Hewlett-Packard Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

Management flexible on working hours and working from home

Cons

Little vacation time, lack of coordination, lots of pressure before a deadline

Pros

Top notch people allow for knowledge sharing
Work from home
Plenty of online training materials
Most people will be friendly

Cons

Awful pay
Recongnition for hard work very rare
Scaled/forced ratings on management
Those who hold knowledge always get the best ratings regardless of work that others have done.
Unless you know someone high up, you'll get canned.

Advice to Senior Management

Give managers the power to allocate ratings as they see fit, not as a forced scale. Bring together processes to a more central location, and please change the salary grades, they have not been changed since the mid 50s!

Pros

flexible hours , u can learn anything u want

Cons

no smart people , very laid back

Pros

Flexibility of working at home

Cons

No budget for travel. Virtual teams are not allowed to meet together, not even once a year.

Performance review process is terrible. HP has forced rankings but won't admit this to employees. How bonus is paid in terms of % tied to company/business unit performance and % tied to individual performance is shrouded in mystery. Bonus is paid once a year and if you work all year and leave before it is paid out, HP will not give you a single dime of it.

Advice to Senior Management

Fire Leo. The man is flat out incompetent. We've gone from fiasco to the next under his reign.

Pros

Flexible work hours
Reasonable benefits, although they are being cut rapidly

Cons

No career future for software professionals
Lack of innovation and innovators
Not a company you work for if you are looking for career growth

Pros

They are a good company to work for

Cons

They are corporate and that comes with it's disadvantages

Pros

Variety of work and dealing with the customer face to face. Their is a lot of satisfaction in these type of deals.

Cons

Under-staff and react mode in some cases. People don't have the same spirit that we had 5 years ago..we loose something there in our identity

Advice to Senior Management

appreciate you resources more, they are the backbone of the company that will do anything to make it work as long as they feel a part of a team and are appreciated and rewared

Pros

HP is closing campuses all over New England, and as a long time telecommuter the job is very flexible--you can work from anywhere. As long as your work is getting done, there is terrific flexibility about hours.

Cons

In the states where headquarters/senior management reside (California, Texas, etc.) telecommuter employees have full coverage of internet and phone. The rest of us foot the bill for HP's business expenses--paying our own long distance and internet connection costs. Many are working below salary grade, and there is absolutely no option for increases--even if you are promoted. Hiring is a black box process, with the majority of positions filled by back room discussions. Internal postings are a farce, even if you are overqualified you don't get an interview since the watercooler network has already filled the job.
Absolutely no investment in the workforce for training, mentoring, or advancement. In fact, most jobs beyond mid-level management are filled from the outside.

Advice to Senior Management

Sad to say, but when the economy shows any sign of recovery, thousands of the most talented will flee. And it wil be too late to "make nice" and try to keep them then. $5-$10K of long overdue pay raises would have bought you a lifetime of loyalty. Now you'll be lucky if you can keep even the slackers.
Cathie has inherited a complete mess and is doing a great job of keeping things running until the new CEO is chosen. But it's far too late to woo top talent to stay with another empty promise that things might get better someday.

Pros

Large Company, benefits, career options, ect

Cons

Voice is not heard by management

Advice to Senior Management

Do a better job in helping individual contributors develop skill and careers

Pros

Big company, Reasonable client base, Brand Recognition

Cons

Your salary/benefits could be cut anytime in order to meet the higher management's greed and quarterly numbers. I can't quite say if it's everywhere in HP, however, in the client-account I have seen the management brings shame to the company. They survive by cutting salaries of people, playing politics and extorting the client. It's shocking to say the least. I have never ever come across a scenario where your salary could be cut 15-20% in the name of recession and never restored even though your stock is at an all-time high post-recession. The greed, favoritism and exploitation pervades HP at large. There's no real HR as far as career development or fair system of evaluation is concerned and it's a glorified contracting company where you get little to no career development and you are practically paid by the hour(and worse) with subpar benefits. Bottomline, if you have a better option even though that company pays somewhat less, you will be better-off in the mid to long run. They say - we are all dead in the long run. You will be dead here much sooner.

Advice to Senior Management

Have some 360 degree system or alike to get a balanced assessment of middle and senior managers. Good people languish in their careers and the fat continues to grow.