damian. As Wall Street has shown us (and showbiz and politics, don't get me started…) being rich exonerates liars, cheaters, hypocrites and criminals.
I'll give Joey DH credit that Hurd sure knows how to play cutthroat CEO however. I'm sure we'll see his special brand of “uncompromising integrity” at another company really soon.
Being a cut throat CEO is not the same as being a crook. He was a crook. But there are many ways to be a crook. Lying to employees about rewards, fiddling the figures to get bonuses and stock options from the Board, fiddling the expenses, a moral crook does the dirty on his family. Pity Hurd left really, with all of these traits, he would have fitted in with EDS Senior Management. My experience of them was that did all of the above, either at the same time, or individually. Something has really gone wrong when people with their morals, sleaze level and lack of integrity can do so well financially. Unfortuneatly, HP and EDS have awful reputations in their dealings with people, both staff and customers. I know many EDS and HP staff and without exception, their feelings about their employer is very negative. If not for the current economic climate, they would search for another position. Most of them have taken up cruising in their jobs, doing as little as possible, enough to keep out of serious trouble, but not enough to contribute to the success of the company. It is a pity when good people are beaten into this mindset.
The Management, starting from the CE and CDE level up stinks.
That's just a complete and utter cop out. As a business owner I can tell you that you don't have to achieve your goals by shafting people, the money he payed himself could have underwritten the need to reduce salaries.
At a time when the world is rapidly demanding capitalism with ethics and a social conscience – and America is paying the price of it being non existent – we're looking for a change from the likes of Mark Hurd, great deals or not.
HP has always been in the Top Fortune 100 list, but it's has yet to come anywhere near close the the share price is attained when the HP way was alive and well.
As awesome as the news is his replacement may very well be another slimy soulless gelatinous mass squeezed from the same Ivy League mold that's been ruining the world for years.
Despite that, I still left work with a smile. Eat a bowl of dicks Mr. Hurd.
Mark is a great business man who made great deals for HP. Sometimes is hard to understand why he reduced the employee's compensation plans, but as a company 's owner I can tell you these decisions make the difference at the end of the month and prevent you to reduce the work force of the company.(Which people don't realize during hard times).
His ideas will keep HP in the top Fortune 100 companies during a long time.
I'm still trying to understand the Palm acquisition.
The king is dead, long live the king…
So if I were to violate the Standards of Business Conduct, do you think I would get a $12M severance? Nope, I'd be shown the door in about 12ms…
Looks like someone has just asked Mark Hurd a few hard questions he couldnt answer. There are going to be alot of HP employees celebrating tonight after his resignation on the back of some very dubious goings on.
HP CEO Hurd resigns after sexual-harassment probe!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100806/ap_on_hi_te…
Oh happy day! The rat revealed himself for what he truly is. About time. Don't let the door hit you in the arse. The era of Mark Hurd ends.
and now Hurd has moved on, for some undisclosed breach of company policy, including improper expense reporting. aww shucks.
Guy Mark is now investigated for sexual harrasment, Greedy B…..
And the Rejoicing begins!!!!!
BYE HURD!!!!
DING DONG, IT'S ME, KARMA, AND I'M ONE BIG ASS BITCH
Mr Hurd is gone….
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/pe…
Good news, Hurd is stepping down as CEO! Just came across the WSJ newswire.
OK, a question for any managers on here. I have been on LTD (in the US) for almost 2 years, still hoping to go back to work. I got a letter that in September they are going to terminate me, because it's their policy to do that after you are on LTD for 2 years. Do they then owe me severance? Sucks losing my life insurance, etc.
I worked at HP for a year, and that was all I could take.
I can safely say that all the head honchos and big guys are the ones happy at HP now, while the engineers/developers/consultants doing the real work are disgruntled. No hikes for 2-3 years, handing out promotions to “recognise efforts” (this only means more work, more stress, yet no monetary increase in compensation), cancelling of e-awards (monetary rewards for outstanding performance).
Don't join HP, at any cost. Maybe under another CEO who cares more about the heart of the company (its workforce) that its revenue, but definitely not under this administration.
I too know about a department (the HP Certification Group) where their charter was changed from giving true accreditations to being test givers, and moved to a training department role, under a reorganized. They lost 50% of the people, and of the remaining people, they were working for a 30~50% pay cut….
As a former employee whom resigned for another company whom offered a 10% raise when they decided to take me in March 2009, it was the best decision that I made. My new employer recognized my contribution to my new company and they have me a good raise more than whatever measly % that HP gave all my 5 years there.
I am so damm thrilled and I am so happy that I took the risk and step out to see a better future.
Yes, the flow on effect of Mark Hurd's actions and the implication to the economic stability of the Country and States that actually allowed a Company like HP to develop grow and prosper are astounding.
What's even more astounding is that Mark Hurd's still operating behind, but completely contrary to, the values set by the original founders of HP, who did understand their obligations to society as a whole.
I sometimes think “well that's business” but frankly I don't buy it. Mark Hurd's is either doing what he believes is best for HP shareholders and in the only way he knows, or he's a willing participant in something more sinister, especially if you are middle class.
I've always intimated that Mark Hurd is symptomatic of a much bigger problem, one that we can overcome by our sheer weight of numbers, and buying power.
The issue is illustrated, or at least presented in a challenging way, in movies like Zeitgheist http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ .
Question is, will you take the red pill, or the blue pill?
I have resounding faith in human nature but a fear that we are being manipulated by a bunch of vipers and thieves.
As a former employee who resigned as a result of digust, I agree. Again, like you I have my personal opinions. There was a time when employees shared by means of profit sharing and performance pay. The last good raise I received was in 1999 at greater than 45o dollars per month. From 2oo0 to 2008 my increase in wages was less than 100 dollars. The result of offshoring of many jobs has resulted in the loss of tax revenues for ferderal as well as local governments and the displacement of many former hper's who have not been able to contribute to local tax revenues. Additionally, many have not been able to find equivillant levels of income. The end result has been a disruption and an added financial burden to federal and local programs as a result of losss sources of revenues to support government programs.
More can be said about employee morale at HP, the former HP way and more. May the former HP, Bill and Dave rest in pease.
It's confirmed. Three engineers in the Midwest area that we know of for sure. Personally I'd be contacting a good attorney if they tried to pull it on me, but they did do it. I don't know about the toilet cleaning but at this point I wouldn't put anything beyond them.
That happened to a few people I know several years ago. Had to take a drop in job title and a big pay cut. The employees was doing exactly the same job as before.
You'd need to make you you have all the facts as you can be sure to be confronted by all that “uncompromising integrity” should you choose to do so.
I honestly think the possibility of insider trading should be looked into and taken very seriously, if anything to show the public that Mark Hurd is not [acting in accordance with HP's values].
I'm very tempted to file a complaint with the SEC, especially as it was brought to my attention this morning that Hurd has already been investigated for insider trading previously.
Is this really true? Can they do that? So if they offer you a job cleaning toilets for $5 an hour you either take it or lose severance?
Well here's a new low that they've sunk to. We had some service engineers notified that they either take a less senior level engineer position with a significant pay cut or they are done with the company, and since they “offered” them a job if they turn it down they don't qualify for severance pay. What next? Nail knee caps to the floor? So much for their “ethics”.
HP announced another planned 9000 job cuts this morning. Well done Hurd, that should help the non-existent morale that the employees currently share…
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10770871/1/hewle…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/01/hp_9000…
Looks like another 9000 HP employees thrown under the wheels of the Mark Hurd bus.
Yeah. Unethical. HP is being investigated in a few countries.
My HP paycheck is consistent to the cent, period after period. But, on 3/31, I was paid one cent less. The next month I was paid one cent more. Then it was back to the usual.
So they keep one red cent owed me, and likely from all other employees as well, to inflate profit at the end of the quarter. It's not much, admittedly. But do a bunch of these things and the execs get to pocket more cash for their even better performance.
Interested to note that prior to the end of Q2, 7 senior execs sold off 43000 shares at the price of $51.97 and earned a total of $2.2M.
After Q2 results was announced on 18 May, HP share price is now $46.79.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=HPQ+Insider+Tra…
Coincedence or insider trading … you figure out …..
Some interesting reviews of working for HP here: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Hewlett-Packar…
The word needs to be spread of what an unethical man Mark Hurd is (I use the term 'man' loosely – he barely counts as a human being in my opinion!).
And now they are buying Palm with cash – where the hell is the money for Jo Bloggs HP worker, you greedy evil HP
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sale-of-palm-looking-tougher-2010-04-29?reflink=MW_news_stmp
If WFR'd from HP… then you need to look at your last paycheck to see if HP incorrectly collected money for a full health insurance premium.
An employee's health insurance ends the date of termination, so if you were billed for insurance beyond your termination date by HP deduction on a final check…then HP collected money that is yours.
This problem can be further compounded if an employee continues insurance via COBRA program, when employee is billed for same timeframe (in essence you are then charged twice). First COBRA payment back-dates insurance coverage to day immediately following your termination date.
A number of WFR'd employees have/are discovering HP took the usual HP deduction for health premium on their last HP paycheck (which is often not even full pay period); collecting money for insurance services that the employee does not have access to post termination date.
Despite awareness of problem (from prior and current employee requests and other contacts), to my knowledge HP is not proactively returning money they owe former employees. In my case, I learned you have to ask and I am still waiting for money in my case. HP is taking their time in a number of cases to get money back.
Employees have rights though…
In California, the Department of Labor wage laws require all companies (including HP) to pay out all wages, commissions, bonuses, etc. within 48 hours of an employees termination date when firing/laying employee off and no longer than 72 hours for an employee who voluntarily quits.
In the case of health premiums being collected when they should not be, the CA DOL advised me wage law regarding “unauthorized deductions” and “waiting time penalties” potentially would apply to HP.
CA employees who have not been paid in full, can file a wage claim with the department of labor at :Http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/HowToFileWageClaim.htm.
Other states may have similar laws to protect employees…
A new survey from Bloomberg shows HP plummeting in a survey of the 50 most Innovative companies. HP went from 7th to 16th, with Apple top, Google second followed by Microsoft and IBM. LG electronics soared from 27th to 7th. I can tell you that as an R&D engineer in HP, this does not surprise me at all. HP is beginning to see the results of all of the cost cutting they are doing. See http://seekingalpha.com/article/199450-u-s-wani…
Seems CEO's and Politicians need the gift of selective memory eh?
More Carly news:
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100416/ttc-russi…
I seem to recall that both Lucent and Nortel engaged in fiscal shenanigans which I think was called “stuffing the channel”. They would get multi year contracts but make it look like the entire contract was booked for that quarter instead of spreading it out of the number of years of the contract (which would make the quarter look really good and make for bonuses for management). Carly was VP of Sales for Lucent prior to leaving for HP. Soon after she left, there was a big scandal at Lucent and their competitor Nortel regard “channel stuffing”. Carly denied that she knew anything was going on (despite being VP of Sales at the time for Lucent, like how could show not know).
I seem to recall Mark Hurd also getting a similar case of amnesia regarding the bugging of certain members of the board of directors. He aslo denied having any knowledge of the matter as well.
It looks like the people at the top are teflon coated, nothing sticks to them.
…and they call that 'uncompromising integrity'…
Dave – Two weeks after I turned fifty, I was put in the HP restructuring program. I’m now in the 4th week of the “Redeployment” phase where I can still apply for jobs internally. What is interesting is that the redeployed have to use a separate job search website which supposedly gets your resume/info to hiring managers poste haste. That website is outsourced, not user friendly, slow, and crashes multiple times during the day. I could only view about five or six jobs a day (out of over seven thousand) due to the crashes. It does not seem to be supported by HP IT so the problem remains unresolved. I applied for three positions, and have not had any type of response or acknowledgement. Kind of a slippery deal.
After the fourth week, you can continue employment/benefits for five weeks thru the Job Search/Salary Continuation phase. This is basically part of the severance-instead of giving you a lump sum, HP stretches the pay out five weeks. You can choose to take your severance payout immediately instead of entering into this five week phase, however you lose your benefits, and it can take up to 30 days to receive your final payout.
I would like to chat with you, I am 46 and was recently terminated flatly (after a 30 day PIP). I was replaced by someone 10 years younger, I was given no severance and only a few hours of accured vacation time. I do feel wronged, and that I was victim of new management.
I'd never heard of this Magazine before, I understand from an earlier comment that the criteria used was pretty superficial. It doesn't take much to raise some very contradictory evidence to show that there has to be some corporate spin doctoring going on here.
Hi Damian,
Your blog and others are definitely getting to Hurd. This week we have the biggest lie yet. Hurd himself sends all HP an email about how HP gained the No. 1 spot in Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 11th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List.
I quote “as a result of its scores in seven criteria categories: environment, climate change, human rights, philanthropy, employee relations, financial and corporate governance”.
HP isn't a company any more. It's the cult of Mark Hurd.
And believe it or not software support managers have a quota to “I” rate a certain percent of their employees no matter how good their performance is and they base it on stats gathered from a certain software. Which follows an obscure metric called “customer satisfaction” that is not objective by any means. Thus it has been deemed a violation of the Standards of Business Conduct however it is a wide practice to rate support engineers based on those metrics. This company is simply obscene.
Well, Hurd made the 4th on the highest paid list for 2009.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/news/1004/g…
And, it seems that he is planning to reinstate the stolen pay in 2010 based on an interview in Jan 2010…funny, there is not a mention of this internally!
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2010/01/1…
You have it wrong, and the internal HR person said “We have already adjusted salaries in critical markets, and I think the company have been perfectly clear that the 5% reduction will not be returned.”
Hurd the Turd finally RIF'ed me with over 20+ years in the company. Needless to say HP is a real crap hole of a company now. All management cares about is themselves and not the workforce. Really sad to see this happen. My guess in a few years Hurd will sell the company to some Chinese outfit after he drives it into a hole and walks away with $100's of millions.
One thing I have learned over the years is how to treat people and to run a business with integrity and ethics, which Hurd has none of.
I work for a small company and was just terminated because I refused to go to China to outsource for them. After 45 trips to Asia, I'd had enough. I “early” retired from HP in 2005 and clearly received a better package than WFR. I left the company because I could see those around me losing jobs in droves to China. I wouldn't go back to HP under any circumstance, even though I could as a retiree. Besides, the dirty little secret is that HP doesn't hire anybody over 50 anyway. We're to expensive, “medically”. When the economy improves, get out before you are thrown out. You are just a piece of meat to HP.
My workmates and I crack up whenever we get one of those “Let's Do Amazing” emails. They really are truly awful, full of David Brent-style mock enthusiasm and virtual corporate fist-pumping.
Here's a message for the person who came up with the campaign: nobody in HP cares about your silly slogans or false company zeal.
The tragedy is that it cost so much money. Interesting that there is still a freeze on all pay, but HP is sponsoring the Cannes Film Festival and blowing 40 million bucks on rubbish sloganeering.
$40m for three words that don't even make grammatical sense? Wow…!
People are asking 'Let's Do Amazing WHAT?' and 'shouldn't it be 'Let's Do AmazingLY?'
The 'no rehire without EC approval' seems very draconian, but not surprising…
Good feedback, my experience – which comes from a blissful two years out of HP now – is that all headcount requests require executive council approval.
My opinion is that the above policy is a deliberate strategy to rid HP of any remnants of the 'HP Way' – people who remember what HP was like when it was run by ethical people. My position has always been that taking such action while continuing to assert on your corporate website that the HP Way is no different now than it was when Bill and Dave were around is simply dishonest and should be questioned vigorously.
Nope, I haven't heard of such a thing ever happening. I am pleased to report that I too am now off through the WFR scheme. The brain-drain from the company is continuing at quite a pace. I was also quite aghast that this “Let's Do Amazing” campaign cost 40 million dollars. That's obscene in itself. Anyway, good luck to those who remain ….
HP's version of checkmate!
I was told in writing by HP HR in response to very specific questions I submitted on this matter that “HP Executive Council approval would be required in order for me to be rehired by HP”.
Specifically, HP HR affirmed that HP Executive council approval would be required in order for me to be rehired to HP whether I quit HP “prior to” entering the official redeployment phase or entered into the redeployment period. HP HR also confirmed that HP Executive council approval would also be required in order for me to be rehired to HP whether I received only redeployment pay (and not WFR pay) and/or whether or not I signed the general release and waiver.
Despite my attempts to find employment within HP during the “redeployment window”, I did not receive an offer of employment within HP during that time. I also do not know anyone who found a new role within HP during their redeployment phase.
In contrast, I am aware of another employee who reported they had a verbal offer for another role within HP, only for HP HR to find a means to kill this opportunity for them…blocking them from be able to execute on the HP job offer during the redeployment window and later WFR timeframe.
I was also told HP considers WFR pay “severance” pay. This label is significant to HP policies that denote employees who have accepted severance pay.
My recommendation is anyone unsure about current practice or policy that would apply to their specific case, should submit their questions in writing to HP HR for official response. Employees with access to HP policies can also view them online.
Finally, HP's requirement for executive council approval to rehire former employees in my opinion is not in the best interest of HP shareholders either (which I and many other former HP employees hold shares). The above practice and underlying policy seems to assume the employment pool and talent are of an equal and endless supply…which is not the case. Employees who have worked hard to drive HP's success should be valued and not thrown out or dismissed from the possibility of future contributions to a company, particularly as they gain expertise and talent in this field. HP would be wise to rethink this practice and not turn their nose and backs to employees who have helped bring success to HP over the years. Doing less raises some serious questions in my mind about HP.
Good luck!
The other question is does anyone know of any person who was actually re-deployed at this stage?
In short, are you saying that even if you are in the redeployment phase prior to exiting the company due to WFR, you will not be able to get a job without executive council approval? Even when you have not actually exited the company and taken the severance package.
In a round about sort of way they're doing you a favor…
Having been impacted by HP redeployment/WFR – -here is what I learned:
You can only be rehired to HP, per HP official policy with executive council approval (go see HP policies online within HP to see it in writing). I was told by an HP executive in my unit, that this is Ann Livermore and that even if a HP hiring manager wanted to pursue hiring approval that required executive council approval, that their manager would not let them do it. I was also told in writing by HP HR contacts that this rehire policy would apply whether I quit prior to entering the official redeployment window or later found an HP opportunity during WFR phase. HP HR also explained this executive council approval – rehire policy applied once an employee entered WFR phase and applied regardless of whether you accepted severence pay or not. I think the picture is clear. Also good luck getting a job under the “redeployment” label. Employees I know – familiar with redeployment/WFR quickly realize that it is not HP's intent to allow this to happen.
I left HP with a VSI package in 2005. I’ve been contacted two times to see if I would like to return to the company but in both cases after the initial approach they came back and told me that I’m not eligible because of the package. In my case the term was limited to one year. So, don’t waste your time thinking about company that needs the executive council approval to do a simple hire.
Below are the categories what is based on by the magazine to award the Corporate Citizenship Leader award, it actually does not have actually anything to do with ethics, how the company treats the employees, business conduct, it is how it appears to the stakeholders, smoke and mirrors games, i.e, by lowering the expectations of customers and call centers, closing down and outsourcing thousand of jobs from the US to Costa Rica/India — they have satisified the first requirement: Becoming the company’s expert on social issues,(layoffs, jobs bill) and the changing expectations of external stakeholders (lowering the customer service expectations from HP)
Key responsibilities of the corporate citizenship leader:
Becoming the company’s expert on social issues, and the changing expectations of external stakeholders
Building strong trusting relationships with key external stakeholders (such as community groups, NGOs, policy makers, media, etc.)
Identifying risks and opportunities for the business based on stakeholder expectations and designing proactive mitigation and response strategies
Designing and implementing the company’s corporate citizenship strategies
Building consensus among senior leadership across the company to adopt new corporate citizenship policies and programs
Building trusting internal relationships and becoming the central point of contact and resident expert on decisions regarding social and environmental issues and impact on company stakeholders
Embedding corporate citizenship practices into all operations across organizational boundaries
Measuring and communicating corporate citizenship initiatives and activities related to the company’s corporate citizenship goals and performance
another shameful thing that HP is doing. This time round in China. Case of being being penny wise pound foolish? For me, I swear myself off anything with a HP on them
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Money/…
This non-rehire policy was put in place in 2007 and applies retroactively to anyone WFR'd or who accepted an early retirement package anytime in the company's history. There is an exception, you can be rehired if it is personally approved by the executive council, which is made up of the executive VP's and the CEO. Good luck with that…
http://www.financialpost.com/news-sectors/story…
Check out the above link. WTF!!!
“America's 100 best corporate citizens”
“Hewlett-Packard, once tainted by a 2006 boardroom espionage case that brought down its chairman, today topped CRO magazine's annual list of America's 100 Best Corporate Citizens. The Palo Alto, Calif., tech giant beat out the other companies considered–those that make up the Russell 1000 large-cap index–because of its high rankings in categories like corporate governance, philanthropy and environmental impact.”
Obviously CRO Magazine (I have never heard of them) has not talked to any HP employees or read Damian's web site.
HP is a disgraceful and unethical company whose main goal is to screw its employees (I am a former HP employee with 30 years service). I am one of the 30-40,ooo middle class employees who jobs have been exported to third world countries by those self serving overpaid corporate pyschopaths, Carly Fiorini and Mark Hurd. HP has been screwing its employees for years. If somebody has any contacts with CRO magazine, get them to ask HP about its annual employee survey and let them see the results.
You're right about management. In all fairness they get little or no say in the matter, their job is to execute decisions made at the executive level.
It interests me with some of the comments on these posts suggesting that there's some sort of management collusion going on – there isn't.
Well, that's me soon outta HP – got another role with another company and a 20% base pay rise at the same time!
Now that the IT job market is picking up in the UK folk are leaving in their droves. Maybe if Hurd rewarded people properly, and looked after his staff a bit more, there might have been more goodwill in the employee/employer relationship. As things stand I don't know one single person in my dept. who wants to stay. Most are either looking for employment elsewhere or hanging on in there for the hope of a “package” being offered for them to walk. Alot of good people leaving right now and it'll only continue to snowball as the job market improves.
I feel slightly sorry for the management in the UK as it seems their hands are tied from above.
Good luck to everyone else in their attempts to escape!!!
I was referring to employees that have been WFR'ed and are no longer hireable no matter what. I'd be curious to see the legalese that justifies this, even if by some chance the WFR was through no fault of the employee. Of course that documentation may be included in the WFR istelf, so no, I don't really need to see it when I think about it.
They are an 'equal opportunity employer' only whilst they are recruiting and employing you; it lets them make all their diversity claims.
When they are getting rid of you it no longer applies; as long as they obey local laws they can pretty much do as they please.
I wonder how they can do that and yet still tout the company as being an “equal opportunity employer”. Maybe that only counts for round one.
so what if your current employment gets outsourced to HP or HP buy your company like they did 3Com, EDS, Compaq etc?
Sounds like unenforceable bollocks to me
Time for a joke…
http://news.printerinks.com/2010/03/hewlett-packard-top-corporate.html
the reason why I have lost faith in all media folks…
I think the limit for me was somewhat less, not that I'm likely to be working there again anyway, and thank God for that.
Time will come quickly for you when you realise that this is actually a good thing. You wont want to go back.
I seriously doubt whether those contracts would hold much sway in a court of law, but it depends on where you live. In Australia they would be laughed out of court if it ever got that far.
I receive my WFR package last week and one of the terms is that I can never be employed by any HP entity anywhere in the world forever and forever.
Can anyone comment if this is the same for those who left HP already? Seems like a restriction on trade and employment created by the Hurd administration. Wonder what kind of drugs they are feeding on to stop people from employment. Also is that legal?
One of my points has always been that Mark Hurd is acting out of integrity with HP's published corporate values, and those of the companies founders.
It's good to see that there are still people in the world who can run successful businesses, remain in integrity with their values, and treat their people with trust and respect.
The Randy part is the least of his problems. In the UK a Mott is the place where most of red blooded males put most effort into getting! For our Australian cousins it's perhaps more familiarly known as a “MapaTasi”
This week's press coverage of the Bob's Red Mill ownership succession is really a stark contrast with HP's leadership style. This is the blurb from Oregon Public Broadcasting (National Public Radio): http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OR_BUSIN…
As a victim of one of Hurd's blood lettings last year–which the media always happily spins as “shedding employees”, like the employees are some kind of corporate dander–this kind of positive example really casts an interesting light on Hurd in comparison. It makes perfect sense to me that employees who give their time, health and life force for the success of the company are innate stockholders too, but corporate law affords us no rights or security. Pity the employees when the board feels they don't owe us anything either.
At least someone in the media is beginning to smell a rat.
http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005382/hp…
Yeah, cracks me up, in Australia randy means horny, and not always in a good way, conjures up images of randy old buggers like Benny Hill and the cast of Carry On…movies, if you remember them. Yeughk!!!
Randy Mott is a hilarious moniker in Ireland where “Mott” is a much used slang word ( originally from the gaelic word “maith” ) and is an affectionate term for a girlfriend.
I just saw that HP's latest results show profit was up 13% to $3.5 billion. It makes me sick to think a pig like Mark Hurd can ruin people careers and even lives treating his employees the way he does.
I was going to say I don't know how he sleeps at night, but i'm guessing it's on a big pile of money that he's pretty much stealing off his employees year after year. Still a pay freeze, still redundancies, no recognition…yet he rubs it in our faces about the results.
This man needs exposing for the lowlife that he is, just abusing his position of power to make himself richer and richer.
Check out HP Share price on Yahoo Finance. Click on Insider Transactions on your left. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=HPQ
You'll be interested to know that MH made up for his drop in his 2009 compensation by selling off his options …. add up the amount since Nov 2009, $11M
What a post. Today as I sit in my new desk away from working for HP. It is one year since I resigned, in hindsight, that's the bestest decision I ever made.
Says it all really. There is no future for any of us in HP unless you are an egotistical, sycophantic bully.
Damian,
Don't underestimate the effect of this blog. 1300 answers is significant.
As for your recommendation, I don't like it as much. In many countries, not showing up to work puts the employee at fault, and therefore at risk. Actively searching for a job outside of HP is the better choice.
Here is another blog from someone who chose to leave HP, the creator of HP Integrity Virtual Machines, HP's enterprise virtualization solution for Itanium servers.
For those of us who are dying of suspense you could start here http://www.proletar.com/By-Employees/HP.html
I agree. You need to get on with your 'post HP' life and leave the rest of us
to figure it out for ourselves.
Hopefully someone will create a real blog for HP issues.
I'm aware of some others
but I don't want to publicize them yet.
So long and thanks for all the fish ! (Douglas Adams)
I own or use the following hp products:
New hp Pavillion Elite – random crashes and BSOD, won't boot for days at a time. Given the volume of discussion on the web, I am far from being the only one.
LaserJet 1022 – intermittent print issues, no fix in sight after 6 months of looking
Old ScanJet – works fine, but no hp driver updates so half the functionality I bought it for is lost
hp PhotoSmart – battery cover broken soon after purchase, known issue, no parts available. Focus issues.
Brand new work laptop – random BSOD, major boot errors
hp iPaq – innumerable problems and usability issues, one of the worst phones ever, imho
..oh, and a LaserJet II that is still going strong something like 15 years after it was produced.
I've had to help several friends escalate major support issues with hp products. Numerous colleagues don't buy hp because of reliability issues. I will no longer buy hp products, and now recommend my friends and family to not buy hp (this really hurts me as I used to be proud of hp, but I can't lie to these people).
At some point this is going to kill the company.
I don't know about the US but in the UK the name Randy Mott is comedy gold to anyone with a penchant for slang. And let's face it with UK industry going rapidly down the pan then profanity and sexual euphemism is the only thing that we still do well.
It's not worth $28m in gold but every time I see the name it does make me smile.
On a more somber note, last week a 26 year veteran of HP, who recently got laid off in Israel has committed suicide. Again Mark Hurd's long arms reach quite far accross the globe.
Yeah, I reported those mentioned in the SEC filing…scratch the surface and it gets even worse eh?
You missed Randy Mott's 2009 compensation which was over $28M USD.
I think there are several blogs already mentioned in the threads on this site, and I have three articles still open for comments and to continue the conversation.
But, heres the thing – and this is easy for me to suggest coming from a secure (relatively speaking) position – the kind of action that would make the world stand up and take notice is something completely unheralded, something more than making anonymous comments on some blog post, or even joining a union.
Imagine what a pulse it would cause in the VoW – which will be glossed over and made to look good anyway – if the company reached a tipping point where enough people simply decided not to turn up to work, ever again? A percentage big enough and with enough resolve to put the company out of business completely.
What would the historical effect of that be, what would the MBA textbooks say, what would the current executives legacy be?
Of course that would never happen – that's why Mark Hurd gets away with it.
Damian, a suggestion, (after speaking to many of my collegues) why not create a specific HP Blog, not associated with any article, I can see it becoming a real pulse on VoW
I would like to thank you for your posts Damien. Whilst Mark Hurd is still at HP he is damaged due in part to your blog. You have shown people that his behaviour should not be accepted as just 'business'.