Irish Hewlett-Packard jobs hang in the balance

A number of jobs in multi-national Hewlett-Packard's (HP's) Irish operations are hanging in the balance following the company's announcement that it plans 14,500 redundancies worldwide.

The US-based producer of computer servers, printers and software yesterday announced that it intends to cut its workforce by 10 per cent, or 14,500 people, in a drive to save $1.9 billion (€1.58 billion) a year.

The cuts are expected to save it $900 million in its current fiscal year, which ends on October 31st. They will cost $1.1 billion over nine months, beginning in the final quarter of that year, and will be completed in 18 months.

HP intends to reduce job numbers in its core businesses but it will make a large number of cuts in support activities such as human resources, finance and information technology, while sales and research and development will suffer least.

The company employs 4,000 people at three locations around the State. A spokesman for the Irish operations said yesterday that the company had not said how the cuts would affect its various regions.

"The cuts are going to be right across the business, but they have not given a breakdown of where exactly they will happen," he said. The spokesman added that it was not possible to predict how HP's Irish business would be affected.

In a statement, HP chief executive Mark Hurd said that the number of jobs axed in each country would vary according to local requirements. He added that they would be carried out in consultation with works councils and employee representatives.

The Republic is the headquarters of the Europe, Middle East and Africa division, which accounts for around 40 per cent of HP's sales.

Mr Hurd announced details of the plans yesterday afternoon. He vowed that the job cuts would be carefully targeted.

Around half the $1.9 billion savings will be reinvested to strengthen the firm's competitiveness, while the remainder will boost operating profits, he said.

Mr Hurd said that the cuts were aimed at simplifying the company's structure by cutting out management layers and merging sales and marketing with individual business units.

It is also freezing contributions to some of its US pension and medical benefits schemes to generate savings, although it will offer early retirement programmes as an incentive to longer-serving workers in the US.