Union damns HP job cuts The Unite union has damned HP for cutting close to a thousand jobs from its UK workforce. The union said the loss of 934 jobs contradicted the government's recent claims that public sector job losses would be offset by gains in the private sector. Unite predicted HP would cut another 1,000 UK jobs in the next financial as …
... with the public sector currently doing headless chicken impersonations (I'm currently on a public sector project and that's the impression I get) I doubt if anyone actually knows which projects will be canned, which scaled back and which will carry on regardless.
Therefore I would suggest that the 934 (a very precise number) was decided on a while back. All part of the ongoing HP cost restructuring (or continuous redundancy programme as it more accurately should be called).
That an axe will fall is undoubtedly true, whether that results in more than 934 redundancies - time alone will tell.
So hiring contractors is a big negative is it?
* The company doesn't pay for holidays and sickness for a contractor, so that money doesn't come off the bottom line and will be used in the profit sharing, pensions and whatever other "benefits" the permie staff member gets. Whereas if you hired another permie to do that same work (assuming that the permie was actually capable of it, and some aren't) then those costs get detracted from your earning potential.
* Your company doesn't HAVE to find work for the contractor. If the work goes away, so does the contractor. End of commitment. Whereas Mr Permie has to be found work, even unprofitable if need be.
* Contractors are usually very focussed and get on with their work, and won't be found wasting time doing things like performance evaluations and attending stupid meetings.
* No-one has to waste any time managing a contractors career or trying to justify how wonderful that 1% pay rise actually is. And some companies (HP/EDS amongst them) hand out a 10% take-it-or-leave-it reduction in the contractors payment terms. No unions playing silly beggars and threatening pointless strikes when that happens.
Gimme a contractor any day.
I have been an employee most of my life until I found myself laid off. Finding a job in the mainframe world at the time (and still is) pretty much impossible. On my last job they outsourced the entire IT staff to India. I left before it happened so it didn't affect me.
From an employee perceptive contractors are a PITA. They come in and do (usually a half ass job and leave generally not doing a decent job of documenting what they do when they were there). They tend to be ""yes" men and will offer to do things that are on the surface good but after they leave you find the time bombs that were known issues by all the regular employees and that is why they didn't want to do the assignment as it was a ball full of issues that will hit the fan and yes some times its political fall out that should have been looked at before taking on the project. The boss loves yes men, and he can always blame old Joe (the contractor). While that is true its the regular employee that has to step into the new alligator pit and try and get the mess straightened out.
From a contractor point its easy to step in and relieve some of the over worked employees. We can also point out issues and let the boss decide how he/she wants to handle it. I won't go into some of the issues I have stumbled on (and I do mean stumbled). I wasn't ordered or suggested to find items it is part of me that I like things that are accountable and just point out items that do not seem the norm. From another point we are low person on the totem pole (or not even on the pole). Example one place I worked offered a real good price for large monitor screens. It was about $300 cheaper than wholesale. I asked if I could be included and was told sorry you are not an employee. I was more mad because I had worked there for 5 months and I could have asked an employee to be a go between but I didn't. When the contract was up they asked me to stay and become an employee and I said thank but no thanks. I would have considered it if I had gotten a monitor (at the reduced price) but since you didn't think enough of me to extend a small courtesy I am not taking the job.
Yes a contractor I got to eat in the employee cafeteria and was able to park in the parking lot and got a cubicle but I was treated as less than an employee in other matters.
Frankly I do not care for being a contractor. Yes I know one that made $10,000.00 a day for my recommendation and told the company that I was doing what I was doing was needed. Hey he got $10K for what I was getting in a month.
Being an employee offers the opportunity to get a lot done relatively without boss's interference. It's the boss's boss that is always the issue.
Given the way we are being treated at the moment most of the ex-EDS staff would happily take redundancy. There is no long term future for anyone at HP Enterprise Services, whats the point in staying ?
How much longer will it be before they try sacking everyone and bringing them back on short term contracts ?
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