Hewlett-Packard Reviews in Austin, TX Area

Pros

1. Learning new technology.
2. People ( very competent engineers).
3. Allows telecommuting.

Cons

1. Top management instability in recent years.

Pros

People are nice and want to help
Varying degree of skillsets in different department/org
Friendly environment
Flexibility of work

Cons

Low work life balance
Managers are not knowledgeable in the areas they are asked to support due to frequent reorgs
Compensation isnt competitive as other high tech industry
People are not rewarded or recognized for work performed
Constant reorg & confusion of work
Support or performing activities not aligned with what was agreed to during hiring process
Wearing multiple hats due to resource constraints

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more people to do the work & not assign more to those already over allocated.

Pros

The work is exciting, demanding, and challenging.
The people are intelligent, quick to respond, and adaptable.
HP is a growing company that is great to work for.

Cons

Like many large corporate environments, HP struggles with the management of red tape when undergoing a project. There are many tiers of involvement and approval that can hinder the development experience.

Pros

good name on resume
good site
awesome boss - people manager who encourages my career development
awesome department - Image and Printing Group they really want their employees to advance
Site closure whole week of Christmas to New Years
Good benefits and perks like week of daycare, concierge service, employee purchase plans for HP products and loads of other companies including cars

Cons

If you are not in a good department with a good manager it can be horrible. I hear sales is dreadful. The IT department is segerated to each division so it is hard to get a full view of IT. Typical big company politics.

Advice to Senior Management

HP underpays compared to Austin Market to keep top talent the salary increase must be large and happen soon or others will leave as the economy improves

Pros

* Great work/life balance
* Excellent benefits package
* Excellent flexibility on project solutions - thinking outside the box is encouraged.
* Bonuses/possible raises at the end of the year - if you generally do a good job during the last fiscal year and are rated accordingly you will get something extra on your last paycheck. So far though I have yet to see a pay raise in cycle but I have received a bonus.
* Out of cycle pay raises are definitely possible - I have received one myself and a co-worker has received one as well.

Cons

* Inability to move up until your manager "feels" your ready - documentation on career advancement is very little or too ambiguous.
* Frugal - I have yet to get to get a trip paid out to visit the main campus in Cupertino due to budget cuts. It took a miracle to get a new laptop out of cycle let alone extra RAM to help it function properly.
* Lack of communication between upper management and employees. Management seems to be busy in meetings so often that they have little time to actually talk to their own employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate to your employees about the direction that Hewlett-Packard is going in. You've scared us quite a bit. Between the potential spinoff/selloff of PSG (our hardware division), the rather quick dismissal of the Palm/WebOS division, and the massive buyout of Autonomy we have no clue were HP is intending to go right now.

Pros

Generally a flexible schedule, reasonable benefits (though they've been chipping away at them for years) and usually job stability.

Cons

At HP you're treated as simply a cog in the machine; yes, you might get some local recognition, but the company as a whole doesn't really care about you, your successes or failures unless it has a major impact on the bottom line. Watch out for the seemingly continuous layoffs, so to stay safe you need to scramble to make yourself look better than your peers. To do that you often have to sacrifice work-life balance because your competitors are doing the same thing. Compensation varies wildly, and it's impossible to get a raise even when promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Look to the past at the varied things that put HP on the best places to work list, and start doing them again. Happy employees can be productive employees; the converse is assuredly true. Treat people with dignity and respect, not as commodities and disposable tools. Invest in people, as they're the real future of the company.

Pros

The individual contributors are hard-working, honest, and team-oriented.

Cons

The managers and executives view individual contributors as a commodity to be traded, sold, or removed.

Advice to Senior Management

Set a clear direction for all divisions of the company. Have a goal!

Pros

Technology and innovation is always a pro

Cons

there are several areas where they can improve, especially in R&D

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

The size of the company enables job rotation and growth opportunities. Employees are encouraged and enabled to move between departments in order to round out experience.

Cons

In order to take advantage of new opportunities, (and in many instances in order to keep the job), employees are forced to move from their current location to lower cost locations.

Advice to Senior Management

Start thinking like a start up: Reduce bureaucracy, reward true innovation, bring back stock options for all employees, support teleworking, bring back loyalty through these efforts.

Pros

Knowledge acquisition and capability building

Cons

Compensation and Career progression for growth

Advice to Senior Management

Recoginize talent and reward them at the right time