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- toddbu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18What do you expect when the top dog is a total buffoon? From what I've heard, morale was at an all time low while Carly was running things. I had an email exchange with a marketing guy from HP and asked him why I should buy from them when they couldn't support their own products. His response was something like: "yeah, we suck, but there are a lot of good people here who care and would do a good job if given half a chance." I was so impressed by his candid statement that I bought an HP printer.
- szelij, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20Must...refrain...from...making...sexist...comments!
- fleetskeet, on 10/12/2007, -8/+24That bitch was nuts.
- GuineaPig, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16It had nothing to do with sex. Fiorina was just a crass salesperson who undermined what made HP great: its R&D and engineers.
Whenever marketeers, salesmen and number crunchers take over a company for very long, it seems to rapidly degrade. A company can only sell fluff and hype for so long before customers catch on. - ericmcgovern, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14The HP/Compaq merger will be her legacy, and after the fact, the majority of people agree it was a terrible idea. The company and end users have seen zero benefit from the merger, all it really did was cause the massive lay offs HP had been famous for avoiding. It cost HP a ton of money, cost most Compaq users their jobs (directly or indirectly), and just eliminated a real brand from the marketplace. After all was said and done, HP was in no better of a market position, and they continued to stumble after that, with Fiorina never really recovering.
- gearwrench, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Bring back HP calculator greatness!
- Smoov, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Like all CEOs who screw up she suffers little or no penalty as a result. She is a multi-millionaire many times over. She's set for life after almost destroying one of the grand old tech companies which up until her had a sterling reputation for solid, conservative engineering and excellent support.
CEOs earning millions should face consequences beyond the golden parachute when they mess up a company this badly. They should not be immune from shareholder lawsuits.
Also, never hire a CEO based on political correctness! - TheWriteGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Doesn't matter she was female. All it proves is that women can be equally bad as CEOs. The list of infamously bad male CEOs is long. (Enron, anyone?)
- ziggystardust, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10liquidedge: wrong.
I work for Hp. I was here during Carly and can tell all of you that Hurd has made all the all the difference in the world. He trimmed the fat that Carly put in place. It was sad to see 14k workers go but it was very necessary. He boosted morale and increased bonus potential. Hurd has launched an initiative that will result in key strategic marketing and production partnerships. Carly never saw the big picture as anyone could see. She was too busy being a media whore and spent too little time in the office. Hurd is always busy, rarely on camera and gets things done.
The stock has gone from $21-$33 and its NOT because of anything Carly had in place. In fact as an Hp employee I can tell you with no doubt that Hp was in dire straights.
Since Hurd I have increased the % of my 401k to include Hp stock and benefited nicely.
People are happier. Partners are happier and the products that are coming out over the next couple years are more innovative than slapping an Hp logo on an iPod.
BTW much of Hp tech support is in Colorado, not India. - geomon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11"Also, never hire a CEO based on political correctness!"
Does that include which fraternity they belonged to in college?
Nepotism: The world's oldest affirmative action program - wayhip, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9FIring Carly was a huge step forward for gender equility. It proved that regardless of who or what you are, you will be fired if you do not perform. And isn't this the other half of the equality equation?
- geomon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9"It had nothing to do with sex."
Of course, everything you have written it absolutely dead on. But there are so many insecure little boys trolling this topic who hate any woman that makes them feel subordinate. They will blissfully ignore the facts as you have presented them and will focus entirely on Fiorina's gender; not her lack of technical depth, her willingness to sell out the company, and her focus soley on the bottom line to meet the quarterly report. - aftk2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I dug your comment, but have to point out that you're missing the real turkey in the legacy of Apple CEOs, the final CEO before Jobs returned as interim - and then permanent - CEO. Mr. Gil Amelio, please take a bow!
- velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7HP's tech support was terrible even before they outsourced support jobs to India.
- Eyez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I actually had a really good experience with them a couple of days back. I used the online real time chat support cause my laptop's battery has not holding a proper charge anymore and would only give about 30 minutes of life. I explained the problem, explained what steps i took to resolve the problem, and the tech support guy offered to replace the battery.
I've used Dell's phone support before and in my opinion, they are worse. At work, we call them frequently and they always make you do the most basic steps, even if you are a tech support tech and you've told them so. - zakharm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6;) = sarcasm
- dougbdl, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9HP went from no-brainer printer purchase to avoid them at all costs. I'm glad she is gone. I am waiting for a couple of years to buy anything from them. They have to get the Carly stench out of their business!
Hows that jet now ya bitch? - liquidedge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Just as many companies go wrong when it's run by engineers. There are literally thousands of companies out there that are drowning in mediocrity because it's being run by people who don't get sales and marketing.
The trick is to have a sales CEO who knows that the engineers are the lifeblood. Then you get the balance for a successful company. - gamabunta, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Yes, tech support sucks. I, as in the customer, had to explain to the outsourced tech support what USB 2.0 was. It was had enough understanding what the hell they were saying with the little english they knew. And that was just HP, don't get me started on Dell.....
No, I don't mean to be racist, I'm just saying if you're gonna be trying to solve computer problems at least know what the hell you're talking about, and try to pick up on the customer's language. - geomon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9You're right. Look at how your mom handled raising you.
- DharmaDog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Um, you may KNOW people that work at hp, but I actually DO work at hp. Morale is pretty good and improving at a nice rate since Carly's departure. There is real enthusiasm at hp now. The business is improving and our bottom line reflects that. There is logical bonus program in place now, so it's not a mystery anymore if you can expect to see one.
Morale in IT may be low, but that is unfortunately because they got hit hard by the layoffs. Internal IT is still a bit of a mess, but it is improving quickly, being streamlined and adding more functionality. They will come out on the other side much stronger, efficient and useful than they were before.
With Randy Mott coming aboard, we expect to see IT improve greatly. He is not a big believer in outsourcing as evidenced by his time at Dell and Wal-Mart, but he is brutal about efficiency. - thbt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Women are more professional in the workplace because they have to be if they want to be taken seriously. Sad but true. Hence why I prefer male bosses... TYPICALLY they are more laid-back. In my experience, woman bosses are slave drivers. They're nice, but very demanding. They have to be.
Of course there are tricks to working with women, though "tricks" may be a harsh term. Can you claim to understand what makes a woman tick (I'm assuming you're male)? Didn't think so. Men and women are different, plain and simple... you learn from experience how do deal with them... hence the "tricks". - DevlinD, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6The only thing that I ever noticed about Carly when she was head of HP was that she spent like a woman shopping in a shoe store and just plain forgot about innovation. They tried to sit on their profitable printer division and hang on to a slim market share in the retail PC market and just hoped that that was enough.
I believe she also attempted to pay something like $5 or 6 billion US for the consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCooper...a deal that IBM later closed for about $3.5 billion US in cash and stock. Wow she sure was a bargain hunter. - acontorer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Darned blog link! Here are the real, original articles, in the San Jose Mercury News:
How is HP after Hurd's first year? http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14209489.htm
CEO's 1st year stabilizes HP http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/14212089.htm - prot0col, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Does any one remember when they had a no layoff policy? Everyone would take a 10% pay cut, first the executives then the management then at the end the engineers. They had the best products because they had some of the best engineers working for a company they could trust would look out for them. Now they have engineers that are looking for the next paycheck if they don't get laid off. They need to bite the bullet and take the pay cut from the top once again.
- gabbagabbahey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Except for one thing, investor confidence. Doesn't account for 47% but probably a good-sized chunk of it.
- CovardeAnonimo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4a comment made by one of the readers as a reply to another "I think you mean to say she didn't have the balls for the job. "
nice (not) to see sexism alive and well -_-
as a DEC alpha and Tru64 fan, the most regretable decision carly ever made IMHO was to ditch them both. truly sad to see such a superb unix vanish. Tru64's filesystem was the most amazing thing i've ever seen. - geomon, on 10/12/2007, -9/+12Before the dog pile starts on Fiorina because she was a woman CEO in the tech industry, let us not forget the equal lack of management mojo exhibited by a member of the opposite sex, one John Sculley.
Yes, Mr. Sculley took over as CEO of Apple from Steve Jobs (hand picked, if I recall correctly) only to force Jobs out of his own company. He eventually led the company into the *****, but not before introducing an amazing and confusing array of product lines. Jobs was asked to take the helm again and Sculley has not been heard from since (at least not in tech circles).
So having a dick is no guarantee of tech success either. Keep that in mind as you mindlessly trash Fiorina for the only wrong reason for her debacle at HP. - anvilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3DharmaDog,
Yeah, I figured from your comment that you weren't in IT (you were "sad" by cuts, but they didn't really impact you).
From your glib biz-speak and the fact that you have survived multiple "purges" over the last 5 years, I'd guess you're in some type of management - which rarely gets laid-off, only shuffled around.
"...adding more functionality" to IT? What does that MEAN? The only thing I can surmise is that it means "hack out knowledgeable employees, suddenly realize you're shorthanded, then add cheap know-nothings". This is an attitude popular with those that view IT workers as interchangeable cogs. ("The project's behind! Hitch another 6 IT-Mules to it and let's get going!")
Don't get me started about Randy Mott. Mr. "Let's return to the 60's" is now requiring IT employees to be in the office 32 hours a week, but those hours must fall between something like 7:30AM and 5:30 PM. I don't know what fantasy world he lives in where you can produce superior software on a schedule - I've never seen it. His solution to "outsourcing" is to squeeze more work from an IT staff that is already understaffed and has received (at best) trivial raises for the last 5 years.
But let's not forget that HP is dedicated to having work done by HP employees, not outsourced contractors! All that's required is to hire the contract Indian workers and they become HP employees! No more outsourcing! Hooray!
But hey, Mr. "my stock is up!" - good for you.
Have you figured out yet that these HP employees I know are more than mere acquaintances? - timmclargehuge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you take that attitude, good luck finding a new CEO. The reason that CEOs have generous compensation packages is because without them they won't step up to the plate. Take Carly for example, she will never work again. Not because she's rich, but because no one will hire her. Every board faces the following choices: hire the best possible candidate with big money guarantees, or hire someone who isn't considered either experienced enough or skilled enough to do the job.
- acontorer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4And, um, I'm not rude but you sure sound like a sexist ass.
- barbobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"At work, we call them frequently and they always make you do the most basic steps, even if you are a tech support tech and you've told them so."
There actually is good reason for this, when a user calls in and says "I know what I'm doing" you should immediately assume that they don't. That's not to say you aren't good at what you do, but a lot of people think they are smarter than they are, and its good to start from the lowest ring. - bugsy187, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You follow up "I'm not sexist" with a sexist generalization... what is wrong with you?
- geomon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@hammerattack
>>"Nepotism - Favoritism shown or patronage granted to relatives, as in business."
>>So, did you have a point, ...
Why yes, I do have a point. Thank you for asking:
Political Correctness - Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
IOW, a movement having nothing to do with Affirmative Action, or the official government HIRING guidelines that uses various non-meritorious criteria for advancing a particular public policy.
>>"...or do you just like to write meaningless *****?
No, Mr. hammerattack. I leave the clueless drivel to you. - drakino, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Boosted morale? Not at my location. The job cuts are still coming, as some were put out to 18 months to finish. The team I recently left has till October 06 to cut positions. My direct team needs to now lose 3 people since I took one of the spots. Oh, and sure, we got a bonus in December, it didn't offset the 5-15% pay cut most people on my team took when we lost part of our after-hours or pager support pay.
Morale is now lower then ever, and will likely remain so long past the job cuts. The team was already worked to death and couldn't remain at proper service levels to the customers even when all the team was on shift. One or two people out sick, and it was a disaster.
HP's stock might be doing better, but the company isn't. Morale at my level directly affects companies who buy millions in servers and storage. Unhappy techs, and the service gets worse, and next quarter Company X starts investigating EMC storage and IBM or Dell servers. In the long run, expect HP to sink even more unless something drastic happens.
Some departments may be happy now, but not all of them are. - anvilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2my Boyfriend? Does your manager know you are making sexual-orientation slurs in a public forum? Not very multi-cultural there for someone who claims that "insulting others doesn't bolster your argument" (and please don't give me any of that "I didn't know WHAT gender you were" argument, you could have used "girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband/lover" in place of "boyfriend" - implied insult recognized).
Nevertheless, please notice all my comments have been within the framework of IT's perspective. You admit that you do not work in IT currently - so how can you claim to be authoritative about IT morale or it's issues? Should the janitorial staff's view of HP IT morale supersede mine just because they are employees? If I am a reporter and have recently interviewed HP IT employees, would I not be considered more authoritative on that subject than you? I get the equivalent of tabloid interviews (the really juicy ones) from them frequently.
Your worldview seems underpinned by the idea that "everyone sees the world like me". Unlike you, I have no doubt that there are HP employees that view what Hurd is doing differently than my IT sources. What I have been saying all along is that their are detractors from the rosy picture painted by the source article.
You compare HP to Dell - oh PUUULLLEEASE. A pioneer in computer manufacturing compared to one that sprang up after the invention of the IBM PC? A company that, for most of it's existence, dealt with a handful of products vs a multi-national corporation offering (tens of) thousands of products for decades? Apples to oranges. Dell was brilliant for seeing a growth area and exploiting it, but "Dell's no HP".
You obviously do not grasp the massive inertia that data processing systems exert on the companies that use them. Updating entrenched data processing systems cannot be accomplished by fiat dictate, regardless of how persistently management tries to make it so.
You're welcome to stand up there on your "non-IT, but an HP employee!" superiority platform, but I'm pretty sure anyone else reading (unlikely) knows who has the more accurate perspective. - Xsecrets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That's very naive We're talking about stock price here. A CEO can make close to a 50% change in a day with a highly publicized good or bad decision.
- Genghis1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Every time I heard her give a speech I'd scratch my head and think "what the ***** is she taking about?".
- jamesbenet, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Just goes to show you that being a superstar female CEO has little to do with good performance and more to do with the odd factor. It doesnt mean women can't be CEOs just that as there are bad to terrible male CEOs a woman can also mess things up.
The HP/Compaq merger is her legacy. A good move IMHO - barbobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I work for hp and was affected by the outsourcing, it sucked when it happened. Some of these people didnt even know how to use ssh.
- bugsy187, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3yeah, men are doing a great job... look at bush.
/sarcasm - thbt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No, it means that the market thinks things WILL get better.
- crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"even if you are a tech support tech and you've told them so."
That's because they are reading from an FAQ. They don't know what you have tried. Also, if you did forget to plug it in, alteast that has been covered, and saves you from looking like a tard later on. I don't like it either, but I understand why. - anvilon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Peanut72
My initial comment qualified my information as being from an IT perspective. Unlike DharmaDog, I've never claimed to know the morale of every HP employee.
I have no doubt that Randy has gotten results in his past jobs - he appears to be completely ruthless and that DOES get results. Yes, HP will likely benefit in the long term from him, but his management methodology will leave a shattered trail of loyal employees in his wake. You are completely wrong about my sources, they are loyal employees who have busted their butts doing the near impossible. They want HP to prosper and want to be a part of it, but they are beginning to have doubts as to whether they will still have a job when all is said and done. From what I've heard there are around 18,000 IT workers now - Randy is planning on cutting that to less than 9000 in 2 years. This is simple math.
You refer to my sources as working "in an area that got hit by the lay offs and are bitter" as if those are only obscure pockets in HP IT. This leads me to believe that you aren't an IT employee either. The rarity were those areas UNaffected by the cuts. I have no doubt that to many outside of IT, things have never looked brighter.
As for Carly - I agree she was a mess. She craved the approval of Wall Street and her peers, so she always made the "industry acceptable" choice. She pushed the Compaq merger (lots of other companies were merging at the time) just at the time that pcs were becoming commodity products with razor thin margins. She never led, just followed the pack, and HP is massively better for her absence. - anvilon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This writer has no clue - he reads like a PR release.
"...brought back trust and optimism that the company lost from its employees"? I know people that are HP employees - morale is abysmal, at least in IT. - murrolems, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3An increase in stock doesn't mean things have actually gotten better, it means that the stock market thinks things have gotten better.
- TheEsp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love Carly she was good she got pushed out by those big wigs on the board
Anyone know where she is now ?? - kjl214, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I love how someone that doesn't even work there is trying to argue with someone that does about how morale is inside the company.
Wow! Talk about arrogance. What an ass. - flyguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Stable my ass.
- MonolithTMA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm an HP site administrator for a managed printer service. I deal with top-notch case specialists out of Boise. They are very knowledgeable and do a great job. That aside, I have never had to deal with HP's consumer level tech support, so I can't speak to that. I can say that I have always had terrific luck with HP products. I, sadly, have yet to replace my old inkejt printer from years ago. It just keeps on working.
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