HP's CEO on Split, Workforce Reshaping: Efficiency Is Watchword

Regarding layoffs, HP CEO Meg Whitman says, "I think for 2015, in terms of this restructuring, we are done," but adds, "When you split companies apart, often there is a realignment of the workforce. ... We'll see how it goes."

Pete Fehrenbach

Oct. 7, 2014

HPs CEO on Split Workforce Reshaping Efficiency Is Watchword

Hewlett-Packard's (IW 500/9) (HPQ) announcement yesterday that it is cleaving itself in two and laying off 5,000 workers in addition to the 50,000 previously announced raises myriad questions from all over the business map.

One key question is: What will the workforces of the two resulting companies look like? And that query inevitably comes coupled with an anxious corollary: Are even more layoffs coming?

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman is playing those cards close to her vest. But if you watch her interview yesterday with CNBC, the answers appear to be: We're still figuring out what those respective workforces will look like; and yes, at some point there will be more layoffs.

Efficiency, Whitman says, is a "watchword for companies today."

"We live in a very competitive market," she says. "We have to have the leanest, most effective organization that we can have. So when we see opportunities, we obviously need to take advantage of them. It makes us stronger, and it makes us a more competitive company."

Or two.

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About the Author

Pete Fehrenbach

Pete Fehrenbach, Associate Editor

Focus: Workforce | Chemical & Energy Industries | IW Manufacturing Hall of Fame

Follow Pete on Twitter: @PFehrenbachIW

Associate editor Pete Fehrenbach covers strategies and best practices in manufacturing workforce, delivering information about compensation strategies, education and training, employee engagement and retention, and teamwork. He writes a blog about workforce issue called Team Play.

Pete also provides news and analysis about successful companies in the chemical and energy industries, including oil and gas, renewable and alternative.

In addition, Pete coordinates the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame, IW’s annual tribute to the most influential executives and thought leaders in U.S. manufacturing history.