'Consolidation of functions' -- layoffs -- hitting the Palm ranks 31
We all knew a few jobs likely would be in jeopardy in the wake of HP's purchase of Palm, and the "consolidation" axe is dropping, says All Things D's John Paczkowski. An HP spokesman told him "Part of the integration strategy is consolidation of functions and operations, as appropriate," which is a dark cloud, for sure, but should be tempered by the otherwise warm reception Palm employees got from HP's Phil McKinney earlier this week. The Palm spokesman echoed that, also telling Paczkowski, “There always is turnover in organizations. Palm employees overall are enthusiastic about having the financial stability and global scale necessary to complete their vision.”
The RiF is said to be in the double digits, but not hundreds, which should be of some consolation, we suppose, though our thoughts still go out to those out of work. [All Things D]
Update: HP has provided a statement about the layoffs:
HP acquired Palm as much to benefit from Palm's highly skilled team of engineers and developers as to capitalize on its webOS operating system and innovative portfolio of mobile devices. While there has been a small percentage of layoffs to date, this acquisition is about growth, and we look forward to taking advantage of Palm's talented team to accelerate HP's expansion in the market.
31 Comments
That's really very unfortunate.
Rifs suck, but if you actually do your job and do it good, you're usually safe. I think more companies should have regular rifs anyway. Most of these larger companies have a lot of dead weight.
Quality of your work does not always keep you safe. Politics and age have a GREAT deal to do with it!
i'd have to imagine departments like HR, billing, etc - which HP already has in place -would be likely to go. too bad, never good to see someone lose a job
That's completely inaccurate in this case. If you keep your head down and do your job and HP decides that they already have someone who does your job, you're going to be gone.
Palm may be it's own division inside HP, but several jobs that were once needed inside Palm will now be handled by the HP side, and those poor folks will lose their jobs. This is why there has been such flight whenever there's a buyout / merger. Savings are found by avoiding paying 2 people for one job.
That is not necessarily true... I worked for a larger Silicon Valley company about five years ago we went through RIFs. My boss would say the same thing about doing a good job & not being cut... until they cut whole groups out, even if the people were good.
The first RIF was large & made the news. The company then got smart and would let like 10-20 people go every quarter so it wouldn't make the news.
Saw it coming. Still sad. Nature of the beast with buyouts, I guess. I truly believe HP will do everything it can to let Palm be Palm. Maybe they are just laying off everyone from the marketing department.
I feel for those getting laid off.... The only downside to this news. Hopefully they are well networked and recive decent going away packages. I would like to personally thank them for their efforts in making webos a reality. Godspeed
well it was either this or palm goin down totaly. A lot of those other companies looking @palm would have axed almost everyone if not everyone cause they just wanted pattent rights. It is unfortinute & as others have said if you have been doin a good job hopefully it is seen and you will keep your job.
@Phil
Hey Phil, nice to see you on pre|central. Everyone already take off for holiday weekend and leave you behind? bummer! Come back to PalmCast some time.... when we have them that is!
This is what you all wanted.
r-jerk,
Think we all wanted to avoid 70 to 100% layoffs with a Palm bankruptsy or a chinese IP purchase. If you had a viable business plan that would have saved Palm and all it's jobs, you should have shown your brilliance and spoken up before now. If you're so smart and selfish, this is YOUR fault.
Our best wishes go out to those dispkaced. Hopefully HP is providing a suitable severence and support. It's never enough, but hopefully it's fair.
The whole marketing departments needs to go.
+1
losing a job sucks. unfortunately it's the nature of a buyout. As they said there are redundancies. and honestly i worked for a firm that had only 150 people and had to lay off almost 75. that's nearly half. It was very sad.
Hopefully they can find work.
I would be interested, if the woman from the Palm Pre commercial from the very beginning does lose her job, too...
(all day in the park...with jugglers, clowns and reincarnationists...thatls what I call a hard job)
Wishing you at palm all the best to keep your jobs!
Guys, it's standard for the following functions to be consolidated right away: finance, auditing, and marketing. Usually, the employees of the company being purchased are the ones to get axed. It just doesn't make any sense not to. I highly doubt any of the people actually working on development would go.
That's truly unfortunate, but my selfish side is hoping a bitter former employee will violate their NDA and reveal new hardware specs!!
Remember once webOS grows they'll be hiring ver soon so those 100 or less jobs will be filled by hopefully 300 new jobs.
good luck to them.... Been there done that... It's not fun when your emoloyer gets bought out.. Makes you sit and second guess your value while you wait to see if your on the out list.
in this economy, they'll find work alright.. At mcdonalds...
Wow that was fast. The ink on the final documents isn't even dry yet.
Suffice it to say, I for one know what they are going thru when a big company decides to merge or streamline their business. In our society, thats the reality. I wish them all the luck in the world during this transition. I
Most likely the folks losing their jobs work in support roles like accounting, HR, maybe internal IT. Those kinds of functions are commonly assumed by the acquiring company so they can take advantage of scale. No surprise here.
Now, if engineers, developers, and anyone in support above the first level are eliminated, that wouldn't be good.
hopefully hp can leak some products and hit the ground running to build up anticipation and get to hire all these people back! (except palm's marketing department)
I imaging this is referring to administrative functions otherwise this sends a very mix message.. How do you remain auotonomos but "integrate"..
Nature of the game, the alternative was for them to go out of business and everyone loses. Been through several buyouts myself and was fortunate to survive everytime. Twenty nine years in the automotive parts manufacturing business in the sales end.
Sad to see more Americans losing their jobs. but as mentioed previous to my reply, hopefully they're networked and find work quickly. A big thank you to all of those who are losing their jobs and those who moved on prior to the acquisition for brining us webOS. God speed.
Time to clear out all of the dead wood, especially in the Marketing Dept.
That's my thought exactly.
Redundancies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vigyy3hpXPk