Thread regarding HP (Hewlett-Packard) layoffs

When HP’s Promises Go Poof: The Tale of Severance Gone Silent

Imagine this: you've just finished running a marathon. Not just any marathon, but a decade-long sprint of dedication, late nights, endless Zoom calls, and “just one more slide for the deck” requests. You finally cross the finish line—exhausted but proud—only to find out there’s no medal waiting for you. That’s exactly how some former HP employees are feeling right now.

They signed contracts—yes, contracts, the sacred scrolls of the corporate world—promising severance packages to be paid within a month. Seems simple enough, right? But here we are, month(s) later, and guess what? Crickets. Not a single dime. Nada. Zilch.

One of my former colleagues put it perfectly: “It’s like HP handed us a shiny parachute, pushed us out of the plane, and then… forgot to pull the ripcord. Now we’re just free-falling, hoping someone remembers we’re still here.”

Emails Into the Void
Two brave souls—bless their patience—tried to raise the issue. They wrote polite, heartfelt emails, hoping to nudge the corporate giant awake. And what did they get?
Not even an automated “We’re looking into it”. Nope. Nothing. It’s as if they sent their emails into the Bermuda Triangle of HP’s HR department.

Seriously, HP, a quick “Sorry for the delay, we’re working on it” wouldn’t hurt. Ghosting your own former employees? That’s not just bad form; it’s downright disrespectful.

‘Tis the Season to Be… Frustrated?
What makes this even worse is the timing. December is here, the season of joy, family, and hopefully a holiday escape. But instead of planning their vacations or buying gifts, these folks are left staring at their empty bank accounts, wondering if their severance will arrive before the new year.

Here’s the kicker: for some, this isn’t just pocket money—it’s a year’s salary. Imagine being promised a safety net only to find out it’s made of tissue paper. After giving HP the best years of their careers, this is the thanks they get?

A Call for Action (and a Little Humanity)
Now, I know corporate gears turn slowly, but this is just ridiculous. HP, you’re not a scrappy startup struggling to keep the lights on. You’re HP—a global tech behemoth with resources galore. If you can design cutting-edge laptops, you can figure out how to process severance packages on time.

So here’s my plea: step up. Treat your former employees with the respect they’ve earned. Acknowledge the delays, pay what you owe, and, for the love of all things corporate, send an email. It’s not rocket science—it’s common decency.

Because at the end of the day, we all want the same thing: to close this chapter with dignity and start 2025 fresh, without the baggage of broken promises.

HP, the ball’s in your court. Don’t drop it.

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| 1431 views | | 7 replies (last January 14, 2025) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1vOTwpw4

7 replies (most recent on top)

We’re in the same boat here. My lawyer has already sent two letters to HP about my severance, and they’ve been completely ignored. The next step is taking legal action and suing for not just the payment but also the extra daily interest for how late they are.

What’s worse, three of my colleagues are dealing with the same issue. Honestly, HP, is this how you treat your ex-employees after years of dedication? This is beyond frustrating it’s downright disrespectful.

It’s time to step up and take responsibility. Ignoring us won’t make this go away.

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Post ID: @626+1vOTwpw4

"Wow, this sums it up perfectly especially the part about the 'shiny parachute with no ripcord.' Couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm in the same boat as an ex-HP from the Amstelveen office. They told me the severance would be paid within a month after my last day, but here I am—still waiting. It's beyond frustrating, and I can’t believe we’re left chasing what was promised in black and white.

I've had to escalate this as well contacted a lawyer who’s now on top of it. It’s sad that it had to come to this, but like you said, HP is not some small startup struggling with resources. This is about integrity and keeping promises to people who gave years of their lives to this company.

Let’s hope they step up, and soon."

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Post ID: @cxkr+1vOTwpw4

"HP utilized $2.1 billion of cash during fiscal 2024 to repurchase approximately 62.7 million shares of common stock in the open market."

That pretty much sums up where most of the money went including your severance--the rest went toward paying out dividends. You can watch the interview with Enrique who himself admits where the free cashflow went.

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Post ID: @1bzu+1vOTwpw4

@kli, my two cents would be it was deleted for trolling/impersonating.

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Post ID: @1ujd+1vOTwpw4

I was laid off last year from HP. They will indeed drag their feet when it comes to severance. "Did they forget about me?" you wonder, and the answer is yeah pretty much. Once you leave the company, everyone you ever talked with will completely alienate you as if you never worked there.

Funny how you bring up powerpoint slides. In retrospect, I joke to my colleagues at my current company that was the best powerpoint engineer that HP had ever seen. No schematic capturing, no circuit board layouts, no lab work, no troubleshooting issues, no technical work whatsoever. My job as an architect was to sit awkwardly in supplier meetings and pretend to know what they were talking about and nod. Seriously, suppliers are wasting their time because we didn't even have the final okay to use their products. You had to convince marketing, product managers, NPI, supply chain, cost teams, your manager, and your manager's manager that this new piece of technology is worth the cost increase and said technology will put HP in a more competitive state. It frankly was never worth the trouble. When you get rejected, you see your competitors introduce their products with the feature you thought about implementing and then your director complains to you and your manager on why we didn't implement that feature.

I'm digressing so much. Sorry about that. I guess I can still feel my frustration every time I think about HP.

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Post ID: @1lnm+1vOTwpw4

What happened to the other posts regarding a call to positivity from HP HR and the other one responding to it with an answer from irony? There's a lot of fishy business going on around here. Can a moderator please explain why those posts were deleted? Chances are this comment will just be ignored or deleted too. Oh well...

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Post ID: @kli+1vOTwpw4

The fact you used a colon and em dash tells me there’s no way you actually worked at HP. We can barely get our press releases without a simple mistake made after three levels of d-mb L3s pretended to review it.

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Post ID: @rdd+1vOTwpw4

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