HP slashes finance staff in UK job cull
Cutthroat computer and printer markets lead to 968 job losses in UK, with most in finance, human resources and IT
Hewlett-Packard is to slash 968 jobs in its UK finance, human resources and
IT departments over the next 12 months, as part of a world-wide cost-cutting
exercise.
A total of 5,900 jobs will be lost in the US computer company’s EMEA (Europe,
Middle East and Africa) region, with more than half the cuts in France, Germany
and Britain.
A company spokesman said it is too early to say which locations will be
affected, but HP has sites in Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Warrington,
Bracknell, Reading and Bristol.
The workforce shake-up was announced in July and will lead to a total of
14,500 job losses worldwide; the biggest losses since HP cut some 15,000
positions following its acquisition of Compaq Computer three years ago.
New HP chief executive Mark Hurd aims to cut costs by $1.9bn a year in order
to compete better in the cutthroat computer and printer markets.