HP announced that they were planning on laying off between 11,000 and 16,000 people.
I am going to look at this from the angle of an employee and not the business aspect of it.
The biggest misconception that workers have is that if they work hard, impress their boss and get good marks on their performance review, they will advance.
Assuming every single employee at HP goes through an Annual performance review, here is a break down of how the 16,000 employees would be rated based on a bell curve rating system.
- Exceeds Expectations: ~2,560 (16%)
- Meets Expectations: ~10,880 (68%)
- Below Expectations: ~2,560 (16%)
What do all three groups of employees have in common? They are all going to be laid off.
The meetings, the review forms, the doing everything to impress your boss, the loyalty to the company are all out the window in the names of cutting cost. That’s what it will come down to.
But what about the exceeds expectations resources. Shouldn’t they be saved since they are high performers? (more…)