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Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Wanna walk the plank voluntarily? You got it

Either way, biz wants to cut 1,092 UK staffers from the wage bill

Exclusive Hewlett Packard Enterprise is to initiate a voluntary redundancy (VR) option nearly two months after putting 1,092 UK staff in Enterprise Services (ES) on the chopping block.

Techies at HPE were told they were in scope for compulsory job cuts in March including 780 in IT Outsourcing and 173 from the Application Business Services division.

But it seems the Public and Commercial Services union and the UK Works Council have convinced the company to allow people that want to leave voluntarily to do so.

Maurice Mattholie, veep of ITO UK & MEMA, told staff yesterday of HPE’s “intent to run a formal Work Force Management (WFM) programme in our business in Q3 Fy 16 (May to July).

“It has been agreed that we will run an ‘additional’ Voluntary Redundancy programme across the UK ITO and ABS businesses,” he said in a note to staff yesterday, seen by us.

Around a quarter of the 780 ITO staff earmarked for redundancy were supposed to leave at the end of this month but company insiders told us not all of those plans were followed through.

One told us, "A fair few people about have been 'spared' from the current redundancies. Lots of messing them about though, [some were] told they were going [in April] and then told last week that actually they weren't."

HPE's Mattholie said in the note to staff, “Please note, that this offer [of VR] is only valid for the current Q3 WFM process and is subject to your application being approved by the business and you accepting the terms set out in the formal Voluntary Redundancy paperwork”.

The earliest termination date is 31 July (last day at work would be 29 July) but staff that volunteer to leave need to have everything signed and sealed by mid-May.

HPE, which undocked from the HP mothership last November, previously said it will get rid of 30,000 heads over the next few years, with the axe falling heavily on Enterprise Services or what was a business unit largely comprised of the EDS acquisition.

In the UK, HPE is consolidating service delivery centres that are scattered across the region to Cobalt in the north-east of England and Erskine, in Scotland.

The firm has already revealed the majority of 780 roles to be cut from ITO UK will be sent overseas to lower cost labour countries.

El Reg can also reveal that of the 1,092 people leaving ES, roles include 24 in business process services, 11 from application business outsourcing, and small single figures from Enterprise Security Services and supply chain, and some from finance, marketing and sales.

Updated A HPE spokesman sent us this statement:

"These changes are part of a company-wide strategy to give Hewlett Packard Enterprise the needed workforce to be a more nimble customer and partner-centric company." ®

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