Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) will shed up to two per cent of its worldwide marketing staff as a result of continuing restructuring efforts, the company said Monday.
The company aims to shed up to two per cent of its 88,500-strong workforce, or 1,770 staff, by the end of April, said HP spokesman Dave Bouffard.
HP’s ongoing restructuring program has seen the number of product lines cut from 83 to 16, and the number of major internal organizations reduced to just four: sales, marketing, manufacturing and development.
As a result of these changes, “Some of the marketing was in the wrong places,” Bouffard said.
The cuts will affect as many as 350 jobs in Europe, Bouffard said. The plans were announced to employees in an internal memo last week.
“Affected employees may be able to take other positions in HP if they have the competitive skills,” he said. A “limited number” of opportunities were available in the company’s sales and consulting divisions, he said.
Bouffard does not expect the cuts to affect customers. “The focus of this is to increase our customer-facing operations, to have a better mix of customer-facing staff.”
HP, in Palo Alto, Calif., can be reached at http://www.hp.com/.