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Hey, lately i'v read "The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company" and your story really resonates to what the founders said. Snippet: > We have alwa

by jve 7y ago

Hey, lately i'v read "The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company" and your story really resonates to what the founders said. Snippet: > We have always considered that we have a responsibility to our employees to plan our work so we can assure job continuity. We do not intend to have a "Hire 'em and fi re 'em" operation. This poses some serious considerations. One is always compelled to fi nd the most effi cient way to get a job done. At times it seems the most efficient way is to hire a group of people, work them as hard as possible, and when the job is fi nished, send them home. Well, even if this is the most efficient way, we have never operated in this manner. Bill and I do not feel this is the best way for a company like ours to operate. We have very rigid requirements of technical competence to maintain and rigid requirements in the quality of our equipment. This requires that we have and keep good people at all times. So we feel it is our responsibility to provide opportunity and job security to the best of our ability. This means specifically, sometimes we ask people to work overtime in order to meet customers' demands rather than hire additional people. While this is an imposition in a sense to our employees, it seems to be generally acceptable and we feel it is preferable to "hiring and firing." This is something you all need to understand as supervisors. https://gizmodo.com/the-hp-way-how-bill-hewlett-and-i-built-our-company-5634378 https://gizmodo.com/the-hp-way-how-bill-hewlett-and-i-built-...

jcadam 7y ago
It's sad. Most companies these days (to include HP) are hire and fire shops. All of them deny it. Want to know why my resume is full of 1-2 year stints? Because when a project is winding down I've learned to start looking for a new job - because it's the safe thing to do. Managers will tell you up until the day you get your layoff notice that your job is safe.
- jermaustin1 7y ago
  At my last real job, the entire IT staff was getting laid off when the new CIO came in. One team after another and replaced with contractors. We knew in November of 2016 things weren't going to last. I was on the last IT team still employed. My manager was fighting tooth and nail to try and save at least some of us. But come February (3 months longer than other IT teams) the fight was over and he lost. We were all laid off. I was given 6 months severance + insurance if I would stay around for 1 month and do a knowledge transfer to the new team, one of the easiest decision of my life. The majority of the team were escorted off premises that day. Manager's boss helped everyone secure a new job (except 1 who just disappeared never to be heard from again), I got a contract gig for double the pay of that job. I still talk to everyone, and we are all in better positions today than we were there.
  - johndough 7y ago
    > one of the easiest decision of my life. Which way did you decide?
    - jermaustin1 7y ago
      The free 6 months of pay and insurance for staying for only 1 month!
- alasdair_ 7y ago
  >It's sad. Most companies these days (to include HP) are hire and fire shops. All of them deny it. This is a good thing for people who want to work at those companies but are not yet employed there. Companies that can fire people easily are more willing to take a chance on someone without a perfect pedigree than those who insist on only hiring those that they are certain they want to work there forever.
Junk_Collector 7y ago
It's a good book and I really respect their management philosophy which could not be more different than modern corporate theory. Just look at this snippet of Dave's statement on the purpose of a corporation (The whole thing is really worth a read). "I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place. In other words, why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company's existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively which they could not accomplish separately. They are able to do something worthwhile-they make a contribution to society (a phrase which sounds trite but is fundamental)" Remember that Bill and Dave started HP as a 2 man operation in their garage during the great depression. They basically built the company from nothing into a technology power house over the course of their lives and the things that they went through clearly shaped how they ran the company. It is a testament that you can still find a large number of impressive engineers that were HP lifers.

by jve 7y ago

jcadam 7y ago

It's sad. Most companies these days (to include HP) are hire and fire shops. All of them deny it. Want to know why my resume is full of 1-2 year stints? Because when a project is winding down I've learned to start looking for a new job - because it's the safe thing to do. Managers will tell you up until the day you get your layoff notice that your job is safe.

jermaustin1 7y ago
At my last real job, the entire IT staff was getting laid off when the new CIO came in. One team after another and replaced with contractors. We knew in November of 2016 things weren't going to last. I was on the last IT team still employed. My manager was fighting tooth and nail to try and save at least some of us. But come February (3 months longer than other IT teams) the fight was over and he lost. We were all laid off. I was given 6 months severance + insurance if I would stay around for 1 month and do a knowledge transfer to the new team, one of the easiest decision of my life. The majority of the team were escorted off premises that day. Manager's boss helped everyone secure a new job (except 1 who just disappeared never to be heard from again), I got a contract gig for double the pay of that job. I still talk to everyone, and we are all in better positions today than we were there.
- johndough 7y ago
  > one of the easiest decision of my life. Which way did you decide?
  - jermaustin1 7y ago
    The free 6 months of pay and insurance for staying for only 1 month!
alasdair_ 7y ago
>It's sad. Most companies these days (to include HP) are hire and fire shops. All of them deny it. This is a good thing for people who want to work at those companies but are not yet employed there. Companies that can fire people easily are more willing to take a chance on someone without a perfect pedigree than those who insist on only hiring those that they are certain they want to work there forever.

Junk_Collector 7y ago

It's a good book and I really respect their management philosophy which could not be more different than modern corporate theory. Just look at this snippet of Dave's statement on the purpose of a corporation (The whole thing is really worth a read). "I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place. In other words, why are we here? I think many people assume, wrongly, that a company exists simply to make money. While this is an important result of a company's existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for our being. As we investigate this, we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively which they could not accomplish separately. They are able to do something worthwhile-they make a contribution to society (a phrase which sounds trite but is fundamental)" Remember that Bill and Dave started HP as a 2 man operation in their garage during the great depression. They basically built the company from nothing into a technology power house over the course of their lives and the things that they went through clearly shaped how they ran the company. It is a testament that you can still find a large number of impressive engineers that were HP lifers.