HP poised to slash more UK jobs

Vendor set to axe yet more employees as part of its ongoing cost-cutting measures

HP is planning to cull more of its UK workforce as part of what it terms its ‘multi-year productivity initiative’.

The firm announced last October that it would be cutting up to 7,500 jobs in EMEA, as part of a wider plan to trim 15 per cent of global headcount - as chief executive Meg Whitman pursues the company turnaround plan, but the vendor did say that some people would be ‘redeployed into new roles’.

In the UK, it was revealed back in December that over 1,100 roles were expected to go from Bracknell, Warrington and Sheffield, and the firm has today revealed that is has started consultation on a number of roles for Q2. But CRN understands the vendor is planning to axe additional UK jobs, believed in some reports to be in the hundreds.

In a statement sent to CRN, the firm said: “HP commenced consultation on January 30 in the UK regarding potential workforce changes for its second financial quarter and collective consultation meetings with the HP UK works council and trade unions will take place on the 4 and 6 February respectively.

It added: “The proposed UK workforce management plan is part of HP’s global multi-year productivity initiative that was announced on May 23, 2012, to address current market and business pressures in support of HP’s turnaround in EMEA.”

And the vendor stressed that it was trying to find alternative roles for as many affected employees as possible:

“HP remains committed to supporting the employability of its employees through a number of internal initiatives, including re-skilling, redeployment and support to obtain alternative employment as appropriate," the statement said.