blog Interesting news published by The AustralianIT yesterday. It appears as if things aren’t entirely well at technology giant HP, with the company reportedly planning to cut some 180 jobs from its roster. The newspaper reports (click here for the full article):
“Sources told The Australian that 70 per cent of people affected will be from Melbourne with the remainder from Sydney.”
HP rarely says much about these kinds of ‘moves, adds and changes’, but it’s always worth asking a company in a situation like this whether there’s any truth to the reports. With this in mind, we asked HP yesterday about the cuts and got this in return:
“It is part of normal business practice to review and align resources in line with business priorities. As part of the transformation program, we announced the HP Next-Generation Data Centre (NGDC) in Sydney in February 2011. Construction was completed the end of 2011 and will be followed by a period of systems migration and testing to ensure the best levels of service for our clients.”
Riiiight. So what does this really mean? The “normal business practices” sentence probably means it won’t comment on job cuts below a certain number (say, 500 or more), or unless a pesky union gets involved. This is all just normal business, HP appears to be implying.
But what we’re not sure about is the next several sentences. What does this mean? Are the job cuts part of HP’s new datacentre program, which the company announced with great pomp and ceremony last year, at a press conference attended by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy? Is HP cutting jobs in one area so it can invest more in the datacentre program? Or are these sentences merely an attempt to divert attention to an area where HP is investing in Australia?
It’s as if we asked HP whether the sky is blue and got back the following answer:
“It is part of normal environmental practice for the colour of the sky to change pigmentation in line with scientific rules. As part of the global scientific discovery program, Copernicus revealed in the 16th century that the Earth is not in fact the centre of the universe. Construction of this proof was completed in 1514, following the discovery some centuries previously that the Earth is a sphere, and not flat as had been thought.”
Useful information, in other words, but not really relevant — and perhaps even a deliberate attempt at obfuscating the truth. Well, it looks like we’re not going to get much out of HP. But if you do know more about what’s going on, feel free to hit up our anonymous tips form with the juicy details. Even we won’t know who you are 😉
Image credit: HP
Related posts: